Vols Coach Derek Dooley Speaks to Premier Partners
(Click image to view/download event photos)
July 29, 2010 - Six months on the job, new University of Tennessee head football coach Derek Dooley welcomed Chamber Premier Partners inside Neyland Stadium’s Wolf-Kaplan Center. Studio Four Design, Inc. and Rentenbach Engineering Company co-sponsored the exclusive event hosted by the University of Tennessee Athletics Tennessee Fund. Coach Dooley was energetic and excited when describing his anticipation of the upcoming season.
“It will be an exciting season,” he said. “Yes we have a lot of young players on this team but I believe in our young players. Our youth and inexperience doesn’t mean that we’re not good or that we’re not going to be real good. It only means that we have a lot of new faces.”
UT football has recently seen its share of ups and downs, particularly over the past two seasons. Dooley is the program’s third head coach in as many years but he reminded Premier Partners about the remarkable history enjoyed by Tennessee fans.
“Since the day General Robert Neyland came to UT, no college football program has won more games than Tennessee,” said Dooley. “That’s an incredible statistic. Going through the tough times has allowed us to evaluate every aspect of our program to determine what are some of the great things that have allowed us to win so often and to enjoy such stability (two coaches over 30-years). The evaluation process has also enabled us to figure out how we can start building a new era of success.”
One area that’s receiving a lot of attention is off-the-field player development. Coach Dooley and his staff seek to fill an often-ignored void. A void created by asking young athletes to possess competitive attributes that sometimes nurture damaging consequences.
“We really want our young athletes to become warriors,” Dooley said. “We then ask ourselves: ‘How could this happen?’ when these same qualities we’ve been training them to exhibit sometimes become destructive and toxic off the field. What we need to be focusing on is helping athletes of all ages understand that it’s OK to be a gentleman, vulnerable, have weakness, need help or walk away when they take their helmets off.”
The football program is currently setting up a new support system that will help solve this paradox. Vols For Life (VFL) will help football players learn how to develop life skills through character education and spiritual growth, and how to serve others after their athletic careers are over.
“VFL is a great term because all of our players want to be in the NFL but they all have to be a VFL and go professional as a man,” said Dooley. “We want all of our players to be Pro’s as men. We want and need to help our players launch a career after football.”
Coach Dooley and the Vols open up the 2010 season September 4 against UT-Martin. Visit www.uttix.com to purchase tickets to this or any UT football game.
For more information about the Tennessee Fund, log on to www.http://www.utsports.com/vasf/.
Studio Four Design is one of a few firms regionally that successfully combines multiple design disciplines within a single firm. With services inspired by the four dimensions - (line) Planning, (plane) Graphics, (volume) Architecture and Interiors, (time) Consulting – Studio Four Design’s name tells you why it’s here: for design. For more information about Studio Four Design, call (865) 523-5001 or visit the company’s website: www.studiofourdesign.com.
Founded on integrity and focused on excellence, Rentenbach Engineering Company will continuously strive to be the very best construction services provider, intent on achieving total client satisfaction. Through motivating, training, supporting and empowering our personnel, we will direct our efforts to providing superior quality, cost effectiveness and uncompromised performance. For more information about Rentenbach Engineering Company, call (865) 546-2440 or visit the company’s website: www.rentenbach.com.
Premier Partners Events are exclusive to members of the Knoxville Chamber Premier Partners Program. For more information about Premier Partner benefits, contact Michelle Kiely at (865) 246-2617.