Jimmy’s blog: UT recruiting rankings didn’t match won-loss record under Jones

Jimmy’s blog: UT recruiting rankings didn’t match won-loss record under Jones

Posted on June 29, 2018

Former Tennessee coach Butch Jones didn’t get fired because he didn’t recruit well.

He was fired because of defections, injuries and players not always playing hard.

And – the biggie — lack of player development.

The latter might have been the biggest undoing.

Jones’ recruiting classes averaged a top 15 in the last four years. It didn’t translate to a top 15 program.

Yes, Tennessee did win nine games two years in a row and won three consecutive bowl games.

But in Year Five, the Vols stumbled to depths never seen before at UT: a 4-8 record and 0-8 SEC mark.

That’s why Jones is a consultant at Alabama.

And it’s why Jeremy Pruitt is Tennessee’s new coach.

Can Pruitt do a better job of evaluating, of player development, of putting players in the right position?

Only time will tell.

But it’s obvious Jones was unable to get the most out of his players on a consistent basis.

The raging debate in Knoxville was this: How much of UT’s performance was lack of player development v. signing overrated players.

“I think that’s a fascinating question,’’ McElroy said.

McElroy said practices under Jones didn’t feature repetitions by third and fourth team players or, as McElroy put it: “Guys that are developmental, that need reps.’’

Thus, “as soon as Tennessee experienced injuries, the backups were  nowhere near where they needed to be in order to make sure that the losses weren’t significant,’’ McElroy said.  “That’s why the injuries Tennessee has had over the last couple of years, they’ve been serious, they’ve been significant.’’

McElroy said the “massive dropoff from starters to backups’’ had a huge impact on Tennessee and was “problematic because you’re going to have attrition in the SEC. It’s a physical conference and injuries are a part of the game, unfortunately.’’

McElroy added: “I  think the program didn’t do a great job of taking the talent the high school players had and developing them, allowing them to reach their potential.

“That’s what I think has changed with Jeremy Pruitt and his staff.’’

McElroy said the four and five star players must play beyond their ratings. Few at UT did under Jones. In fact, most played below their star level.

“(Recruits) need to play well beyond five-star caliber when they’re juniors and seniors,’’ McElroy said. “They can’t come in as a four-star and be a four-star when they leave. They need to come in as a four star and leave as an eight star.

“We just didn’t see that enough (under Jones).’’ 

McElroy said the workouts under Pruitt have been grueling and that players are doing things they “never envisioned. If you talk to any player, they’ll say this spring has been miserable because the practices are so much more intense. There’s reps all the time. There’s competition all the time. That’s necessary to building the foundation for a program that wants to compete for championships in the near future.’’

Sponsored by Big Kahuna Wings: The wings that changed it all  

 

Joan Cronan to Receive Corbett Award

Posted on June 29, 2018
Credit: UT Athletics

WASHINGTON, D.C. – Former University of Tennessee Women’s Athletics Director Joan Cronan is being honored Friday at the 2018 National Association of Collegiate Directors of Athletics (NACDA) & Affiliates Convention at the Gaylord National Resort & Convention Center in Washington, D.C.

Cronan, who also served as NACDA president in 2008-09, has been selected as the recipient of the 52nd James J. Corbett Memorial Award, the highest honor one can achieve in collegiate athletics administration. She will be recognized at the James J. Corbett Awards Luncheon sponsored by Under Armour.

“Joan has been in the front row of every leadership position within NACDA during her time on campus and still is today in her retirement, as she is a familiar face at many of our annual meetings,” said NACDA Executive Director Bob Vecchione. “Throughout her illustrious career, the Association has grown and prospered. This is evident in that we are expecting more than 7,000 attendees at our 53rd Convention in Washington, D.C. This year after just four months, 29 women were hired as athletics directors across the country, and that is due in large part to the path that Joan paved for women in sport. I am proud of her peers for recognizing her with this prestigious award.”

