VTTW Board Index

  Talking to some Alabama A&M folks about Sunseri. Sunseri was DC for Alabama A&M down here in 1998 & 1999, and according to these Alabama A&M folks he was a disaster for them too. For the two years he was DC the points allowed per game rose fairly dramatically, more than it had been in many years (sound familiar?). Then when left (they said before he was fired) the points allowed per game again dropped by a pretty healthy percentage.
  Now get this, they asked "me" why Dooley ever thought Sunseri would make a good DC for a place like Tennessee. Because, they said, "A&M wouldn't have even hired him back as "their" DC". Sometimes the more you know, the more you wonder.

I don't want to defend Sunseri because I think he's a terrible DC. But this intrigued me so I looked up the numbers. Alabama A&M gave up an average of 21.3 ppg in 1997, the year before Sunseri got there, 21.6 ppg in 1998, 20.9 ppg in 1999 and 18.9 ppg in 2000, the year after he left. What interested me was if you remove Tennessee State, which throttled AAMU both years Sunseri was there, that scoring average drops to 17.9 ppg.

Sunseri actually spent a year as Illinois State's DC in 1994. ISU gave up 17.4 ppg that season, compared to 19.9 ppg the season before and 17.5 ppg the following season.

Anyway, this shouldn't stand in the way of the fact that Sunseri should've been fired about three weeks ago. One of Neyland's maxims should have been that if you give up a school-record 700+ yards to Troy, you're fired immediately. (Actually, I'm pretty sure that if a UT team had given up 700+ yards to anyone while Neyland was the AD, the entire staff would've been fired immediately.  :biggrin: )

Edit: The better question is why I'm sitting on the toilet at 3:30 a.m. crunching numbers in the midst of a season in which I've already stated that I've entered DGAS mode.  :eek:

I think we should remove Neyland's statue for as long as the defense is in this state.  No reason the General should have to watch this mess.  Heck, I'm surprised it hasn't spontaneously combusted already.

I don't think I would fire Sunseri. If I were Dooley as the HC at UT next season (assuming he is), I would demote Sal to LB coach, cut his pay, keep the  term, and hire another DC. That would of course mean that someone on the defensive staff or ST coach is relieved of their duties to allow for the hire. This way, we do not pay a buyout and let Sal determine if he wants to stay as LB coach and lean on his recruiting abilities in the mid-Atlantic and NE or find another job. But he would not be running the defense next season.

Can't cut his pay. That's in his contract.

Eww!

I was thinking their would be some sliding scale with the buyout, but after looking at his contract there is not.

Don't try to return that laptop.  It's been flagged. :dance:

Creek, glad you looked it up, I was too tired to do the same. I thought it interesting that the overall opinion or impression of these guys was completely negative towards SS, pretty much similar to ours. You might give ambien a try, or maybe even some benefiber :smile:.....get you some sleep man! :sleep: 

What?? I do my best work from the john.  :nod:

DGAS, or CGAS?  CGAS would explain the long post.   :laugh:

This should be the last defensive coordinator job Sunseri gets