2001 Vanderbilt Commodores football team The 2001 Vanderbilt Commodores football team represented the Vanderbilt University in the 2001 NCAA Division I - A football season . Led by head coach Woody Widenhofer in his firth year as the head coach , the Commodores finished with a 2 – 9 record for the season . Vanderbilt top Players . Vanderbilt was led by Greg Zolman who passed for 2 , 512 yards with 14 TD ’ s and 9 INT ’ s he had a 52 . 1 % passing 186 Completes for 357 Attempts 32 . 5 Attempts per game . Dan Stricker was the top passing target with 65 Receptions and 1 , 079 Yards 8 TDs . Lew Thomas was top rusher with 675 Yards on 105 Attempts for an Avg of 6 . 43 and 96 . 4 YPG 5TDs . Rodney Williams was second in rushing with 590 Yards on 131 Attempts for an Avg of 4 . 50 4TDs . Woody Widenhofer . Widenhofer , entered into his fifth season at Vandy , if he was to wound up surviving . But his rope is a short one . He met with Vanderbilt chancellor Gordon Gee and athletic director Todd Turner in November 2000 . The gist of that meeting was clearly defined : There needed to be marked improvement in every aspect of the Vanderbilt program if Widenhofer is going to see a sixth year . The general feeling in Nashville was that Vanderbilt needs to make a bid for a winning season . And if the Commodores don ’ t get to six wins , they need to at least come very close . To that end , Widenhofer implemented a three - part plan during the off - season . There was some talk that he might make some changes on his staff . While he did shuffle some things around , he didn ’ t fire anyone . But Widenhofer had vowed to take a more “ hands - on ’ ’ approach the season with his staff and players . The second part of Widenhofer ’ s plan was to spreading out the special teams responsibilities to every member of the coaching staff . Bill Maskill handled those chores in the last season by himself . The third part of Widenhofer ’ s plan was to center around developing leadership among the players . He thought his team lacked leadership the year before . The Commodores returned seven starters on each side of the ball . But the loss of Jared McGrath and Elliott Carson on offense and Jamie Winborn and Jimmy R . Williams on defense could not have been overlooked . New playmakers needed to emerge . And above all , Vanderbilt needed to do a better job of running the ball and stopping the run if it was going to improve on the 2000 season ’ s 3 - 8 finish . The Commodores were last in the league in rushing offense ( 96 . 5 yards ) and tied for last in rushing defense ( 178 . 3 yards ) . Offense . The offense was clearly the strength of this team and had a chance to be one of the best Vanderbilt had had in some time . But the Commodores needed a few receivers other than junior Dan Stricker to make some plays . 2000 Season , Stricker finished third in the SEC and 18th nationally with 90 . 4 receiving yards per game . Senior QB Greg Zolman entering his fifth year in the program and coming off his most productive season . Was the kind of stability at quarterback Vanderbilt had not much of over the years . In 2000 Zolman finished second only to Kentucky ’ s Jared Lorenzen in passing yards per game . Zolman averaged 221 . 9 yards and had 2 , 441 for the 2000 season , the most by a Vanderbilt quarterback since 1988 . The year before , the Commodores were last in the league in rushing offense , averaging just 3 . 1 yards per carry . McGrath was the main cog in the rushing attack , and was gone after moving to fourth on Vandy ’ s all - time rushing list . Defense . Defense had been a constant under Widenhofer . That is , until the 2000 season . The Commodores fell off in just about every area . They were 11th in the league in total defense , 10th in scoring defense and tied for 12th in rushing defense . Good defense always starts in the defensive line , and the Commodores weren ’ t loaded by any means in their three - man front . The best defensive lineman on the team was senior end Doyle Crosby . He had 50 tackles , including two sacks in the 2000 season . With Winborn giving up his final year of eligibility and being scooped up in the second round of the NFL draft , junior Mike Adam would get the chance fill Winborn ’ s inside linebacker position . Lance Garner of Kempner , Texas was the heir apparent to kicker John Markham , who departed as the Commodores ’ all - time leading scorer . Markham , who made 14 - of - 18 field goals in 2000 , was the second place - kicker taken in April ’ s NFL draft , going to the New York Giants in the fifth round 162 pick . Bottom line . Widenhofer did not make any bold predictions for the year . His only comment to the media before the start of spring practice in March was that he was “ cautiously optimistic ’ ’ about the 2001 season . Widenhofer learned his lesson about making predictions after the 3 - 8 finish 2000 season . Do to the fact that Vanderbilt won only 2 games Vanderbilt let Widenhofer go after the season and hired Bobby Johnson . Schedule .