Dooley wants more discipline off the field in his first season at Tennessee. (Staff Photo)

Staff Report
(July 24, 2010)

HOOVER –New Tennessee coach Derek Dooley has a job to do and it doesn’t have anything to do with football.

Dooley spent much of the morning at SEC Media Days on Friday discussing the various incidents involving Tennessee football players and what he must do to change the moral landscape of the program.

“It starts with a head coach setting some expectations,” he said. “I have done that and been specific. but it certainly doesn’t solve the problem. We saw what happened several weeks ago. Just getting up there and lecturing the team isn’t the answer. There is a tremendous educational component.”

Dooley has started the “Vol for Life” program to help educate players.

“It has nothing to do with football or academics,” he said. “It has everything to do with character education, life skills, career development, community service, spiritual growth. In time, we will see the effects of that.”

Bynes: Tigers can take something from Alabama loss

It was a sting but Auburn linebacker Josh Bynes believes some good came from the Tigers’ late-minute loss to Alabama last season.

“That last drive, matter of fact, that last play, it was a very good play, it wasn’t expected,” Bynes said. “They (Alabama) did a good on their part to execute. On our side, we were upset and angry, but we had a nice bowl game against Northwestern.”

Bynes watched Alabama in the BCS Championship game and saw a few wrinkles the Tigers’ defense could take.

“We put a big emphasis on getting to the ball,” he said. “When we watched the Alabama game, there were lots of hats, sometimes five guys to the ball. That’s what we’ve got to do, starting with camp, is getting guys to the ball.”

Miles on the hot seat? He thinks maybe so

It may have been somewhat of a surprise to see the LSU Tigers picked to finish fourth in the SEC West this year.

That may explain why coach Les Miles does indeed feel the heat of the fans to begin the process of moving back to the top of the conference.

"After last season we looked at those things that we need to do to put this team in a position to win a championship," he said.

The lowlight of 2009 came when LSU was unable to get off a play deep in Ole Miss territory as the clock expired. Miles answered by adding two-minute drills every day during preseason workouts.

"If you looked back over the time here, the number of games that we’ve won in two-minute situations, we need to re-up the understanding of what might happen in some of those clock management situations, both as players and coaches," Miles said.

Nutt, Rebels on the other end of the spectrum

This time last year, Houston Nutt was fielding questions regarding the prospects of playing in the school’s first SEC Championship game.

In a year’s time, those expectations are much different.

“What you really want to guard against is you want to embrace (expectations),” Nutt said, “but at the same time, you got to be ready to help your team if the bubble pops.

“The bubble bursted on us in South Carolina Thursday night. It was a very difficult schedule to go from Saturday to Thursday night, especially no matter where you play in the SEC, each stadium is the best in the country, the atmosphere. South Carolina is awesome on Thursday night.”

The Rebels enter 2010 with the expectations much lower. The Media picked them to finish fifth, which Nutt jokingly said, “thank you” when told of the pick.

“Ole Miss, we’ve never had one team go to the Atlanta championship game. That’s where we want to go. That’s where we want to get to. One day we’re gonna be there. But it’s very, very difficult,” Nutt said.