Thacker out at DC, now Safeties coach

[bobongo]

So... does this mean safeties were taken away from DB coach Tillman? Are we back to having separate coaches for cornerbacks and safeties?? That did not work too well.

It didn't seem to work well for us in the past, but it isn't unusual to have separate coaches for safeties and cornerbacks.

 

[Vespidae]

From 2014-2018 Tennessee had an average recruiting ranking of 10th.

I think that's true, but didn't UT lose a lot of their recruits under Jones? I recall Pruitt quipping at practice how weak the players were, athletically.

 

[Eli]

I think that's true, but didn't UT lose a lot of their recruits under Jones? I recall Pruitt quipping at practice how weak the players were, athletically.

I didn’t run the numbers and I think Pruitt is a great defensive mind but he only held the DC spot for one year and was lit up. I still think it’s more of a D line and secondary coaching more so than play calls

 

[jojatk]

What’s the point. Thacker is clearly not going to be here next season. Let him go instead of embarrassing him with a demotion.

Should I really care if he's embarrassed by a demotion? I am not wishing ill on him but he hasn't gotten the job done and has had 4+ years to do it. I honestly don't care if he's embarrassed about it or not. One would think he couldn't be any more embarrassed by the demotion than he SHOULD be about the quality of the defense he's put on the field most of his tenure.

I hear what you're saying. Let's not add insult to injury. At this point I'm not sure he's earned that consideration.

 

[kg01]

The issue here is, if you even remotely thought it'd be possible he could be fire-moted by game 4, why TF didn't you make a real change in the offseason?

 

[MusicalBuzz]

That may be cause of the players.

I agree and that’s a bit of the dilemma in our situation: it could be the players.

I’m typically in favor of working with what you’ve got and keep working at it. I don’t generally like firings and paying out remainder of exorbitant contracts.

It seems to me that Thacker is a committed and earnest coach — and I’m fine with the demotion, keeping him in the fold and seeing how all parties adjust and grow from here

 

[lv20gt]

The issue here is, if you even remotely thought it'd be possible he could be fire-moted by game 4, why TF didn't you make a real change in the offseason?

Because Key failed as OL coach and was promoted to HC primarily on the back of defensive play. How could he get rid of the DC who could make all the same arguments for why his bad performance the past 4 years should be overlooked?

It should have been obvious that Thacker needed to go last year. Same with Key. But here we are.

 

[kg01]

Because Key failed as OL coach and was promoted to HC primarily on the back of defensive play. How could he get rid of the DC who could make all the same arguments for why his bad performance the past 4 years should be overlooked?

It should have been obvious that Thacker needed to go last year. Same with Key. But here we are.

Eh, I wasn't going down this road but I'll give you some advice.

It's rather unlikely we'll have anyone other than Key at HC for the foreseeable future. So, even if he wasn't your ideal choice, maybe swig on a little 'get over it' juice for your own sake. It'll be exhausting going into every discussion with that 'see I ain't even want him' dufflebag on yer back.

Take it from another who wasn't all-in on the hire initially. It's just not worth it carrying that torch.

Yours truly,

Concerned board-mate

 

[stech81]

Eh, I wasn't going down this road but I'll give you some advice.

It's rather unlikely we'll have anyone other than Key at HC for the foreseeable future. So, even if he wasn't your ideal choice, maybe swig on a little 'get over it' juice for your own sake. It'll be exhausting going into every discussion with that 'see I ain't even want him' dufflebag on yer back.

Take it from another who wasn't all-in on the hire initially. It's just not worth it carrying that torch.

Yours truly,

Concerned board-mate

Agree 100 Percent he is our coach you have to give a new coach time. I may be the only one, but I still think he can turn things around most new coaches need at least 2 full years to get his players in the system.

 

[stinger 1957]

The issue here is, if you even remotely thought it'd be possible he could be fire-moted by game 4, why TF didn't you make a real change in the offseason?

We got money issues and he wanted to do certain things and that I imagine had priorities within some sort of budget restrictions. Not saying this was the reason, but could easily have been at least part of the reason. Sherrer obviously was a backup hire, not sure Key had a lot of choices, bottom line we don't know what all was involved, but I'm happy with the move at this particular time, think it was needed, we all (including CBK I'm guessing) will see how it works out.
Someone mentioned that his LBs did not do well and that could also be out of Sherrer's control, he may not have been able to do what he wanted to do with what he had to work with under Thacker. In a Co-DC situation someone has to have the final say, probably was not Sherrer, if Thacker was calling the defenses.

 

[lv20gt]

Eh, I wasn't going down this road but I'll give you some advice.

