The CheckerBoard

I'll be pissed if it works.

you will be "pissed if it works"?? Respectfully, i dont know how any Vols fan says that. That you actually hope your team does poorly. You might not like the coaches, but how do you root AGAINST the players who are giving their all for Tennessee? That's just messed up.

GoVols
What a poor thing to say. These young men are playing their hearts out for this university, and for you to wish bad on them is ridicules and in very poor taste. Just think of the seniors who have been through so much for us, they deserve so much more then this kind of behavior.

Well I feel lots better now.

It kind of seems like he is throwing everyone under the bus except himself. When he said he has been spending all of his time on offense before that sounds kind of convenient since the offense is awesome and all. It kind of sounds like he is taking credit for everything good and washing his hands of everything bad. I don't know maybe that's just my interpretation.

Putting his attention to defense is absolutely what he needs to do. Question I have - how much input can a coach have with all his experience coming from the offensive side? To be frank, what does Dooley even know about defense? Not a knock against him. I'd assume most head coaches are well-versed on one side of the ball but not the other.

Also- how is the coaching staff chemistry holding up? Much was discussed early in the season that this staff was on the same page and had good chemistry. With a defense regressing like ours, there is bound to be some internal strife amongst the staff? It just seems that Sal is in way over his head...

Time for all of us fans to quit the hand ringing and simply pull for these guys, players and coaches, to just find a way to win these last 4 (cuz I know we are going to go to a bowl)...One game at a time....Just win Vols...Just win!

Go Vols! Beat Missouri!!!!!.....I'll hang up and listen to your comments..

Derek Dooley talks about his defensive philosophy:

to the family Kenv611.

I hope this will spark some changes for the good. We need something to be done on defense.

Personally, I think Sunseri is on the outs and Dooley and the remaining coaches are going to try to coach by committee the rest of the way through this season. Sunseri is not going to be bought out, especially part way through his first season even with yielding (or just giving) 700+ yards to Troy. Sunseri may be relegated to coaching linebackers this week for all we know. I do not think Dooley has the authority to can Sal if he wanted to at this point. That would require Hart and Cheek to sign off on. He's making as much change as he can and not leaving that steaming pile at someone else's doorstep.

Dooley had two options, leave the defense to its own devices and say that's not my fault I've been working with Special Teams and the Offense or he could dive into the awfulness that is our current defense. I,would rather see him get more involved on Defense and then say he did everything he could to fix it versus blaming others. How many times has Dooley been critiqued for throwing others under the bus? Sal sure has given him one heck of an opportunity to do that and he has not done it. He gets complaints when he says defense isn't his focus and now gets complaints when he says that is where he is going to focus. He cannot win with this fan-base in its current state. I'm not saying there isn't room for rational debate about whether he should have done this sooner, Dooley was the first to acknowledge this in his presser if you listen to the whole thing. However, he's at least willing to go down with the sinking ship that is our defense if he cannot get it straightened out. Like him or not, you should at least respect that.

to the board!