Off The Hook Sports for Thursday, Jan. 12, leads with news of Tennessee football Josh Heupel earning the Fan Favorite Coach of the Year for this year’s Bear Bryant Awards. TCU Horned Frogs Sonny Dykes was officially named the Coach of the Year.
That led to a debate over which coach overcame more obstacles to lead his team to a top six finish in the nation. Caleb Calhoun made the case for Heupel in the SEC, but Dave Hooker discussed why Dykes has a case.
A debate also raged over which non-conference team Tennessee football fans want to beat the most. The first teams named were the Florida State Seminoles, Ohio State Buckeyes, Notre Dame Fighting Irish and Miami Hurricanes.
This is based on an article by Jimmy Hyams about Jacob Warren saying he focused on beating the Clemson Tigers when he first arrived on rocky Top. Obviously, schools like the Texas Longhorns and Michigan Wolverines could be named too.
In the second block, the podcast went down the list of potential candidates to replace Alex Golesh as the Vols’ next tight ends coach. Joey Halzle’s promotion to offensive coordinator as Golesh’s replacement there leaves a vacancy.
The podcast goes down the list of names in an article written by Calhoun Wednesday night, and Hooker gives a thumbs up or thumbs down to each name. There are some national names, some internal names and some shocking names on the list.
John Calipari becomes a topic of conversation in the final block. Hooker makes the case in a column on Off The Hook Sports right now that he is in a situation similar to Tennessee football head coach Phillip Fulmer given his hot seat as head coach of the Kentucky Wildcats right now.
As a result of that conversation, the podcast goes down a path over the moves the Vols made before and after firing Fulmer, and yes, Lane Kiffin comes up once again. What Kentucky should do becomes a major topic of conversation.
