Tennessee head coach Butch Jones is meeting with a top candidate for the vacant defensive coordinator spot, according to Fox’s Bruce Feldman.
#PennState DC Bob Shoop is at #Tennessee today, per source. He would be a huge get for #Vols if UT can make the money part work.
— Bruce Feldman (@BruceFeldmanCFB) January 8, 2016
Shoop, who reportedly makes around $1 million per season at Penn State, has worked under head coach James Franklin for the past five years. He was at Vanderbilt from 2011-13 and then followed Franklin to Penn State in 2014, where he has been since.
He was named Defensive Coordinator of the Year by 247Sports in 2014 after Penn State, a team still recovering from recent NCAA sanctions, finished second in the NCAA in total defense. The Nittany Lion finished fifth in the Big Ten and 14th nationally in 2015 in total defense, while finishing 26th nationally in scoring defense. The Vols are looking to replace defensive coordinator John Jancek, who parted ways “mutually,” according to a Tennessee release earlier this week. The Vols paid Jancek $525,000 per season, according to the most recent assistant coaching salary data available.
Shoop has previously been a defensive coordinator at Yale, William & Mary and Villanova, in addition to being the head coach at Columbia from 2003-05. Other coaching stops as an assistant include Boston College, UMass and Army. He is known to have numerous recruiting connections in the Nashville area – a big focus for Butch Jones – after his stint at Vanderbilt.
Check out RockyTopInsider.com’s defensive coordinator hot board for more information on Shoop and other potential candidates.
