Manning Urges Patience with New UT Coach Dooley

Earlier this month, Peyton Manning noted that he had positive first impressions of new Tennessee coach Derek Dooley. Specifically, Manning advocated giving Dooley time to establish his principles and new system.

Dooley, who will be Tennessee's third head coach in three years, deserves the patience Manning advocates. Tennessee is nowhere near ready to compete for an SEC title and will be lucky to make a bowl game this season. If Dooley's regime stabilizes and improves the team over the next few years, recruiting will benefit and Tennessee will be back on the map. While UT fans are understandably bitter about former Tennessee coach Lane Kiffin's early departure, I can't help but believe that's going to be a good thing in the long run. Kiffin, who has literally accomplished nothing significant as a coach, was a major NCAA sanction waiting to happen.

In other SEC news, Alabama has almost finished their $65,000,000 in upgrades on the south-end zone project for Bryant Denny Stadium. When completed, Alabama's stadium will hold over 101,000 fans. Only Ohio State, Michigan, and Penn State have the ability to hold more fans. There is no recession when it comes to the business of SEC football! So just imagine the picture below, but even bigger! (Picture licensed under Creative Commons. Creative Commons does not endorse the opinions in this blog.)