It's rather unlikely we'll have anyone other than Key at HC for the foreseeable future. So, even if he wasn't your ideal choice, maybe swig on a little 'get over it' juice for your own sake. It'll be exhausting going into every discussion with that 'see I ain't even want him' dufflebag on yer back.

Take it from another who wasn't all-in on the hire initially. It's just not worth it carrying that torch.

Yours truly,

Concerned board-mate

Your concern is misplaced. I've completely gotten over it to the point I'm just sitting waiting for the next 2 and a half to three years to go by more than anything. Probably easier than trying to do the mental gymnastics it would take to delude myself into thinking Key is going to accomplish anything here.

 

[roadkill]

The issue here is, if you even remotely thought it'd be possible he could be fire-moted by game 4, why TF didn't you make a real change in the offseason?

That’s a valid question and one others have also posted. Thoughts: Key got enough extra staffing $ to turn over most of the offense-side coaching staff but wasn’t able to stretch it enough to go further (and Thacker was relatively cheap); Key being a former O-lineman is comfortable making decisions on Offensive staff but gave Thacker the benefit of the doubt on D since there had been flashes of good game-planning and player performance (UNC for example). At the same time, I think he hired Sherrer as insurance and kept Thacker on a short leash. Not saying Sherrer will be better but he seems to have a decent resume.

 

[wvGT11]

Eh, I wasn't going down this road but I'll give you some advice.

It's rather unlikely we'll have anyone other than Key at HC for the foreseeable future. So, even if he wasn't your ideal choice, maybe swig on a little 'get over it' juice for your own sake. It'll be exhausting going into every discussion with that 'see I ain't even want him' dufflebag on yer back.

Take it from another who wasn't all-in on the hire initially. It's just not worth it carrying that torch.

Yours truly,

Concerned board-mate

100%
Im tired of some on here, constantly whining about how key wasn't their choice. Hell I still see folks on Facebook complain that GT should have never let CPJ go.
Give it a rest, we are not firing another coach at least in the near future
I'll say what I said before, we gave Collins too long of a leash and he took too long to make any staffing adjustments or any adjustments on how the program was run. And essentially acted like nothing was wrong.

Key already took full accountability, something we rarely saw with Collins.
Also we really can only speculate why Thacker was kept,.could have been recruits, or money
But remember, Thacker improved immediately after Collins firing, so maybe that was it.

Overall just tired of the constant woe is us mentally, let's give key the support we never would have given Collins

 

[4shotB]

Your concern is misplaced. I've completely gotten over it to the point I'm just sitting waiting for the next 2 and a half to three years to go by more than anything.

You can lie to yourself. But please don't lie to us. You would NOT be here posting on the FB forum if you felt that way.

 

[Jacket0323]

That may be cause of the players.

Butch jones...... Geoff collins same coach

 

[wvGT11]

Your concern is misplaced. I've completely gotten over it to the point I'm just sitting waiting for the next 2 and a half to three years to go by more than anything. Probably easier than trying to do the mental gymnastics it would take to delude myself into thinking Key is going to accomplish anything here.

Gonna be a long two to three years for you. Why do you seek negativity with the program?
I get we were embarrassed yesterday and that it's been well 8 years or so since we fielded good team, but you really don't see ANY positives with key ?

 

[33jacket]

Its a 3-4 win team with 3-4 win mentality. That change means nothing. It’s a coach saving early face for crap on the field he is now in charge of

In short. Tech knows they are losing fans and alot of interest. The program is on life line. Every move now is a hail marry. Period.

 

[AugustaSwarm]

Edit to add: We will have plenty of posters who find the negative side of this event. I try to look at it as a positive in the sense that Key took decisive action. Also, we may not have seen all of the decisions yet.

I agree. It's good to see Key make a change - the head man has to pull the trigger and he did.

I'm okay with retaining Thacker for another job, but it was not working out with him at DC. I've been ready for this move for quite some time now, so I hope it works out for us. It couldn't get any worse, so here we go!

 

[AugustaSwarm]

You guys wanted change after yesterday. You got it. Be happy

I am. Very happy. I'm grateful that our head coach will hold people accountable for underperformance. It sets the tone and clearly states the expectations. It's what a good head coach does.

 

[bobongo]

That’s a valid question and one others have also posted. Thoughts: Key got enough extra staffing $ to turn over most of the offense-side coaching staff but wasn’t able to stretch it enough to go further (and Thacker was relatively cheap); Key being a former O-lineman is comfortable making decisions on Offensive staff but gave Thacker the benefit of the doubt on D since there had been flashes of good game-planning and player performance (UNC for example). At the same time, I think he hired Sherrer as insurance and kept Thacker on a short leash. Not saying Sherrer will be better but he seems to have a decent resume.

Good resume, but none as DC since high school (except as our "assistant DC"). Hope he works out. It's worth a try.