The Corbett Award is presented annually to the collegiate administrator who “through the years has most typified Corbett’s devotion to intercollegiate athletics and worked unceasingly for its betterment.” Corbett, athletics director at Louisiana State University, was NACDA’s first president in 1965. Additionally, Cronan will receive an honorary degree from the Sports Management Institute (SMI), an educational institute sponsored by NACDA and the universities of Georgia, Michigan, North Carolina, Notre Dame, Southern California and Texas, and automatic induction into the NACDA Hall of Fame.

Cronan is the first female to receive the Corbett award since 2010 (Barbara Hedges, University of Washington) and the only recipient to graduate from LSU, the institution where the Corbett name became synonymous with the highest levels of success in athletics administration.

“Receiving the Corbett award and being honored by your peers is so very special and humbling,” said Cronan. “So many people helped and supported me along the way, it is difficult to name just a few. I hope I can give back in a similar way to those who are just beginning in this industry. NACDA has played a critical part in my professional and personal life. I have often said, ‘A leader is a person with a vision AND a sphere of influence to make it happen.’ NACDA increases all of our spheres of influence.”

Taking over as women’s athletics director at UT in 1983, she gradually expanded the program from seven to 11 sports, and helped increase annual giving to support women’s athletics from $75,000 to more than $2 million per year. During her 29-year tenure (1983-2012), UT won 10 NCAA Championships, 22 SEC regular season titles and 33 league tourney trophies, finishing first or second in the SEC All-Sports Award race six times.

The success by Lady Vol teams was matched by an expectation for excellence in the classroom and a philosophy of giving back to the community. A history-maker and member of several halls of fame, she holds the distinction of becoming the first female athletics director for the entire department at UT when she served as Interim Vice Chancellor and Athletics Director in 2011.

 

UT Athletics

Manning Inducted into CoSIDA Academic All-America Hall of Fame

Manning Inducted into CoSIDA Academic All-America Hall of Fame

Posted on June 29, 2018
Caption: UT Athletics

KNOXVILLE, Tenn. – Legendary Tennessee quarterback Peyton Manning was inducted into the College Sports Information Directors of America (CoSIDA) Academic All-America Hall of Fame on Thursday.

The 2018 four-person class was inducted on Thursday night during the Academic All-America Hall of Fame Induction Ceremony at the CoSIDA and NACDA convention in National Harbor, Maryland. Fellow inductees included San Jose State two-sport athlete and civil rights icon Harry Edwards, former Washington State kicker and 21-year NFL veteran Jason Hanson, and former FIU and major league baseball player Mike Lowell.

Created in 1988, the CoSIDA Academic All-America Hall of Fame recognizes former Academic All-Americas who received a college degree at least 10 years ago, have achieved lifetime success in their professional careers, and are committed to philanthropic causes.

“When I enrolled at the University of Tennessee I aspired to be the best student possible academically as well as the best athlete possible on the field,” Manning said. “I was fortunate to be selected Academic All-SEC in addition to being named Academic All-America. I admire all other individuals who achieved this status as well and I am honored again to join such a select group of former student athletes who are entering the CoSIDA Academic All-America Hall of Fame.”

Manning is the NFL’s only five-time Most Valuable Player and a 14-time Pro Bowl selection. He has earned his rightful place among the greatest quarterbacks in league history as a leader in nearly every statistical passing category. He also was the first starting quarterback in NFL history to win a Super Bowl with two different teams (Indianapolis Colts, Denver Broncos).

Prior to his standout NFL career, as the quarterback at the University of Tennessee, Manning epitomized the term “student-athlete.” In addition to setting 43 records at the school, conference and national levels, he graduated with Phi Beta Kappa honors. Manning was an Academic All-America® and Academic All-SEC selection in 1996 and 1997. By his junior year in 1996, he had earned enough credits to graduate, but bypassed the NFL draft that year to return to the Vol football team.

