Creature Feature-Will Shelton: LSU Needs a Volunteer To Coach Defense?

With college coaching casualties run amuck in 2008, it's widely believed that LSU will add its co-defensive coordinators (Doug Mallory and Bradley Dale Peveto) to the chopping block as well. LSU message boards are a buzz with many names to fill the upcoming vacancy. One of the most mentioned is former Tennessee Volunteer defensive coordinator John Chavis.

John Chavis was not retained by new head coach Lane Kiffin, who has sights set on his father Monte to coach the defense.

That leaves Chavis looking for a job and LSU having an opening.

When Nebraska hired Bo Pelini last year I got an email from a Nebraska fan wanting to pick my brain about Pelini since he was the defensive coordinator at LSU.

I think I wrote back more than what was expected and the Husker fan thanked me because the info that I gave was far better then what he was able to find on his own.

I was brutally honest on what I thought Pelini's  strengths and weaknesses were and more or less thought he was a great hire in Lincoln.

So with so much being said about Chavis here in Louisiana, I thought I'd turn the tables and ask someone who really knows his way around the Volunteer Nation about the possibility of John Chavis joining Les Miles' staff.

I turned to Bleacher Creature Will Shelton. To be as concise as possible about Will, I like his writing because he knows his stuff. He's one of those few writers that I will check out his new stuff as soon as I see it no matter the topic. Will is the founder of the Southeastern Sports Blog and a well respected writer here on Bleacher Report.

LSU fans want to hear what Vol fans have to say about Chavis. I pick Will's brain on Chavis and the goings on in Knoxville.

JG: As a Tennessee fan and writer, how do you feel about Chavis' tenure in Knoxville?

WS: Personally, I was and I remain a huge fan of John Chavis.  Tennessee defenses since his promotion to DC in 1995 have been in the top tier of the SEC almost every single season - his consistency to me is one of his greatest strengths.  There's a percentage of Tennessee fans who've voiced displeasure at what he's done over the last few years, but when you look at the numbers to me those concerns came more out of a general dissatisfaction with the program instead of specific issues with the defense - the Vols are 4th nationally in total defense right now with an offense that's ranked 116th in the same category.  With very few exceptions that can be attributed to inexperience and having to play Florida early in the season, I think John Chavis has been absolutely outstanding over the course of 14 seasons.

If you like numbers, in his tenure as UT's defensive coordinator the Vols gave up less than 300 yards per game (294 on average) and less than 20 points per game (18.8 on average). 

JG: "Soft zone" is a dirty word in Baton Rouge, how would you characterize Chavis' "style of play" or scheme?

Is it at all dependent on personnel or opposing offenses for that week?

WS: It's funny, soft zone might be the biggest complaint about Chavis' style. 

There was an NFL scout a few years back, and I can't remember his name, but in talking about Tennessee's defensive players he said "The Tennessee guys always have the run-hit philosophy:  they're fast, and when they get there they're in a bad mood."

Chavis has always employed a 4-3 defense that utilizes speed and athleticism.  When Tennessee was on top of the college football world in the late 90s, their defense was so tough to deal with because it combined these incredible athletes with an offense that allowed them to be super- aggressive and take chances; when Peyton Manning was your quarterback, you knew you could go full-tilt and gamble on defense and he had your back.  And they did.  All the Tennessee sack records that don't belong to Reggie White come from this era.

When Manning wasn't under center or the Vols didn't have an explosive offense, the defense could throttle back some but was still very capable of carrying the entire team - the Vols won the National Championship in 1998 with an inexperienced quarterback and the loss of Jamal Lewis because their defense put them on their shoulders the entire season.  That team established a mentality that Vol defenses have upheld, for the most part, ever since:  you will not drive 80 yards on us.  Whether by someone making a play (again, speed and athleticism) or by your quarterback making a bad decision against our coverage, you won't go 80 yards against us.  Long drives against Chavis defenses are few and far between. 

Under Chavis, the Vols have put guys like Leonard Little, Shaun Ellis, Darwin Walker, Al Wilson, Deon Grant, John Henderson, Al Haynesworth, Gibril Wilson, Jason Allen, and now Jerod Mayo in the NFL as starters.

