Saturday, November 13, 2010

Is David Williams Softening the Ground for a Coaching Change?

Jeff Lockridge's piece in today's Tennessean is incredibly interesting, especially in light of the reports that surfaced last weekend when Vanderbilt was getting throttled by Florida. Vice Chancellor David Williams talks about his displeasure with the Commodores' performance this season. That, however, is not the story. Williams cites lack of competitiveness as perhaps the most disappointing aspect of this season. I couldn't agree more. Consider this: between 2005-2009 Vanderbilt lost 9 games by 21 points or more; this season, the Commodores have lost 4 games by 3 touchdowns or more (and there's still 3 games left to play). I get that 3 of the 9 21+ point losses were last season, but somehow this season feels worse

I am on record as being completely in the tank for David Williams. I think he has done a fantastic job spearheading Vanderbilt athletics and that the Commodores, as an athletic program are in better shape now than when I started in 2001. And despite this criticism he has taken in the comments section here and on other Vanderbilt sites, this article says to me not only that he's listening, but that he also gets its. As Williams says, "There's losing and there's losing." This years losses have been of the particularly bitter variety.

Williams admits the last 3 games will be important in evaluating Coach Caldwell and his staff. Vice Chancellor Williams concludes with this: "You want to be fair [to Coach Caldwell]. But I'm committed to making this program competitive. And we'll do what we need to do to make that happen." Vanderbilt fans can't ask for more.

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

If you haven't contact VU to demand a coaching staff change yet, all the contact info remains right here...

http://hiremikeatvandy.wetpaint.com/

Anonymous said...

^ ^ ^ ^ ^ ^ ^
what he said