Coaching
In the beginning of the season, a lot of Tennessee fans were incensed with head coach Butch Jones and the coaching staff. Most felt like the staff cost the Vols wins, and when a team blows 17, 14, and 13-point leads in three different games, that anger is completely understandable. But the Vols pulled out a win against Georgia for the first time since 2009 even after trailing by 21 points in the second quarter. And as bad as frustrating as the first half of the season was, the Vols closed strong and are currently on a 6-game winning streak to start the 2016 season.
Butch Jones and his staff seemed to learn from their mistakes during the second half of the season, but how much of that was them learning and how much of it was the quality of the competition softening? We’ll have to see in 2016. But this staff gets the grade they do because of both the good and the bad. They get penalized for costly decisions, like not going for two against Florida or calling a spy on Will Grier on 4th and 14, but they also get credit for piling up nearly 3,000 rushing yards and calling games effectively down the stretch. It was a mixed bag for the coaches, but overall more good than bad came from it.
Final Grades:
Daniel: B-
Nathanael: B-
Stephen: B-
Average Grade: B-
