Thursday, November 04, 2004
Hopelessly Devoeted to You
Here's an
update on our old pal Don Devoe.
If it's right job, DeVoe may be back
But ex-UT basketball coach likes retirement
By DAVE LINK, Special to the News Sentinel
November 1, 2004
Don DeVoe is a happily retired basketball coach - at least for now.
DeVoe, who coached at Tennessee from 1978-1989 and Navy from 1992-2004, does not rule out the possibility of a return to coaching.
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"Right now I'm 62 and just enjoying life," said DeVoe, a guest speaker at the Tennessee Basketball Coaches Clinic over the weekend. "I might look for some coaching opportunities if they came available.
"I can be very honest and say my wife Anna, likes me not coaching. But I feel like I'm young enough that if someone wanted to give me an opportunity again I probably would try it."
DeVoe says there is a good chance he will move to Knoxville next year.
His son, Elliott, is a 6-foot-5 freshman walk-on at Tennessee.
Don DeVoe, his wife and their daughter, AnaLise, still live in Annapolis, Md., where the U.S. Naval Academy is located.
Last February, DeVoe announced he would retire from Navy when his 12th season as its coach was completed.
"I think (the chances of moving to Knoxville) are better than 50-50 right now," DeVoe said. "As much as we enjoy living in the metropolitan area of Baltimore and Washington, D.C., we've always enjoyed Tennessee. Again, we want to try to make the move as soon as my daughter graduates from high school."
When DeVoe announced his retirement last winter, there was speculation he might join Tennessee's coaching staff.
DeVoe is known as a defensive specialist and a strict, no-nonsense coach.
"I think what happened there was a lot of interest more than anything about my retiring from the Naval Academy," DeVoe said of speculation he would assist UT coach Buzz Peterson this season.
"In talking with a lot of the sports talk people you have here in Knoxville, we started talking about my son, Elliott, coming to the University of Tennessee and trying out for the basketball team, so the story kind of took a life of its own, so to speak, and everybody started assuming coach DeVoe was going to come here.
"The truth is, that's how they learned of Elliott coming to Tennessee is when I retired, there was some interest in just talking to me about my career, and then they learned Elliott was going to come to school here and some people started assuming you were going to do other things."
DeVoe was 204-137 in 11 seasons at Tennessee and led the Vols to seven NCAA Tournaments and two NITs. The Vols reached the NCAA Tournament's second round in each of his first five seasons (1978-83) and the third round in 1983-84.
"I still think I'm the only coach in the SEC that's ever had the good fortune to win three games in one season against Kentucky (in 1978-89, his first season)," DeVoe said.
His last team at UT (1988-89) was eliminated in the first round of the NCAA Tournament.
DeVoe said he would consider any level of coaching except the NBA.
"That's one level I've never had an interest in," he said. "I've never felt like I'd be as effective coaching in the NBA."
DeVoe posted eight consecutive winning seasons at Navy and won or shared five Patriot League regular-season titles and won three league tournament titles.
However, his last three Navy teams had losing records, and the 5-23 record in 2003-04 was the worst of DeVoe's career.
"We didn't do well the last three years," DeVoe said. "The league changed. It was a non-athletic scholarship league when I arrived and then it became an athletic scholarship league and that really makes it tough for the academies.
"Academy recruiting is extremely difficult because you have to have kids that are basically A or B students with high SATs and a military commitment. It became a real big challenge when the Patriot League went to athletic scholarships."
@ 10:51 AM
Here's an
update on our old pal Don Devoe.
If it's right job, DeVoe may be back
But ex-UT basketball coach likes retirement
By DAVE LINK, Special to the News Sentinel
November 1, 2004
Don DeVoe is a happily retired basketball coach - at least for now.
DeVoe, who coached at Tennessee from 1978-1989 and Navy from 1992-2004, does not rule out the possibility of a return to coaching.
Advertisement
"Right now I'm 62 and just enjoying life," said DeVoe, a guest speaker at the Tennessee Basketball Coaches Clinic over the weekend. "I might look for some coaching opportunities if they came available.
"I can be very honest and say my wife Anna, likes me not coaching. But I feel like I'm young enough that if someone wanted to give me an opportunity again I probably would try it."
DeVoe says there is a good chance he will move to Knoxville next year.
His son, Elliott, is a 6-foot-5 freshman walk-on at Tennessee.
Don DeVoe, his wife and their daughter, AnaLise, still live in Annapolis, Md., where the U.S. Naval Academy is located.
Last February, DeVoe announced he would retire from Navy when his 12th season as its coach was completed.
"I think (the chances of moving to Knoxville) are better than 50-50 right now," DeVoe said. "As much as we enjoy living in the metropolitan area of Baltimore and Washington, D.C., we've always enjoyed Tennessee. Again, we want to try to make the move as soon as my daughter graduates from high school."
When DeVoe announced his retirement last winter, there was speculation he might join Tennessee's coaching staff.
DeVoe is known as a defensive specialist and a strict, no-nonsense coach.
"I think what happened there was a lot of interest more than anything about my retiring from the Naval Academy," DeVoe said of speculation he would assist UT coach Buzz Peterson this season.
"In talking with a lot of the sports talk people you have here in Knoxville, we started talking about my son, Elliott, coming to the University of Tennessee and trying out for the basketball team, so the story kind of took a life of its own, so to speak, and everybody started assuming coach DeVoe was going to come here.
"The truth is, that's how they learned of Elliott coming to Tennessee is when I retired, there was some interest in just talking to me about my career, and then they learned Elliott was going to come to school here and some people started assuming you were going to do other things."
DeVoe was 204-137 in 11 seasons at Tennessee and led the Vols to seven NCAA Tournaments and two NITs. The Vols reached the NCAA Tournament's second round in each of his first five seasons (1978-83) and the third round in 1983-84.
"I still think I'm the only coach in the SEC that's ever had the good fortune to win three games in one season against Kentucky (in 1978-89, his first season)," DeVoe said.
His last team at UT (1988-89) was eliminated in the first round of the NCAA Tournament.
DeVoe said he would consider any level of coaching except the NBA.
"That's one level I've never had an interest in," he said. "I've never felt like I'd be as effective coaching in the NBA."
DeVoe posted eight consecutive winning seasons at Navy and won or shared five Patriot League regular-season titles and won three league tournament titles.
However, his last three Navy teams had losing records, and the 5-23 record in 2003-04 was the worst of DeVoe's career.
"We didn't do well the last three years," DeVoe said. "The league changed. It was a non-athletic scholarship league when I arrived and then it became an athletic scholarship league and that really makes it tough for the academies.
"Academy recruiting is extremely difficult because you have to have kids that are basically A or B students with high SATs and a military commitment. It became a real big challenge when the Patriot League went to athletic scholarships."
@ 10:51 AM
