Bob Shoop thought that he would have a full deck when he was offered the defensive coordinator position at Tennessee.

Entering 2016, the Vols had a bevy of preseason All-SEC picks returning on defense for a team many picked to make the conference title game. There was a different sense surrounding Tennessee than there was at Penn State, where Shoop was set to lose four defensive players to the NFL draft and another daunting Big Ten East schedule loomed.

Shoop admitted that he was intoxicated by the idea of coaching at Tennessee during his days with James Franklin at Vanderbilt. He watched Butch Jones lead the Vols to six straight wins to end the 2015 regular season, which sent the Rocky Top hype soaring. Franklin, meanwhile, was about to enter what many felt was a make-or-break season in State College.

So when Tennessee offered Shoop a three-year contract worth $1.15 million annually, he accepted. It was nearly double what previous defensive coordinator John Jancek made. Whether he was forced out at Penn State as he claimed in a countersuit or not, Shoop knew that expectations came with the Tennessee contract.

They weren’t met in 2016.

He watched his defense struggle after it was decimated by injuries, and ultimately Tennessee missed out on a prime opportunity to win the SEC East. Meanwhile, his former team thrived without him and won the Big Ten Championship en route to a Rose Bowl berth.

Many in Knoxville have to be wondering if Shoop was worth breaking the bank for. He knows he needs to erase those doubts this season.

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It’s fair to question how much value Shoop has at this point, though it’s still too early to make any definitive declarations. He was supposed to be a major loss for a Penn State program that appeared destined for more mediocrity in 2016.

After Week 4, all of those narratives looked like they would play out. Tennessee was 4-0 after beating Florida to end its 11-game skid against the SEC East rival. The Vols allowed 21 points per game and became the most entertaining team in college football.

Penn State, on the other hand, was 2-2 after a 49-10 drubbing at the hands of Michigan. The Lions were allowing 33 points per game, and James Franklin’s seat was as hot as ever.

It’s amazing what can happen in two months.

Penn State allowed 19.2 points per contest in a nine-game winning streak during which the Lions were the most entertaining team in college football. Tennessee allowed 33.4 points per game during that same stretch and finished with the eight-win regular season Penn State was projected to have.

Tennessee went from being 36th in total defense under Jancek to 95th under Shoop. Yikes. He won’t put any of those numbers on his résumé.

Yes, injuries played a huge part in that. The fact that the Vols had just two defensive starters play every game certainly hurt Shoop’s chances of maintaining that September pace. Having to start 27 players on defense in a season is never a good sign.

But that’s all in the past now. Even the most optimistic Tennessee fan has to know that injuries are never a legitimate excuse for not meeting expectations in consecutive years.

Coordinators making seven figures are supposed to be able to produce, regardless of circumstances.

Look at a guy like LSU defensive coordinator Dave Aranda. When he was at Wisconsin, he could probably count the number of 4-star recruits he had on one hand. His 2015 team was decimated by injuries, yet it finished second in the FBS in total defense. That’s what earned him a seven-figure paycheck at LSU. (The Tigers still had a top-10 defense under Aranda in 2016 despite having an offense that couldn’t stay on the field.)

The same could be said for Don Brown, who led a Boston College team without any 4-star recruits to the No. 1 defense in America in 2015. That made him Michigan’s top coordinator target, and it earned him a contract that paid $880,000 annually. After leading the Wolverines to the No. 1 defense in 2016, he got a raise to $1.4 million annually.

But let’s get back to Shoop’s money. After all, that seems to be a major topic of discussion these days.

In 2016, seven coordinators made more money than Shoop, per USA Today:

  1. John Chavis, Texas A&M DC, $1.56 million
  2. Brent Venables, Clemson DC, $1.43 million
  3. Lane Kiffin, Alabama OC, $1.40 million
  4. Dave Aranda, LSU DC, $1.32 million
  5. Todd Grantham, Louisville DC, $1.30 million
  6. Cam Cameron, LSU OC, $1.20 million
  7. Phil Bennett, Baylor DC, $1.199 million

Four of the guys on that list are in new places in 2017, and none of those were really considered promotions. There’s also Chavis, who has a seat as hot as anyone after Texas A&M finished with the No. 90 defense despite having NFL No. 1 pick Myles Garrett.

Then there was the other side of the coin. Aranda earned a raise and an extension with LSU’s new coaching staff, and Venables won the Broyles Award (top assistant) for fueling Clemson’s national title.

In other words, that’s put up or shut up money.

So that brings us to the next question: Can Shoop make good on the Vols’ investment?

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Regardless of the talent Tennessee lost to the NFL (three defenders in the first four rounds), there’s reason to believe 2017 could have a much different feel for Shoop. He said during the spring that it already feels like a different year. Maybe part of that is the fact that he actually got to bring in some hand-picked assistants.

The addition of defensive backs coach Charlton Warren should help after he led one of the top pass defenses in the country at North Carolina. Brady Hoke’s arrival as the team’s new defensive line coach has been well-documented. Those guys could help improve the two biggest areas of concern with the 2017 defense.

Shoop mapped out Tennessee’s three keys to a defensive revival back in February.

“If I had to summarize it, three things we need to improve: less drama, less injuries and less explosive plays,” Shoop said via 247sports. “If we can get that, we have a chance to be pretty good.”

All reports out of camp have been positive, though we don’t know how much of a difference it’ll make in production. And Shoop’s ability to adjust if and when circumstances change are still in question. He admitted this offseason that he was “too stubborn” when the injuries mounted last year and that he forced guys into spots they shouldn’t have been in.

That doesn’t mean Shoop is about to overhaul his scheme at the first sight of adversity. He’s still the guy who had five straight top-25 defenses at Vanderbilt and scholarship-limited Penn State. That’s what Tennessee banked on when he earned that big pay day.

One could argue Shoop wasn’t dealt a fair hand in 2016. Few teams could’ve survived that many injuries.

But in 2017, he should be working with a full deck. Regardless of injuries, though, he’ll have to produce. Tennessee went all in to bring Shoop to Knoxville.

It’s time for Shoop to give the Vols a return on that investment.