Tennessee Football Hiring Cincinnati Running Backs Coach

Tennessee football is hiring Cincinnati running backs coach De’Rail Sims as its newest running back’s coach, 247sports Matt Zenitz first reported on Monday afternoon.

Sims spent the last season with the Bearcats program and helped Cincinnati rank fifth nationally with 217.1 rushing yards per game last season. Prior to his season at Cincinnati, Sims spent two years as the Louisville running backs coach. In all three years as a power five assistant coach, Sims has led rushing attacks that ranked in the nation’s top 25 three times.

The South Carolina native has coached at a myriad of schools including East Carolina and James Madison before getting the Louisville running backs coach position in 2020. Sims also has brief coaching experience in East Tennessee when he was an assistant coach Carson Newman in Dandridge.

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The 38-year old coach replaces former running back’s coach Jerry Mack as the leader of Tennessee’s running backs room. Mack left the Vols’ program earlier this month to become the newest running backs coach for the Jacksonville Jaguars.

Mack had been with the Tennessee football program for all three years of the Josh Heupel tenure where he helped the Vols bolster one of the SEC’s best rushing attacks.

A Memphis native, Mack is the third Tennessee offensive assistant that’s left for another job during Heupel’s three seasons as head coach. Heupel hiring Sims as his newest running backs coach is the first time he hasn’t promoted from within to fill an opening on his staff.

Tennessee still has one more assistant coach to hire this offseason as Heupel and the Vols are looking for a new inside linebackers coach. Veteran assistant Brian-Jean Mary left his position as Tennessee’s inside linebackers coach for the same role at Michigan last week.