Assistant Gets Dickey's Job

KNOXVILLE -- Bill Battle, an assistant coach at Tennessee for the past four years, was named head football coach Saturday, succeeding Doug Dickey who resigned Wednesday to become head coach at Florida. Battle, only 28, becomes one of the youngest head coaches at a major college in the country.

An Alabama graduate, Battle played for coach Paul (Bear) Bryant' s Crimson Tide in 1960-62 and was an outstanding end. He served as a student assistant coach under Oklahoma's Bud Wilkinson in 1963 and then was on Paul Dietzel's staff at Army for two years before coming to Tennessee.

Battle devised the Vols' computerized scouting system and handled the pass receivers under Dickey. Battle and Doug Knotts, the Vols' defensive coach, had been considered the leading contenders for the post, along with former volunteer Johnny Majors, the All-America tailback who is head coach at Iowa State.

[source: upi]