As a college senior, he was a First Team All-American, the Maxwell Award Winner, the Davey O’Brien Award Winner, the Johnny Unitas Award Winner, and the Best College Player Award Winner.

He led Tennessee to an SEC Championship as a senior in 1997 and earned consensus All-America honors. Following his senior season, Manning was honored with the Sullivan Award for the nation’s top amateur athlete based on character, leadership, athletic ability and the ideals of amateurism.

In 1997, he also won the Draddy Award, which honored the National Scholar-Athlete of the Year.

Manning was selected by the Colts as the first overall pick in the 1998 NFL Draft and went on to help transform Indianapolis into consistent playoff contenders, leading them to eight division championships, two AFC championships, and one Super Bowl title. Manning then spent four seasons in Denver (2012-15), where he led the Broncos to two Super Bowl appearances and a Super Bowl 50 victory. He also earned MVP honors following the 2013 season.

Peyton and Ashley Manning established the PeyBack Foundation in 1999 to promote the future success of disadvantaged youth by assisting programs that provide leadership and growth opportunities for children at risk. The Foundation has become a consistent and viable contributor in Colorado, Indiana, Tennessee, Louisiana and beyond providing more than $13 million in grants and programs since its inception.

Among his charitable and community service national recognitions, Manning was honored as the recipient of the Byron “Whizzer” White Humanitarian Award and the NFL’s Walter Payton Man of the Year in 2005, the Bart Starr Award in 2015, and the Lincoln Medal in 2017. In February of 2018, Manning became the 10th recipient of the Lamar Hunt Award for Professional Football, which honors the legacy of Lamar Hunt, the Chiefs’ founder. The award aims to recognize those who have helped to shape the NFL.

-UT Athletics
Blake Shelton’s First Memory of Lake Texoma: “My Mom Screaming”

Blake Shelton’s First Memory of Lake Texoma: “My Mom Screaming”

Posted on June 29, 2018

Oklahoma native Blake Shelton’s 11th studio album, Texoma Shore, was recorded at his home studio on the banks of Lake Texoma, a destination on the Texas/Oklahoma border where Blake vacationed with his parents as a young child.

“As a kid growing up, we used to call it just ‘going to the lake,’” says Blake to Nash Country Daily. “There’s an area down there called Cumberland Cove and Catfish Bay. That’s where Dad would keep his boat. That’s where we always went—any kind of [holiday] like Fourth of July, Labor Day weekend, Memorial Day weekend. We had a crappy houseboat when I was a little kid, I mean like maybe 3 years old, 4 years old. I have a memory of my mom carrying me into the houseboat for the first time that year, and it was full of bugs and things—you know, packed full of bugs and stuff. My [first] memory is my mom screaming at all the bugs. Isn’t that nice and peaceful?”

The “peaceful” memory notwithstanding, Blake loved Lake Texoma so much that he built a house on its shores after moving back to Oklahoma in 2006.

“I’m from Ada, Oklahoma—I moved to Nashville in 1994, and I was here for about 12 years,” says Blake. “I just decided I wanted to go back home in 2006, and I did. I moved back to southern Oklahoma, and it took a while, but I finally built a home down there right on Lake Texoma. When I did, I put a studio down there—this has been a couple of years ago—with the intention of someday using this studio to make music here at my home. I finally got the opportunity with this 11th album.”

Lake Texoma has already spawned one No. 1 single, “I’ll Name the Dogs,” with the album’s second single, “I Lived It,” approaching the top spot on the charts (currently No. 3 on Billboard’s Country Airplay chart).

photo by Jason Simanek

Watch Florida Georgia Line Light Up the Countryside in New Period-Piece Video for “Simple”

Watch Florida Georgia Line Light Up the Countryside in New Period-Piece Video for “Simple”

Posted on June 29, 2018

Florida Georgia Line’s Tyler Hubbard and Brian Kelley released a new video for their current single, “Simple,” which is the first offering from their upcoming fourth studio album.

