Good Day, My Friends,

I hope that you are having a great Memorial Day Weekend.  I heard from several of you following the Vol Notes last week, and I really appreciate your notes and thoughts so please keep those coming.  One of those notes started my mind moving and I was reflecting on some memories and decided to share some of those thoughts.

I really like Jeremy, he is a “Football Coach”.  Relative to that and his potential for success, that bought another thought to me.  We finally have another AD in Phil Fulmer that has coaching roots and not a “Smart Business Major”.  The business guys tend to think coaches are dumb chest beaters.  They are smart “Numbers Guys” and think being smart at numbers is the road to success.  

The best coaches are structured, organized, and think not only about today but also about where they need to be down the road.  A significant part of that is where to improve and how to do it with players, staff, and organizational work.  They look at kids for potential not only today but two – three – four years down the road. They are also “People Driven” and “Team Builders” and that is their road to success.

I understand that feeling by staff in the Vol Athletic Department when Phil was appointed was “Joyous”.  Those folks know that he has been a huge contributor as a fund raiser but that he is also a great guy to work with and for….

The best AD’s use their “People Skills” to get the money and hire folks to handle the books and cash.  Those “People Skills” enable them to hire and retain quality coaches.  To top it off, the best coaches are SMART and well educated to boot.  As a rule, they have all sought and worked for “Great Coaches” who were not only great teachers of the game but also great developers of talent.  Think about this, it does not take a lot of work to find the “Great Coaching Family Trees” in basketball and football because coaches succeed by recognizing and developing talent.  How many “Great Business Family Trees” are out there?  In Sports, Wooden, Knight, Smith, Neyland, Browles, McKay, Devaney, Osborne, Holtz, 

Now taking the Coaching Tree and teaching/learning.  Jeremy learned from his Dad, a great HS Coach in Bama.  He played at MTSU under Boots and at Bama.  He coached under one of the best HS Coaches in the nation at Hoover.  Then he has coached and won multiple National Championships under Jimbo and Nick.  Now he is working for another National Championship Coach Phil Fulmer who learned under Johnny Majors and Frank Browles.  He did not go to grad school for a couple of years to get an MBA, but no one can say that he did not put in a huge amount of time under great tutors to prepare for this job. 

Time to go and get a second cup of coffee, come visit!  Thanks, Steve for the idea!!

Go Vols!

TnBill