*****Tennessee Football Coaching Search BIG BOARD [updated 12.4 10:47 am]

#401
#401
If we want to be a championship caliber team we need championship caliber coaches in place at OC and DC....our defensive side of the ball has it....Hugh Freeze hire gives recruits an instant assurance of high scoring output from his track record. Tennessee can’t afford to screw this hire up...our offense was offensive with Helton....gotta get an EXPERIENCED OC not a position coach upgrade.
 
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#402
#402
Freak said:
I'll try to update this as info comes along. Just throwing out names at this point that have been mentioned by those covering the program. If you have anything to add, help me out by posting it in this thread.

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Tennessee Vols Football Offensive Coordinator Search BIG BOARD

Hugh Freeze former Ole Miss head coach (wikipedia)
  • Current offensive coordinator of the Arizona Hotshots in the upcoming Alliance of American Football league.
  • This one has legs, according to Jesse Simonton. "I do think that the Hugh Freeze stuff has some legs, talking to some people. There was interest a year ago when Pruitt was initially making his inaugural staff for Tennessee, with Hugh Freeze. That obviously did not happen and they went with Tyson Helton. I think there's some mutual interest there. There's gonna be some hurdles, though, to make that happen. One is the SEC and two I think is some folks in Tennessee's administration."
  • "I am being told that the No. 1 target for the as their next OC is Hugh Freeze but there may be some hoops to jump through. But he is the leader in the clubhouse." - Darren McFarland
  • "Both Auburn & Tennessee have interest in Hugh Freeze I’ve been told my multiple people. Will be interesting to watch other candidates come forward." - Trey Wallace
  • "Freeze has very real interest in the job. There's no question about that. I think the fundamental question is what kind of offense does Pruitt want to play." - Brent Hubbs

Chip Lindsey Auburn offensive coordinator (official Auburn site bio)
  • Currently makes $800,000 at Auburn.
  • "Auburn OC Chip Lindsay is very interested in Tennesse job along with others." -- Trey Wallace
Freddie Kitchens Cleveland Browns offensive coordinator (official Browns bio)

Will Friend current Tennessee offensive line coach (official Tennessee bio)
  • Currently making $805,000 as Tennessee's offensive line coach. There's been some chatter than Friend isn't interested in the coordinator position.

Dan Enos Alabama QB coach (official Alabama bio)
  • Enos has an interesting salary. He made $200,000 in 2018, is set to make $250,000 in 2019, but that skyrockets to $850,000 in year three (beginning March 2020) under his current contract.
  • "One thing to watch in Knoxville if Dan Enos does get the job, I would expect Jalen Hurts to follow him to Tennessee " - Michael Bratton
  • Enos could be in play for the offensive coordinator position at Alabama should Mike Locksley leave Birmingham for the Maryland job (or any other job for that matter).

Joe Osovet current Tennessee quality control coach, player development (official Tennessee bio)
  • "you can’t discount Jeremy Pruitt simply reorganizing his current staff (Will Friend, Chris Weinke, Brian Niedermeyer) and promoting a John Lilly or Joe Osovet." -Simonton
John Lilly current Assistant to the Head Coach at Tennessee (official Tennessee bio)
  • "you can’t discount Jeremy Pruitt simply reorganizing his current staff (Will Friend, Chris Weinke, Brian Niedermeyer) and promoting a John Lilly or Joe Osovet." - Simonton
Josh Niblett head coach Hoover High School (AHSFHS bio)
  • Played with Pruitt at Alabama. Has won seven state titles in high school.
  • "I've been texted Josh Niblett's name a couple times. I don't see it with the Hoover HC. But Niblett does have strong connections to Pruitt." -Simonton
Chris Weinke current Tennessee running backs coach (official Tennessee bio)
  • Per Rucker, Pruitt has worked with Weinke at multiple spots and respects him.
  • Simonton on Weinke: "I don't see that happening."
Rush Propst current head coach at Colquitt County High School in Georgia (wikipedia)
  • Per Rucker, a mentor of Pruitt's and the two remain close.
Bryan McClendon offensive coordinator and wide receivers coach at South Carolina (official South Carolina bio)
  • Coached with Pruitt at UGA from 2014-2015. Currently making $650,000 at South Carolina.
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NOTES/UPDATES