Chavis has always been more about players than scheme, but even in the last few years when Tennessee's talent level has decreased, he still finds ways to maximize what's out there.  Even if he doesn't have NFL athletes, he'll put the right guy in the right spot to make a play with alarming consistency.  And putting guys in the right position is why Eric Berry has seven interceptions this season on a team that's really not spectacular on the defensive front and doesn't pressure quarterbacks to make hurried throws.

Getting back to the "soft zone"—Tennessee defenses were typically aggressive under Chavis, except in third down situations.  The biggest complaint Vol fans would have about him is what some would call "Third and Chavis", where the Vols employed their "Mustang" package—three down linemen, two linebackers and six DBs—and trusted athleticism in the secondary to make a play instead of going after the quarterback. 

Some of Tennessee's most heartbreaking 4th quarter losses can be attributed to the use of this package in late game situations—we helped make JaMarcus Russell the first pick in the draft using some of this package in 2006.

JG: I think JC used to coach from the sidelines but has since moved to the booth. Has this been a good move?

WS: Again, Chavis is so consistent I haven't noticed any difference whatsoever.  There's a great level of trust between Chavis and his defensive assistants (Dan Brooks, Steve Caldwell, Larry Slade) that helps him manage wherever he wanted to be on comedy.  Those assistants had also all been on staff much longer than most SEC schools keep guys around, which helped build that consistency.

JG: LSU's defensive discipline has dropped off this year not only with some brain lapses but also some lapses in the fundamentals mainly tackling. What's Chavis' coaching style individually with his players? Is he a hands on guy? An in your face guy? More of a guru? Has any of this changed with his move to the booth? Is he the kind of guy that commands respect from his players?

WS: Chavis is capable of being all of the above—he's very protective of his players, never ever threw them under the bus or called a guy out publicly.  He's also very hesitant with individual praise, so when he says something like "Eric Berry is the best defender in America", you know it's serious business with him.  The players respect The Chief from day one as far as I can tell - there have been issues with guys on the second team not working hard enough or being mature enough, but I think you find that problem to a degree anywhere. 

Chavis just does what he does—during Fulmer's last week, when everybody kept asking him how he was going to respond or get emotional, he said he'd just finish the game, change clothes, and go home.  He's just business like with a reputation that precedes him, and he worked on a staff that was very family-oriented—he and Fulmer meshed really really well together.

I wouldn't call him a guru, but he's certainly capable of being hands on and in your face. 

JG: Chavis has seemed to excel against pro style offenses in his career. With the advent of the spread offense especially in rival Florida (LSU plays Florida every year as well), how effective has Chavis been against the spread keeping in mind that most DC's in the country are working to gameplan against it effectively in recent years.

WS: The first two years Chavis saw the spread, the Vols crushed it—they gave up 16 points to the Gators in 2005 (and gave away 10 of those from special teams errors), and 21 in 2006.  Problem is, Florida won both those games.  But Chavis had the guys ready and put his athletes in the right spots. 

Same thing happened this year—Florida won 30-6, but scored a touchdown on a punt return and got another three on a cheap turnover inside our own 30, and Chavis held the Florida offense that looks so ridiculously unstoppable right now to less than 250 yards.  We just never ever helped him out on offense against Meyer's Gators.

In 2007, Tennessee was so young on defense that Florida torched them for 59 (45 actually given up by the defense).  But an important quality to know about Chavis is that his defenses always, always get better during the course of the year.

Admittedly, Chavis is not the best in the world at the halftime adjustment - the Vols do what they do and if you can figure out a hole in it, or if you drastically change what you do, Chavis is either stubborn or something else and we never adjust.  Why did LSU beat Tennessee in the SEC Championship Game in 2001 when Rohan Davey and LaBrandon Toefield went out?  Because we didn't make any adjustment to Matt Mauck.  Why did UCLA beat us this year?  Because when Kevin Craft stopped throwing deep over the middle after his fourth interception and just went to the short dumps, we didn't make any adjustment.

But Chavis is one of the best I've ever seen, ever, at making a defense better from September to November. 

In his first season, the Vols gave up 62 to Florida in September.  In January, they completely shut down Eddie George and Ohio State in the Citrus Bowl.  In '98, Donovan McNabb picked the Vols apart in the season opener.  Tennessee went on to win the National Championship on the strength of that same defense.

The same defense that got shredded by Florida and Cal in September '07 put the clamps on Georgia in October, shut down Darren McFadden and Felix Jones in November, and played LSU off its feet in the SEC Championship Game. 

