No longer under renovation: Bobby Johnson opened the new wing of Commodore football

by Diezba on Jul 15, 2010 4:45 PM EDT in Vanderbilt Commodores Football

I am sure that I'm not the only Vanderbilt fan who dreaded going through the news coverage of Bobby Johnson's abrupt retirement announcement. And, as I read the Tennessean's website, I realized that Joe Biddle did not disappoint:

As I was walking to my car after the press conference, I could see the scaffolds and construction under way on the football offices at McGugin Center. A sign let you know it was a renovation project. It seems Vanderbilt football has been undergoing renovation for the last 30 years. Bobby Johnson stepped aside to let someone else give it a go. Vanderbilt's latest football victim got out before it buried him alive.

Joe Biddle: Vandy football eats its own; ask Bobby Johnson

This is the kind of nonsense that plagues our football program. As the ~~sharks~~ reporters were circling around Bobby Johnson yesterday, they kept asking him if he'd "improved the program." They wouldn't shut up until Vice Chancellor David Williams literally brought out the Music City Bowl trophy and set it next to the podium.

To the folks at the SEC mainstream media, the only storyline that comes to mind when they think, "Vanderbilt," is "dore-mat" (and any other clever pun they can come up with).

To be fair, the reality that Coach Johnson has raised the level of our program is sometimes acknowledged with an update of the classic Vanderbilt stereotype: no more are we the "Commode-dores," now we're "the plucky underdogs who are usually doomed to utter failure but sometimes, occasionally, when the planets align just right, when there's a blue moon, when the cows are home, whilst the pigs are in the air, and an angel flies over the stadium humming 'Dynamite,' actually beat a football-factory 'university' from around the SEC."

Biddle and his ilk can keep recycling the columns they publish every time Vanderbilt does a coaching search, pontificating and moaning about how difficult it is to compete as a college athlete when you actually have to be a college student-athlete.

Meanwhile, new interim head coach Robbie Caldwell would do well to take a page from David Williams' book: just show them the Music City Bowl trophy—not to mention the newly renovated stadium (and the plans to continue renovating it) and the new, multi-million dollar football office renovations that Biddle so blithely dismisses—and challenge them the way Bobby did: to compete with the best football players in the country on Saturdays and the best students in the country on weekdays.

There'll be plenty of takers.

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I'm Fired Up

after reading this. Nice work!

Anchor of Gold

by KingJamesIV on Jul 15, 2010 4:51 PM EDT reply actions

Nice first article

Welcome aboard.

http://www.anchorofgold.com - For all 27 Vanderbilt fans out there.

by Train Island on Jul 15, 2010 6:29 PM EDT reply actions

From a UT fan/student and a Nashville native

I was listening to 104.5 The Zone as Plaster broke the story and followed it as it developed throughout the day. I couldn’t be happier for Coach Johnson, as he was able to walk away from coaching on his own terms. At the same time, I couldn’t be more sympathetic for Vandy. Though I’m a UT student and fan, I love football (I’m an aspiring coach), and I hate to think that CBJ’s retirement will make Vandy less competitive.

I was born, raised, and have lived in Nashville/Middle Tennessee my entire life, so I’m able to appreciate the frustration that comes with being a Vandy fan. Vandy deserved Coach Johnson, and it’s tough for me to imagine how the next coach, be him Caldwell or someone else, will live up to or surpass the standards that CBJ set.

I had been thinking in the days before CBJ’s retirement about Vandy’s struggles on offense, and I have a suggestion: run the triple option. I think Vandy should recruit Paul Johnson from Georgia Tech or one of his acolytes after the season to install the flex-option offense, keep the defense the same, and use the competitive advantages that the option offers to take Vanderbilt football to the next level. Just a thought.

Sorry for your loss. I wish you all the best in this and future seasons.

If I hit a hole-in-one on this grand slam the dominoes will fall like a house of cards. Checkmate.

by jasonkylebates on Jul 16, 2010 6:16 AM EDT reply actions