Stength Coach and more Tidibits

Tidbits to start with:

• Baseball starts today playing a Top-25 Xavier for a 3 game series. This team is suppose to be Coach Raleigh’s best to date and is expected to make a NCAA Tourney/World Series run. Cody Haun from South Doyle has been ranked as high as 31st pick in the 1st round in early mock drafts. This is by far the most talented team UT has had a while. Go Vols!
• Tennessee has spoken with TE Eric Maclain within the past day or two and appear to be on good terms though they still have not gotten him to recommit. I honestly believe that this was just a miscommunication issue resulting from the coaching change.

• The vols have hired a graduate assistant, Peter Sirmon. He was a linebacker for the Titans from 2000-2006 and was a roommate of Justin Wilcox at Oregon. Assistant Titans Head Coach Dave McGinnis said this about Sirmon : “Pete is extremely smart,” McGinnis said. “He really understands the game. You don’t have to spend much time with him to know he’s a great person and has a great family. His personality makes him a natural in dealing with college players and someday I think he will be a great recruiter. The thing that tells me he understands the coaching business and really wants to be a coach is that he is willing to do what it takes from the bottom up. He has understood that being an NFL player wasn’t going to get him a job. It helped him with some contacts and interviews, but there are a lot of guys out there trying to be coaches who are qualified. In my experience, the guys who become good coaches are the guys who are willing work up from the bottom and Pete’s clearly willing to do that. Once he gains the trust of the players and he will do so quickly because of the person he is, Pete will be a tremendous resource for players to learn from. Again, I have spent a lot of time with him and he gets it. I have been doing this for along time and Peter Sirmon is going to be an excellent coach.”
• News from offseason work outs are encouraging as Nick Reviez is recovering nicely from his ACL injury and is running again and is expected to be in agility drills soon. Quarterbacks are working on accuracy issues and release. Tyler Bray has bulked up but still has work to do, at least its encouraging to see he can get bigger quickly.

Bennie Wylie

Age: 33.

Position: Head strength coach.

Coaching Experience: Texas Tech assistant/head strength coach (2005-09); Dallas Cowboys assistant strength and condition coach (2002-05); Sam Houston State University assistant strength coach.

Notable: Worked behind the scenes during a memorable 2008 season for the Red Raiders and helped the team to a 46-18 record over his five seasons. … Was a running back at Sam Houston State from 1994-97.

I think that Coach Wylie will be a huge and valuable addition to this staff. He punishes the kids for not going to class by making them run his very own “Tower of London” drill where they have to run up and down the practice field with a cinder block above their head until he tells them to stop. He is also very innovative in his techniques. Brent Hubbs reported that He has been holding voluntary sessions at the Allen Jones Aquatic Center for the team in order to stress agility maneuvers and breathing techniques that should help players increase oxygen capacity in their lungs and thus aid endurance. As for explosion, players at times drop 8 feet below the water and then are instructed to rocket through the water as quickly as possible. Some 12-15 players seem to be attending regularly, and the number is growing weekly. These innovative ideas and his hard working ability make Wylie a very valuable piece to this staff.

Also another interesting fact is that the Entire Coaching staff is getting up and to work early to be there for earlier morning work outs with the players as a bonding experience. This is great to see and at least Dooley gets his players and wants them to know whats going on in advance lol.