Filmed at Nashville’s historic plantation house Travellers Rest and directed by Justin Clough, the period-piece video flashes back to a “simpler” time to tell a love story.

“‘Simple’ felt just right to start our next chapter and I’m so proud of this video,” says Tyler. “The ease in this song, this storyline, it’s all so reflective of where we are right now in our own lives . . . enjoying the little—and simple—things.”

“With this feel-good tune, we’re going back to basics, the stripped-down roots,” says Brian. “We’re so excited that fans are vibing with its simple nature.”

“The song ‘Simple’ was born on the road on the Tree Vibez Bus,” says Tyler. “That was just a special song that was born out of an idea that I kinda had—just living in a world where things get so complicated and everybody seems to want to complicate things. Majority of the time, I just find that for us it’s just easy to keep it simple. There’s no need to complicate it, especially when it comes to love and [our] relationships with our wives and our families. Just a little reminder to simplify things every now and then and have a good time while you do it.”

“I think Tyler and I both knew and our whole team kinda knew that ‘Simple’ was probably gonna be the first single off of this next project,” says Brian. “We just feel like it’s the next step for FGL. It has a fresh sound and it’s just a good time to put it out. It’s a good time to live simply as much as things can get complicated.”

Penned by Tyler, Brian, Michael Hardy and Mark Holman, “Simple” was produced by longtime studio collaborator Joey Moi.

With more details coming soon, FGL’s next album will follow 2016’s Dig Your Roots, which spawned No. 1 hits “H.O.L.Y.,” “May We All” and “God, Your Mama, And Me.”

Watch the new video for “Simple” below.

 

photo by Ryan Smith

Kenny Chesney Honored With “Hero Award” by St. John School of the Arts

Kenny Chesney Honored With “Hero Award” by St. John School of the Arts

Posted on June 29, 2018

Eight-time CMA and ACM Entertainer of the Year Kenny Chesney can add another trophy to his mantle courtesy of the St. John School of the Arts in the Virgin Islands.

St. John School of the Arts—which empowers the island’s youth through music, dance, theater and visual arts—presented Kenny with the Sis Frank Hero Award, an annual award given out by the school in memory of its founder.

After Hurricane Irma destroyed much of the island in September 2017—including Kenny’s home—the country music superstar mobilized his team and founded the Love for Love City Fund to help victims of the storm. In addition to flying medical supplies to the island and airlifting dozens of people and more than 1,000 pets to the United States, Kenny donated “several truckloads of keyboards, guitars and sound equipment to the School of the Arts to replace instruments damaged by the storm,” reports The St. Thomas Source.

Kenny took matters a step further when he flew 26 students and faculty from the School of the Arts to his June 9 concert at Philadelphia’s Lincoln Financial Field. Before the show, Kenny was surprised when the school members presented him with the Hero Award.

“This is so beautiful and so unexpected,” said Kenny, according to The St. Thomas Source. “I’m so excited you are here . . . The silver lining is how much [the storm] brought so many people together. It’s a musical family, it’s a beautiful family.”

Proceeds from Kenny’s upcoming album, Songs for the Saints, which drops on July 27, will support the Love for Love City Foundation.

photo by AFF-USA.com

Randy Houser Returns to Airwaves for the First Time in 2 Years With New Single, “What Whiskey Does” [Listen]

Randy Houser Returns to Airwaves for the First Time in 2 Years With New Single, “What Whiskey Does” [Listen]

Posted on June 29, 2018

It’s been two years since we’ve heard new music from Randy Houser, but that’s about to change as the Mississippi native returns to the airwaves on July 23 with a new single, “What Whiskey Does.”

Penned by Randy, Keith Gattis and Hillary Lindsey, “What Whiskey Does” also features backing vocals from Hillary. The tune is primed to be the lead single from Randy’s as-of-yet-announced upcoming album, which will be the follow-up to 2016’s Fired Up.

