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Ranking Tennessee football’s 10 offensive systems in history

By Caleb Calhoun

24 Sep 1994: Head coach Phillip Fulmer of the University of Tennessee during the Vols 24-21 loss to Mississippi State.
24 Sep 1994: Head coach Phillip Fulmer of the University of Tennessee during the Vols 24-21 loss to Mississippi State. /
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Photo by Streeter Lecka/Getty Images
Photo by Streeter Lecka/Getty Images /

10. Multiple: 2008

Head coaches who used this formation: Phillip Fulmer

This is definitely the most forgettable formation Tennessee football ever ran. After 25 years of running one system, the Vols had to find a replacement for David Cutcliffe once again, who had just left to take over the head coaching job for the Duke Blue Devils. For the first time in his career, Phillip Fulmer conducted a national search for an offensive coordinator.

That search landed Dave Clawson, who was head coach of the Richmond Spiders at the time. Clawson arrived and deviated from the pro-style, running a pro-spread hybrid. There is actually a bit of West Coast in it. His system is one in which he spreads the field, has the receivers run a bunch of short routes and relies on his quarterback to make the right throw.

Meanwhile, the running game is there to specifically keep the defense honest. The complexities that the quarterbacks have to deal with make it hard for them to perform well in their first year under Clawson. Well, this was Jonathan Crompton’s first year in the system, and the result was disastrous. UT stumbled to a 5-7 season, its second losing season in four years.

The offense on this team was atrocious, and the result of that season was Fulmer getting fired. Clawson landed on his feet with the Bowling Green Falcons and is now head coach of the Wake Forest Demon Deacons, but this offense was not a fit for what the Vols had in 2008, and it proved to be a major failure in the end.

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