Monday 11.26
  • 1:14 p.m. Added Josh Niblett.
  • 1:21 p.m. Hubbs says Tennessee won't be in a hurry, which means an NFL guy is possible. Pruitt knows how critical this hire is.
  • 1:28 p.m. Added Weinke and Propst from Rucker's list
  • 2:14 p.m. Added Simonton's full quote regarding Freeze.
  • 2:19 p.m. Added Bryan McClendon who Simonton mentioned on the radio this afternoon.
  • 2:22 p.m. Vol QB commit Brian Maurer throws his vote in the hat for Kliff Kingsbury.
  • 3:00 p.m. Hyams quoting ESPN's Brett McMurhpy -- "McMurphy said former Ole Miss coach Hugh Freeze would be `an unbelievable hire.’ He noted the SEC blocked Alabama from hiring Freeze as an analyst. He’d also go after Kliff Kingsbury, recently fired by Texas Tech "
  • 3:07 p.m. Simonton on Weinke: "I don't see that happening."
  • 3:24 p.m. "Freeze has very real interest in the job. - Hubbs
Tuesday 11.27
  • "One thing to watch in Knoxville if Dan Enos does get the job, I would expect Jalen Hurts to follow him to Tennessee" - Michael Bratton
  • Brian Rice said on Ainge's show he thinks a hire will be made by Friday.
  • With Alabama's current offensive coordinator Mike Locksley being mentioned for the Maryland job, Dan Enos is believed to be a candidate to step into that role at Alabama.
  • Hugh Freeze is still a possibility per Chris Low this morning. He also mentioned Dan Enos and Bryan McClendon, who Pruitt tried to hire last year, but thinks it would take a lot of money to get him away from South Carolina.
  • Enos has an interesting salary. He made $200,000 in 2018, is set to make $250,000 in 2019, but that skyrockets to $850,000 in year three (beginning March 2020) under his current contract.
  • Tee Martin has been fired by USC. *****Tennessee Football Coaching Search BIG BOARD
  • Hyams just said he doesn’t expect Pruitt to promote from within. He does expect him to hire someone he knows or has ties to.
  • Chip Lindsey is set to receive a $100,000 retention bonus if h'es employed beyond this Saturday.
  • "Taylor told Vols Wire earlier today that “Chip is very interested in the Tennessee job, but wants to see what transpires at Auburn.” - Dan Harrleson
Click to expand...

Thoughts? Josh Heupel
 
#406
#406
DERELICK_MY_VOLS said:
If we want to be a championship caliber team we need championship caliber coaches in place at OC and DC....our defensive side of the ball has it....Hugh Freeze hire gives recruits an instant assurance of high scoring output from his track record. Tennessee can’t afford to screw this hire up...our offense was offensive with Helton....gotta get an EXPERIENCED OC not a position coach upgrade.
Click to expand...
Well technically they can. They will save money by getting a non splash hire. Someone cheap who hasn't really done anything. When it comes to Football the last splash hire that UT made was Johnny Majors..They just wont take a risk on a proven commodity. I would love to be proven wrong though.
 
#407
#407
Vol_from_86 said:
Wow. He must genuinely believe in his guys. We always hear coaches say they want what’s best for their staff and players. Gus putting his money where his mouth is. Gotta respect that.

Unfortunately for him, the Auburn administration is probably not as loyal and they’ll all be looking for jobs this time next year unless they somehow pull off a 10 win season
Click to expand...

Someone wrote that Gus doesn’t really get caught up by money given his roots and that the main thing he doesn’t want is to get fired by Auburn as it would be the first time in his coaching life he would be fired. He’s a weird guy but the not ever being fired thing makes him tick more than money.
 
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#408
#408
I haven't posted on vn since the day Pruitt was announced. I was ready to lay into the op for a pie-in-the-sky list.

Pleasantly surprised to see most of these are bottom-of-the-barrel, not unlike the head coach.

I hate it, but that's Tennessee football now
 
#409
#409
tastycar said:
I haven't posted on vn since the day Pruitt was announced. I was ready to lay into the op for a pie-in-the-sky list.

Pleasantly surprised to see most of these are bottom-of-the-barrel, not unlike the head coach.

I hate it, but that's Tennessee football now
Click to expand...

Why bother?
 
#411
#411
Say Chip Lindsey or another Spread guy gets the job, let me throw a monkey into the wrench. Word out of Georgia is that Fields (or more accurately, Fields' Daddy) does't want to sit another year (or likely two) behind Fromm. With a system that features a true Dual-Threat QB would it open up the possibility to bring in Hurts for a year and then be a possible landing spot for Fields? (If this is too much optimism for most of you, Lifetime is running a terminal disease movie marathon you can tune in to)
 
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#412
#412
"I think Hugh Freeze is a real possibility and he will be given serious consideration," Low said Wednesday on Jayson Swain's radio show. "Pruitt has several guys on his list and one of those guys is Freeze. I don't know that he's the guy at the head of that list, but I do expect Jeremy to talk to him. I think he can help Tennessee. He's proven. Saban tried to hire him last year, but the SEC sort of squashed that.

"A lot of the stuff he talked with Saban about they ran this year at Alabama. I do think Freeze is in and will be given serious consideration. If Jeremy decides that who he wants and he's the best fit, that's what will happen."

Low on the Swain show
 
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#419
#419
I hope Pruitt does not base his decision based more on style of offense vs who can come in here and put up the most points. I don't care if it's a five minute drive to score or two minute drive to score just be able to put up a lot of points each game. 24 points should not be the max either.
 
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#420
#420
SweetDaddy said:
Freeze would be too good to be true.

A winning program hires him first thing this morning.

Unfortunately that's not what we currently are.
Click to expand...

I would normally agree but it there are reports that Pruitt is giving him serious consideration, there are just some SEC hoops to jump through first. Honestly, Freeze would be a good head coach, to land him as an OC would be amazing.
 
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#421
#421
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#422
#422
Volhoops said:
I hope Pruitt does not base his decision based more on style of offense vs who can come in here and put up the most points. I don't care if it's a five minute drive to score or two minute drive to score just be able to put up a lot of points each game. 24 points should not be the max either.
Click to expand...

Agreed. I know that Pruitt is a methodical offense/big defense old school type but I would love to see an Oregon style 50 pts average per game type offense here.

It would be a serious threat to Alabama because they always rely so heavily on their defense to put their offense in good position. If you look at the teams who have been able to pull off some Ws against Bama in recent years (Freeze’s Ole Miss for example) they all had big offense.
 
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