“Coming off such a big year in 2017, I really wanted to get back to the basics, experiment with sound and make music that inspired me,” said Randy. “‘What Whiskey Does’ was born from a mission to forget about all of the bells and whistles, relax and just create music that felt good to make.”

Over the course of his decade-plus career, Randy has scored a handful of No. 1 songs, including “How Country Feels,” “Runnin’ Outta Moonlight” and “We Went.”

Listen to “What Whiskey Does” below.

photo by Jim Casey

Aaron Tippin Talks Career Highlights, Turning 60 Years Old, Performing for the Troops, Releasing His New Cherry Wine & More

Aaron Tippin Talks Career Highlights, Turning 60 Years Old, Performing for the Troops, Releasing His New Cherry Wine & More

Posted on June 28, 2018

Jim Casey talks with Aaron Tippin about:

  • turning 60 years old on July 3
  • staying active in the gym
  • dropping his debut album, You’ve Got to Stand for Something, in 1991
  • going on his first USO Tour with Bob Hope
  • continuing to perform for the troops for almost 30 years
  • the hardest job he’s ever had
  • getting branded as a “working man” by his label in the early ’90s
  • his career ambition of flying
  • picking up a guitar for the first time after his brother was killed
  • his favorite song, “He Believed”
  • a new crop of country stars like Michael Ray and Jimmie Allen who cite Aaron as an influence
  • the possibility of releasing new music
  • his love of songwriting
  • his busy summer tour schedule
  • teaming with Tennessee-based Stonehaus Winery for his Kiss This Sweet Cherry Wine

Show Participants

  • Aaron Tippin
  • Jim Casey, NCD editor in chief

Kip Moore Opens New Rock Climbing & Hiking Lodge in Kentucky

Kip Moore Opens New Rock Climbing & Hiking Lodge in Kentucky

Posted on June 28, 2018

Kip Moore is parlaying his love of great outdoors into a new business venture.

Kip partnered with one of his longtime friends to create BedRock at the Red, a lodging facility tailored for outdoor enthusiasts in Rogers, Ky.

The lodge boasts a 1,400-square-foot community space, full kitchen, women’s and men’s family-style bathrooms with multiple showers and dressing rooms, private rooms and a community bunk room.

BedRock at the Red: photo courtesy GreenRoom PR

“This space is something I’ve been really looking forward to being ready,” said Kip “Every part of the lodge has been intricately thought through, and hopefully encourages guests to connect on a community level. I love to rock climb in my spare time and I think we’ve created something pretty special.”

The lodge is centrally located to world class crags, scenic hiking and minutes from Muir Valley and the Mountain Parkway. The facility is also equipped for weddings, retreats and group gatherings.

photo by Jason Simanek

Larry Gatlin Is on a Mission to Recover His Stolen Grammy

Larry Gatlin Is on a Mission to Recover His Stolen Grammy

Posted on June 28, 2018

Larry Gatlin is on a mission to recover his lone Grammy, which he won in 1977 for Best Country Song for “Broken Lady.”

Larry told the Tennessean that the trophy was stolen from the Gatlin Bros. Music City grill in the Mall of America in the 1990s.

“In this charged, heated atmosphere of politics that we live in . . . where I believe that very little is viewed through the prism of what is true and what is right and wrong . . . I have a question for someone in America out there,” Larry says. “You have Larry Gatlin’s Grammy for ‘Broken Lady’ for Song of the Year. It’s on your mantel or somewhere in your house. What do you tell people when they come over and ask you how you got Larry Gatlin’s Grammy?”

After more than 20 years, Larry just wants his Grammy back—no questions asked, no charges pressed.

“I’ll give you a written statement that I won’t prosecute you,” says Larry. “You can just say you bought it at a pawn shop.”

There’s a monetary reward as well. Anyone with information can email [email protected].

photo by Tammie Arrroyo, AFF-USA.com

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