<TABLE cellSpacing=0 cellPadding=0 width="100%" border=0><TBODY><TR><TD class=yspsctnhdln>Tennessee names Cutcliffe offensive coordinator</TD></TR><TR><TD height=7><SPACER width="1" type="block" height="1"></TD></TR></TBODY></TABLE><TABLE cellSpacing=0 cellPadding=0 width="100%" border=0><TBODY><TR><TD>By ELIZABETH A. DAVIS, AP Sports Writer
November 28, 2005
KNOXVILLE, Tenn. (AP) -- David Cutcliffe is back in his old job at Tennessee with the task of reviving the Volunteers' lackluster offense.
Coach Phillip Fulmer introduced his former assistant as the new offensive coordinator on Monday.
Cutcliffe replaces Randy Sanders, who resigned Oct. 31 during Tennessee's four-game losing streak. Speculation centered early on Cutcliffe and never wavered, making the announcement mainly a formality.
Cutcliffe, a very close friend of Fulmer, was on the Vols' staff for 17 years and coached such quarterbacks as Peyton Manning and Heath Shuler and then Eli Manning at Mississippi.
"I am extremely excited about the opportunity to get back to work with an outstanding group of coaches," Cutcliffe said. "Three or four months ago this wasn't even an option. ... Circumstances changed obviously and this became a reality again. I have a great love for the University of Tennessee."
"I had made a decision I wasn't going to go back in as an assistant coach but there was only one place out there I would be honored and thrilled to do that."
Tennessee finished the season 5-6 with a victory at Kentucky on Saturday, marking the first losing season since 1988. The Vols' streak of 16 straight bowl games was snapped.
They began the season No. 3, but the offense struggled throughout the season and was among the least productive in the Southeastern Conference and Division I-A.
"Obviously a change was needed. One important item for me in this process was to hire one of the best and brightest offensive minds in the country and I needed a person that was an outstanding teacher, communicator and disciplinarian and had great experience, particularly in the Southeastern Conference," Fulmer said. "We have all these things in David Cutcliffe."
While Cutcliffe was offensive coordinator from 1993-98, the Vols went 63-11 and won three SEC East crowns and two SEC championships.
Cutcliffe was the offensive coordinator at Tennessee in 1998 but was hired away to be head coach at Mississippi at the end of the regular season and did not coach in the Vols' national championship win over Florida State. Sanders succeeded Cutcliffe.
Cutcliffe led Ole Miss to a 10-3 record in 2003 with Eli Manning at quarterback. The Rebels fell to 4-7 last season, and Cutcliffe was fired. He was hired by Notre Dame's new coach Charlie Weis to be an assistant earlier this year. But Cutcliffe resigned that post a few months after he had triple bypass heart surgery.
Cutcliffe and his family moved back to Knoxville this summer, and he has kept himself busy as a fixture on several radio and television sports talk shows.
Cutcliffe signed a two-year contract for $300,000 annually.
On Sunday, Fulmer fired two assistants -- receivers coach Pat Washington and offensive line coach Jimmy Ray Stephens. One of Cutcliffe's main jobs will be preparing quarterbacks Erik Ainge and Jonathan Crompton for next season. Ainge rotated as the starter this season with Rick Clausen, a senior. Crompton sat out his freshman year to recover from shoulder surgery. "We're going to start back from scratch," Cutcliffe said.
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Of Dantonio and Hoeppner, I think it's way too early to say Dantonio took over an "unfixable" program at UC. That's a team with virtually no winning tradition, but they are also very new to their BCS conference and all the money and perks that go with it, so I say just give 'em some time.
