Tee Martin... back in the SEC

Former Vols star Tee Martin broke the news on his facebook page late Wednesday night.

"NSD is a wrap and it's time for change. I will be headed to Kentucky very soon,  joining the staff there. It's SEC time!! Let's go!"

Martin had spent the previous season as the quarterbacks coach at New Mexico, but has made no secret of his desire to get back to SEC country.  Martin will coach wide receivers for the Wildcats, as part of Joker Phillips' new coaching staff.

He'll get the chance to coach a couple of pass catching Alcoa alumns, Randall Cobb and Kyrus Lanxter.

It will be strange to see Martin wearing Blue and White in Neyland Stadium next November, won't it?  No matter what kind of coaching success he has, I'll always think of him as the Vols national championship winning quarterback.

I swas at the Carrier Dome in Syracuse, N.Y. the first Saturday in September of 1998.  I was working for the ABC affiliate in Watertown, N.Y. at the time, and remember that Tennessee/Syracuse game vividly.  Martin was nervous, as you could imagine for anyone starting their first college game, on the road, against a team led by Donovan McNabb.

Martin's numbers weren't Peyton-like.  But the results were.  Martin led the Vols on some key fourth quarter drives, setting up Jeff Hall's game winning field goal as the clock struck zero.  Tennessee won 34-33, and were on their way to a 13-0 record, and eventually a win in Tempe which snapped a 47 year drought.

Martin has proven that he is a winner.  Now, he get the chance to prove he can teach his players to win as well, and the nation's premier football conference.