One of the most noticeable things about the Tennessee Vols’ offense this season — outside of a surprising lack of production — has been the lack of creativity.
A year ago, it felt like the Vols were always a step ahead of opponents with new wrinkles and creative looks.
Tennessee was true to its offensive identity — up-tempo spread attack that runs the ball and creates explosive plays in the passing game — but they also consistently gave defense’s new looks, which kept opponents from honing in too much of UT’s tendencies.
This season, it’s felt like the Vols have used the same 7-8 plays the entire season while rarely introducing new wrinkles.
Josh Heupel’s system isn’t going to change. And I don’t think it needs to change. He had incredible success with it in 2021 and 2022. It works. But it needs to consistently evolve for it to continue working.
This season, it just never evolved. It became stagnant. That’s in part because the Vols received average quarterback play at best. But it’s also in part, I believe, because the coaching staff just wasn’t very innovative with play calls.
To survive in the SEC, you have to constantly evolve. That doesn’t mean completely changing the system, but it does mean making subtle changes from time to time.
Alabama head coach Nick Saban is a master at this. It’s why he’s been a force in the SEC for over 15 years now.
One way he does this is by bringing in fired head coaches to serve as analysts. Saban is always looking to learn from what other coaches have seen. And it works.
Because of Heupel’s system, and because of the continuity he values on his staff (which I believe is important), he can’t bring in just any fired head coach as an analyst. It wouldn’t make much sense, for example, for Heupel to bring in recently fired Texas A&M head coach Jimbo Fisher as an analyst.
For one, I don’t think Fisher would fit into Heupel’s culture. Secondly, Fisher’s offensive philosophy doesn’t come anywhere close to aligning with Heupel’s. That’s not a relationship that would be fruitful for either party.
But bringing in someone like recently fired Syracuse head coach Dino Babers could definitely make sense.
Babers, who was fired by Syracuse on Sunday, has his roots in the same Art Briles/Baylor-like offense that Heupel runs at Tennessee. Babers, who by all accounts is a great guy and would seemingly fit in well with Tennessee’s culture, coached under Briles at Baylor from 2008 to 2011.
That experience combined with his time as a head coach in the ACC since 2016 has almost certainly left Babers with a wealth of knowledge. Just because he didn’t work out at Syracuse doesn’t mean he doesn’t have plenty to offer a program.
The one problem with the continuity that Heupel has created on his coaching staff is that it has the potential to create a bit of an echo chamber where new ideas struggle to be introduced.
Bringing in someone like Babers could provide some fresh ideas while not deviating too much from Heupel’s offensive philosophy.
It isn’t a hire that’s going to suddenly guarantee that Tennessee goes 15-0 in 2024, but I still think hiring Babers as an analyst (if he would be on board) could be very beneficial for the Vols.
