Tennessee football: Ranking Vols last 10 seasons with first-year coordinator

4. 1999

9-3 (6-2)

Randy Sanders (OC)

Randy Sanders was able to get his first experience as offensive coordinator in the 1998 national championship game against the Florida State Seminoles. But for the season, David Cutcliffe was offensive coordinator. Tennessee football was coming off of its most successful four-year run in the modern era before Sanders got the job.

That run involved Cutcliffe running the offense and John Chavis running the defense. But when Cutcliffe took the head coaching job for the Ole Miss Rebels, Sanders was an obvious hire. He played at Tennessee from 1984 to 1988 and was a loyal assistant from 1989 to 1998.

With that bloodline, Sanders was the perfect choice for stability, especially after years of studying under Cutcliffe and Phillip Fulmer. Unfortunately for him, though, the drop-off in the offense became evident early.

Tee Martin went from completing 57 percent of his passes in 1998 and throwing for 19 touchdowns with only 6 interceptions to completing 54 percent of his passes in 1999 and throwing for 12 touchdowns with 9 interceptions.

Now, he did increase his rushing total by 30 yards, from 287 to 317, and he went from 7 to 9 touchdowns there. He also had 200 more yards passing. But there was still a drop-off overall despite facing a weaker schedule.

Sanders over time would prove himself to be a solid play-caller and actually a pretty good coach, just a bad developer of talent. That culminated with the historically bad offense in 2005 that led to a 5-6 season.

Still, amidst all of that, this season was a very successful one with a new coordinator who had no experience. After all, the Vols were still loaded with talent. So they went 9-3 under Sanders and were in the national title hunt until November. Key wins over the Georgia Bulldogs, Alabama Crimson Tide and Notre Dame Fighting Irish were indeed impressive as well.