Vols Thoughts From Virginia

The Carpenters are on the road for the holidays (all of us - wife, baby, baby-in-womb and two dogs) and blogging with be spotty at best. In fact, if I'm writing on this, you can assume I'm either neglecting my fatherly duties or just hiding from my in-laws.

Or possibly both.

There is lots happening in Knoxville right now, so let's get to it:

Offensive Coordinator News

If you didn't catch the wonderful Duke/Pittsburgh basketball game last night from The Garden, you missed a quick interview with new Duke football coach David Cutcliffe. Man, I like that guy. Duke got itself a great coach and seemingly a great guy. I hope he can get the Blue Devils to respectability and even a bowl game at some point. Or I hope he fails miserably and has to come back to Knoxville to be the OC for a third time.

Besides Cutcliffe, the Vols lost Trooper Taylor this week. Taylor, who was a rumored candidate for the Vols offensive coordinator position, took a job with Mike Gundy ("I'm a man! I'm 40!") and Oklahoma State as a co-offensive coordinator.

Here is my question - how does that work? Co-offensive coordinator? Either I don't understand the position or that makes no sense to me. Will they alternate calling the plays? Why can't every offensive position coach be called a 'co-coordinator? Is that just an excuse to bump up salary? I bet it is.

As I mentioned on Monday, the lose of Taylor was expected. He was too unproven to be given the OC job in Knoxville, but too desired elsewhere to stay as a position coach. He was supposed to be a key to the Volunteer recruiting efforts, so here is hoping Fulmer finds an impressive replacement in that department.

The Knoxville News Sentinel reports that Clemson offensive coordinator Rob Spence is interviewing for Cutcliffe's job. I never watched a Clemson game this season, but was impressed to see how many people want this guy. He apparently turned down Minnesota last year and spoke with Alabama and the Oakland Raiders as well.

The same reports mentions that the Vols have contacted Detroit Lions wide receivers coach and former Vol assistant Kippy Brown about the job as well.

Basketball Vols vs. Xavier

The Vols play an odd Xavier team Saturday afternoon on ESPN. The Musketeers have an impressive win over Indiana on its resume, but also were blown out by Arizona State on Saturday.

Regardless of which Xavier team shows up this Saturday, Tennessee needs to worry more about itself than their opponent. The Vols have been mildly disappointing this year even with just one loss (to an excellent Texas team). Chris Lofton still hasn't found his stroke, Duke Crews is out indefinitely with heart issues, Wayne Chism and Ramar Smith are not playing up to their potential and the Vols are missing Dane Bradshaw more than anybody outside of the team expected.

The good news is that Bruce Pearl's cupboard is still loaded. Tyler Smith is starting to look more and more comfortable on the floor and J.P. Prince is now eligible as well. The frustration among Vols fans is that all this talent isn't clicking on the floor as expected.

The Vols have already built a decent NCAA resume (wins over Temple, West Virginia and Western Kentucky), but can really help themselves with a win Saturday in Cincinnati and another one next Saturday at Gonzaga. They could also enter their SEC schedule with a couple of deflating road losses and an all-of-the-sudden mediocre NCAA credentials. The problem probably will not be getting into the Dance, but seeding could be an issue.

I'm getting nudged to get off the computer - I've been aloof for long enough I suppose.

Merry Christmas everyone!