The last month and a half for Tennessee Football have been surprisingly quiet.
And make no mistake about it, that’s a good thing.
During this time of the year, in the following months after the season, most teams are working on staff replacements, player replacements, and transfer portal magic. Just look at the SEC. Florida and LSU have brought in new coaching staffs, while teams like Texas A&M, Georgia, and Kentucky dealt with assistant coach replacements following the season.
Meanwhile, over in Knoxville, everything was quiet. There were a few rumors here and there that Tim Banks and Alex Golesh were being looked at by other coaching staffs, but neither wound up leaving Tennessee. Instead, the Vols will return their entire assistant coaching staff from Josh Heupel’s debut year in Knoxville
Tennessee Coaching Staff – 2022
- Head Coach: Josh Heupel
- Defensive Coordinator: Tim Banks
- Offensive Coordinator/Tight Ends: Alex Golesh
- Wide Receivers: Kodi Burns
- Outside LBs/Special Teams Coordinator: Mike Ekeler
- Offensive Line: Glen Elarbee
- Defensive Line: Rodney Garner
- Quarterbacks: Joey Halzle
- Linebackers: Brian Jean-Mary
- Running Backs: Jerry Mack
- Secondary: Willie Martinez
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Having the entire assistant coaching staff back for another year is a sign of stability inside of the program. Tennessee didn’t have to replace any fired coaches, nor did they have to replace any coaches that were taken away by another program.
Tennessee’s players won’t have to get used to any new coaching styles or routines this year and will be able to solely focus on development in year two.
Stability is something that Tennessee has not had a lot of in the last few years. Butch Jones was let go in 2017, which was followed by the firing of Jeremy Pruitt in 2020. Not only were new coaches and assistant coaches heading in and out of the building seemingly every year, but players were as well.
Just last year, before Heupel’s first season, Tennessee had the most players enter the transfer portal among any Division I school in the country. Not just any players, either, but talented ones that had a major role on Tennessee’s squad. By the time that July had rolled around in 2021, Tennessee had seen 25 players, such as Henry To’o To’o, Eric Gray, and Wanya Morris exit through the portal.
Since October 2021, the Vols have had 14 players enter the transfer portal and only eight since the end of the season. Additionally, most of the players that did enter the portal were not starters on Tennessee’s 2021 team. The most significant Tennessee contributor that entered the portal was running back Tiyon Evans in November.
So now, as things stand in February, Tennessee’s last month and a half has been fairly uneventful. The Vols don’t have an overwhelming amount of players in the portal and didn’t have to deal with any major coaching replacements this off-season. As far as the team is concerned, it will just be picking up where they left off in an impressive inaugural year.
Tennessee will have high expectations next year after a successful first attempt. The Vols went 7-6 in 2021, a full four wins and one loss (plus a bowl appearance) better than 2020’s 3-7 showing under Pruitt.
The Vols continued to develop more and more through the course of their first year. So the reasonable idea is that there is going to be even more evolution from the first year to the second year. And with the entire Tennessee coaching staff back in position, combined with key returning starters like Hendon Hooker and Cedric Tillman, the pieces are in place for Tennessee to take another step forward in the SEC standings.
Tennessee has stability inside of the football program right now, which is something they have not been able to say often in the last few years. And while it might make for a less-than-exciting offseason compared to the past, the Vols’ program stability in the winter and the spring should pay dividends in the fall.
The Vols will begin the 2022 season against Ball State on Sept. 3, 2022, in Neyland Stadium.
