Jeremy Pruitt has already started filling out his staff as Tennessee’s newest head football coach. And so far the only Vol coach from Butch Jones’ staff who appears to be getting retained is running backs coach Robert Gillespie.
After reports last night that Pruitt had added a defensive coordinator to his staff, it appeared all but done that Vol defensive coordinator Bob Shoop would not be back in 2018. And that reportedly is official now.
According to both Adam Rittenberg and Chris Low of ESPN, Shoop will be joining Joe Moorhead’s new staff at Mississippi State. Moorhead was just hired as Mississippi State’s head coach after Dan Mullen left the Bulldogs to become the head coach of Florida.
Shoop spent the last two seasons as Tennessee’s defensive coordinator and had some very mixed results during his tenure. Shoop’s defenses were often plagued by injuries and shortcomings, and there were some historic lows during Shoop’s time as the Vols’ defensive coordinator. Tennessee had a very difficult time stopping the run under Shoop, allowing 5,856 rushing yards in his two seasons. That’s 234.2 rushing yards allowed per game under Shoop at Tennessee.
Shoop was making $1,155,00 annually at Tennessee and was one of just 15 assistant coaches making over $1 million a year in college football this season. It’s unclear what his compensation will be at Mississippi State at this time.
The Bulldogs will be Shoop’s fourth stop at a Power Five school as a defensive coordinator. He was the DC at Vanderbilt from 2011-13 then joined Penn State from 2014-15 before joining the Vols.
