I'm not sure all your statements are accurate. First, the story I read was that Smart asked Chaney to come, and Chaney said he would if Smart could get Pittman to coach the OL. That's not quite the same as "Cheney was brought in as a package deal". Smart went after Chaney. Chaney was the one who asked for Pittman.

Second, this statement is false, "Cheneys offense is built to set up the pass with the run". Chaney's offense has been quite pass heavy at times in the past. In fact, some Vol fans were accusing him of ignoring the run and relying too much on passing. The last two seasons he's had true freshmen at qb, so he structured his offense around his most reliable weapons, i.e. Chubb and Michel, instead of a couple of freshmen who weren't quite ready to be a major college qb. That's a case of a smart coordinator who uses what the roster gives him.

Third, there's no rule that says a "spread" offense is superior. We did very well without it this year and plenty of times under Richt too. If the personnel fit, a well run pro-style offense is tough to defend, and it's been used quite successfully in the NFL against big fast defenses.

This post was edited on 11/29/17 at 6:50 pm