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Vanderbilt Coach Surprises Team by Calling it Quits
Vanderbilt isn’t always making the biggest headlines in college football, but last week, they were the biggest news in the sport.
Former Roswell Star ‘a little shocked.’
By John Breech/STAFF
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| Photo by Kent McCorkle Chris Boyd was ‘a little shocked’ when he heard his new coach was retiring. |
Vanderbilt isn’t always making the biggest headlines in college football, but last week, they were the biggest news in the sport. On Wednesday morning, 8-year veteran head coach Bobby Johnson surprised everyone in the program when he abruptly decided to retire.
In a press conference Wednesday afternoon, Johnson offered no specific reason for his unexpected announcement, only saying, “I’ve decided to retire, not resign. It’s a tough decision with which my wife Catherine and I struggled.”
“Football is not life, but it’s a way of life and it consumes your life,” Johnson went on to say. “You only have so many years to live and you want to see a different way.”
Former Roswell football star Chris Boyd, an soon-to-be Vanderbilt freshman who signed with the Commodores back in February, learned about Johnson’s departure the way most of the players did: sitting in a summer class.
Boyd’s dad Steven, says Johnson’s retirement was a surprise to his son. He says Chris was, “A little shocked [the team was only two weeks in to workouts] and disappointed, especially not knowing who the new coach will be.”
In Wednesday’s press conference, Vanderbilt Vice chancellor David Williams announced that offensive line coach Robbie Caldwell would be the interim coach for the entire 2010 season. After the announcement, the elder Boyd said that he thinks Caldwell is “a good man and a good coach.” Caldwell has coached 15 total years with Johnson, seven at Furman and eight at Vanderbilt.
Although Johnson didn’t give specifics on why he was retiring, the coach and the program have gone through a few rough patches lately both on and off the field. Last season, Vanderbilt went winless in SEC play for the first time since Johnson’s first year with the school in 2002.
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| Special/AP After eight seasons at Vanderbilt, head football coach Bobby Johnson decided to retire on Wednesday, just two weeks before workouts were set to begin. |
Even more painful was the devastating loss of top recruit Rajaan Bennett. Bennett, an Atlanta native and the highest rated play to ever sign with Vanderbilt, was shot to death in Atlanta, in a tragic murder-suicide back in February.
Johnson coached at Vanderbilt for eight seasons. In 2008, he led the Commodores to the second bowl win in school history – the first one since 1955 – when the team knocked off Boston College 16-14 in the Gaylord Music City Bowl, which was played just miles away from Vanderbilt’s Nashville campus. The Commodores finished the 2008 season with a 7-6 record, which was their first non-losing record since 1982.
Johnson will finish his Vanderbilt tenure with a coaching record of 89-102 (12-52 in the SEC). The 59-year-old also guided Furman to the I-AA National Championship game in 2001 before taking over at Vandy in 2002.
Vice Chancellor Williams has assured interim coach Caldwell that a search for Vanderbilt’s new head football coach will not take place during the 2010 season.
The Commodores kick off the 2010 season on September 4 in Nashville when they play host to Northwestern.
