Mark WiedmerEvery fan of a Southeastern Conference football program will almost certainly agree the perfect coaching hire - regardless of the position - would be someone who would not only strengthen his or her favorite team's staff but also weaken that of a league rival.
By that measuring stick, the University of Tennessee has now delivered the goods twice. Athletic director Phillip Fulmer struck first when he lured Volunteers head coach Jeremy Pruitt away from his defensive coordinator's post at Alabama in December 2017.
Pruitt masterfully continued that concept Wednesday, when he convinced offensive coordinator Jim Chaney to leave Georgia and return to UT for a second stint in that same position.
If Pruitt can find a way to raid the staffs of Florida and Vanderbilt of similar talent in the near future, the Vols just might return to the SEC title game by 2020 at the latest.
OK, so even the greatest of football minds are somewhat hamstrung by their talent, and UT's talent may be as low as we've seen since the earliest days of Johnny Majors in the mid-to-late 1970s. If the good news for Chaney is he has 11 offensive starters back, the bad news is he has 11 starters back from one of the most inept offenses in the conference.
Still, to return to the original point of this column, does anyone anywhere who watched Monday's College Football Playoff title game between Alabama and Clemson not believe a Crimson Tide defense directed by Pruitt would have been an improvement over a unit that gave up an average of 35.3 points its final three contests this past season?
Yes, the talent was less, but Bama's defense surrendered an average of 18.3 points over its final three games in the 2017 season with Pruitt running the show.
Now let's focus on Chaney, whose offenses are the model of consistent excellence, regardless of where he's been or the talent he's had at his disposal.
Within the SEC this season, Georgia finished as the league's second-highest scoring team at 37.9 points per game, its leading rushing team (238.79 yards per game) and its fifth-best team in total yards (465 ypg).
Contrast that with the Vols, who were 13th among 14 SEC schools in points scored (22.75 per game) and last in rushing (129.08 ypg).
But to better appreciate Chaney's offensive gifts, let us return to the disastrous 2012 campaign, when the Vols fired Derek Dooley one week shy of three full seasons, turning the reins over to Chaney for the finale against Kentucky.
The Wildcats had actually beaten UT the previous season, snapping a 26-game losing streak to the Vols. But not with the mild-mannered, bespectacled Chaney running the show against Big Blue. In becoming the only coach in Big Orange history to go undefeated during his tenure - even it was but one game - the Vols rolled to a 37-17 victory.
Yet it was the entire body of work that impressed that year. Despite one of the truly woeful defenses in SEC history - UT gave up an average of 37.3 points per game that year prior to the victory against Kentucky - Chaney's offense averaged 36.2 points.
Moreover, to back up Pruitt's Wednesday quote that Chaney "has adapted his offenses to his players' strengths He's had years where he has guided one of the nation's top passing offenses and years where his offenses have been near the top in rushing," that 2012 team was second in the SEC in passing and scoring while this past year's Bulldogs, as previously mentioned, were first in rushing and second in scoring.
Does this mean the Vols are guaranteed to improve dramatically in 2019?
Not necessarily. Injuries have wrecked this program for several years. Among its SEC opponents, only Kentucky and Missouri figure to be noticeably worse - and UT split with those two this past season. That said, in its current makeup, the Vols' roster does seem blessed with quality receivers and running backs, especially Ty Chandler, who led the Vols with 630 rushing yards as a sophomore in 2018. In addition, Jarrett Guarantano, when he's not running for his life, has shown promise at quarterback.
Unfortunately for the Big Orange, veteran offensive line coach Sam Pittman, also a former UT assistant, isn't expected to follow Chaney to Volsville. Because current line coach Will Friend is well-respected, that may not matter - but a package deal for Chaney and Pittman would have really damaged the Dawgs and elevated Tennessee recruiting.
Yet Chaney alone is a wonderful get for Pruitt in his attempt to return the Vols to a bowl for the first time in three years.
"I just think he's one of the brightest minds in all of college football," Pruitt said of his new coordinator during a Knoxville radio interview Wednesday.
And Pruitt adding him, even at the premium price of $1.6 million a year, will go down as one of the brightest coaching hires of this offseason, much to the chagrin of the rest of the SEC.
Contact Mark Wiedmer at mwiedmer@timesfreepress.com.