He's too stubborn to make a solid halftime adjustment.  But I promise you he'll adjust better Monday-Friday than anyone else.

And back to the question, the spread isn't what Chavis had the most trouble with - it's the power option.

Go back and watch the two bowl games against Nebraska, the 2001 Cotton Bowl against Kansas State, or a 2006 game against Air Force where the Vols had to stop a two point conversion to win 31-30.  The Power Option is undefeated against John Chavis.  Don't schedule Georgia Tech.   

JG: That's funny if LSU's bowl projection rumors are true. Ok, role play time: You're Phil Fulmer, I'm Les Miles. I'm calling you b/c we have our DC position open and we wanted to look at John Chavis to possibly fill it. Would Chavis be a good fit for LSU and how glowing would your recommendation be?

WS: I'd say Phillip Fulmer would give Chavis a five-star recommendation, and if Fulmer wanted to coach again right now (which I don't think he does, not this year anyway) he'd take Chavis with him in a nanosecond.  He'd also take the defensive assistants. 

Letting Chavis recruit defensive players with Les Miles and the more talented state of Louisiana to pull from?  Oh, I'd like that very much.  The Vols had a history of going out and getting the best players and Chavis was a big part of that - on that list of NFL starters I used earlier, only Al Wilson and John Henderson were from the state of Tennessee—everyone else Chavis went out and got.  With a better talent pool to start from, I shudder to say it, but Chavis defenses could be even better.

Chavis is going to give you rock-solid defenses.  It's not a cute style and he's really boring at the podium.  But those kids are going to come to work for him every day and every single play, he's going to put them in the right spots, and let their natural talents do the rest.  If I was LSU I would love to have him, and as a Tennessee fan if this happens I'm glad we don't play you next year.  And I won't be glad when we do in 2010.

 

JG: Let's move to the Tennessee side of things. Were you in favor of Fulmer's "retirement" this year? How will he go down in Tennessee lore? Any chance you'll be attending games in Neyland-Fulmer Stadium one day?

WS: Fulmer would never go for Neyland-Fulmer Stadium, and under AD Mike Hamilton we've started naming everything else under the sun; when Peyton Manning only gets a street (which Fulmer already has) and the locker room named after him, you know we've been busy. 

I was in favor of Fulmer, as early as the week after the Florida loss, announcing that 2009 would have been his last season.  You don't want your guy to go out at 5-7, but you can't stay as divided and frustrated as we were.  Hundreds of Alabama fans in season ticket holder seats sealed Fulmer's fate as much as the outcome of that game did. 

I think this was just the move that had to be made—I hated it the day it happened, but watching him ride off on the shoulders of his offensive linemen was a good moment.  And now we've moved on because the new guy is already out there telling four star kids they're not for us. 

He'll still go down in Tennessee lore as the guy who took us to the promised land. Almost none of the fans who follow the Vols today were old enough to be there in 1951 when we last won it all, so 1998 for almost all of us was the best moment of our sports lives.  And Fulmer (and Chavis) get all the credit for that. 

I hope that Fulmer takes a year off and then comes back and says "You know what, I'd love that administrative position you offered me."  Not sure that's realistic, but I can't see that man wearing something other than our shade of orange.  And I'd love to have him as Lane Kiffin's psuedo-mentor.  But if I got what I wanted we wouldn't be 5-7 right now. 

JG: You approved of the Kiffin hire in your latest article.

So far, it seems Kiffin has done a great job of assembling what's there so far of his staff. Kiffin has proved that he can recruit at USC but USC practically recruits itself. One knock I heard on Fulmer from Tenn fans was that recruiting had fallen off as of late under Fulmer.

Tennessee doesn't have the in state talent of some other SEC schools. Is Kiffin's biggest challenge going to be getting four and five-star out of state athletes to come to Knoxville? Or will it be something else?

WS: Kiffin's biggest challenge, I think, will be survival.

He's in a great position right now because Tennessee won't possibly face anything harder next season than we went through in 2008—even if we're 0-12, you won't have the emotional turmoil and divided fanbase over firing a guy who's given you 35 years of his life and a National Championship.  And the Tennessee offense was so atrocious this year - again, 116th in total yards—Kiffin could do better by accident.

