HOOVER, Ala. — Dooley: Working on image.
New Tennessee Coach Derek Dooley did a stand-up job handling questions regarding the bar fight several Volunteers were involved in July 9.
Dooley, who had been out of town, hustled back to Knoxville to immediately “put my arms around” the situation. He announced the dismissal of sophomore defensive back Darren Myles Jr. and the indefinite suspensions of defensive tackle Marlon Walls and linebacker Greg King. The status of freshman receiver Da’Rick Rogers, a heralded recruit who was arrested on charges of disorderly conduct and resisting arrest,is still under review.
“Certainly our image is not where we want it to be now,” said Dooley, who maintained the actions he took were not about sending a message.
“I did what I thought was the responsible thing to do as the head football coach,” Dooley said.
Dooley has started a new program for the players that he calls VFL, or Vol For Life.
“It’s important because you know we put so much emphasis on football, we put so much emphasis on academic support, which we should,” Dooley said. “But there’s a little area out there that sometimes we neglect. ... That’s your personal growth as a man.”
“We’ve got a lot ofbulletproof issues. We’ve got a lot of entitlement issues we need to work through.” Ziemba zone
Auburn tackle Lee Ziemba of Rogers was one of several players at SEC media days walking around with a phone or video device, making live videos of his experience in Hoover.
Ziemba stood out, however, with his long hair and his 6-8 frame, the tallest player invited to the gathering. Ziemba’s Flip camera activity in the large print media room included a planned encounter and closeup of Arkansas Democrat-Gazette sports editor Wally Hall.
He also sat down at his interview table and taped media members, saying he thought his footage would be used by Auburn’s marketing department.
“Not everybody gets to do it, so it’s pretty special,” Ziemba said. “I want to remember it, too.”
Sports, Pages 23 on 07/24/2010