It’s being reported that Coach Fulmer has tapped Richmond Spiders’ Head Coach Dave Clawson as the new offensive coordinator at Tennessee. As well as serving as the offensive coordinator, Clawson will also serve as the quarterbacks coach. Along with Clawson may come Latrell Scott, who served as Clawson’s assistant head coach and recruiting guru at Richmond. It is anticipated that Scott would be coaching wide-receivers at Tennessee.

Clawson impressed Fulmer and the nation as he lead the Spiders to 11 wins and the Football Championship Series (I-AA) semifinals where they were defeated by ultimate champion Appalachian State. Clawson is generally viewed as an offensive specialist who uses a wide-open attack. This represents a departure from the run-geared offense that Tennessee has run since … well, pretty much forever.

For what it’s worth (and that isn’t much) I am thrilled with this hire. The last thing Tennessee needed was more of the same — which is exactly what the other major candidate for this post, former Meee-che-guun offensive coordinator Mike Deboard, represented. This could be a turning point for Tennessee both philosophically and and in terms of wins and losses. This is exciting news, and bodes well for the future.

Given the fact that Clawson is young, it stands to reason that he might … someday … be a logical successor to the Great Punkin‘.

Change can be a good thing. I’m glad Phillip Fulmer realized that — now we just have to see if he is willing to commit to it like he needs to. The way he does that is by letting Clawson have free reign over the offense, and maybe mix things up a bit.

This comes only a few days after Punkin’ hired Stan Drayton from Florida to take over as running backs coach. Whether Fulmer will hire a tight-ends coach, a special teams coach, or other offensive coach to round out the Tennessee staff remains.

Now it’s time to start getting ready for next season…

- Go Figure …

Update:

Well, it’s now official, and there is a great discussion of Clawson and his abilities over on Loser With Socks. Check it out.

About the Author:  "Lawvol" -- I'm just a guy living in North Carolina who has an unnatural fascination with the color orange. Just because I'm a Tennessee alum and die-hard Volunteer fan doesn't mean that I can't poke a little fun at the Big Orange and anybody else for that matter. Feel free to complain all you want. >> Read more from this author

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