But his name—and it's not his name, it's his father's name, it's the names of the NFL coaches he's worked with, Pete Carroll and the names of every USC player from the first half of this decade—the names have evaporated any shred of patience Vol fans might've had with a new coach.  Had it been Brian Kelly, we would've bought into a rebuilding process more. 

With Kiffin, those faint beliefs that we're still a good football team right now will only be amplified.  And in an SEC that clearly throws coaches to the wolves and where you can go from the Georgia Dome to home for the holidays (and likewise, from 6-6 to No. 1), Kiffin will need to do something big early to survive.  When Mike Shula was at Alabama, I thought what he did in 2005 qualified as big.  I was wrong. 

That starts with recruiting, yeah.  Tennessee had the 6th best class nationally (according to Rivals) before Fulmer's announcement; we've lost some kids and now it's down to 10th.  And Kiffin has already told a four-star QB commit that he doesn't fit our new system—and I love the honesty, it's just that when you look at how totally inept our quarterback play was all season in 2008, if we're telling a four star kid he doesn't work, I hope Kiffin's got something else up his sleeve.

He also needs to understand that "locking up the state" is great...but Knoxville is six hours away from Memphis and much closer to Atlanta, Cincinnati, Charlotte, and Louisville.  So getting the in-state kids is always good, but Tennessee's success has been built on recruiting not just the south, but nationally - some of our best players in the last ten years have come from west of the Mississippi.

Nonetheless, to his credit Kiffin said in the press conference that people say it's easy to recruit at USC, and it is...now.  When he started USC was 6-6 and coming off a loss to Utah in the Las Vegas Bowl.  They have the same facilities there now they had when OJ Simpson was playing (his quote).  He helped establish that culture, and he was the one who got them recruiting nationally (LenDale White, Mike Williams, etc.) 

The SEC is a crowded field, and he's got his work cut out for him.  Bruce Pearl said when he came to Tennessee that new coaches need to win all the games they're supposed to, establish the culture early, and win some of the ones they're not supposed to.  That's a great model for Kiffin—win the non-conference, keep beating Kentucky and Vanderbilt and you've got six wins right there.  Get a big win early (and at this point UCLA would qualify next year) to establish that good things can happen. 

And then just win a couple of those bigger SEC games—that was Fulmer's problem this year, he never beat anybody of enough merit to stop the snowball from rolling downhill.  If Kiffin can establish himself well enough to survive the first three years, I think he'll be fine.  And in those three years, if he recruits well the Vols can build the talent base back up so that we'll have more than six games that we should win.

JG: Which happens first: The Vols in a BCS Bowl game or the Vols in the Final Four?

WS: Yikes...good question.

The Final Four thing all depends on who we catch in the tournament.  Last season the Vols were as good as they've ever been, but the draw was a total nightmare - even if we'd gotten past Louisville, North Carolina would've been waiting.  But in Pearl's first two seasons, the Vols got spectacular draws and just failed to take advantage of them.

The SEC is screwy in football and while I think Florida and Alabama are safe in Atlanta again next year, if the rest of the conference falls off again an SEC team that went 10-2 in the next couple of years could have a shot at the BCS.  I'll roll the dice on a favorable draw and say the Final Four, cause I think Pearl and the Vols aren't going anywhere on the basketball court.  Kiffin could sneak in there at some point sooner than people think, but I need to see it first.

JG: Lastly, how deep do the Vols go in the NCAA tournament this March?

WS: Again, the draw.  This is a team that's playing four freshmen and a juco transfer heavy minutes—they're going to get better as the season progresses.  And they're already pretty good.  The SEC is down and the Vols are, in my estimation, clearly the best team in the conference right now. 

It's hard to build in basketball when you're good because players leave early, and this will be the last year for Tyler Smith (who just got the first triple-double in program history last night)—so part of me wants to say they'd better go deep this year because they won't do it without him, but we're already doing it without Chris Lofton. 

Everytime I underestimate Bruce Pearl I'm wrong—I thought there was no way the Vols would take Georgetown in the Old Spice Classic, and they won by a dozen.

I think winning the SEC will set the Vols up with nothing less than a 3 seed - I'm gonna say the Elite Eight simply because that's our current ceiling - we're 0-4 in program history in the Sweet 16.  I think this team can break that barrier...and depending on the draw and the shooting touch come March, who knows...