Tennessee Football: Vols Hire Brady Hoke to Replace Steve Stripling as DL Coach

Tennessee football head coach Butch Jones has replaced Steve Stripling with Brady Hoke as the Volunteers’ new defensive line coach.

The staff changes continue for Tennessee football, and another huge one happened on Monday morning.

According to GoVols247, Hoke is already involved with the defense and studying film.

The former Michigan Wolverines head coach, who also was the head coach of the Ball State Cardinals and San Diego State Aztecs, is the second major change on the defensive staff since the offseason began.

Although Hoke was fired by Michigan and only had six winning seasons in 12 years as a head coach, and although he was just fired as the Oregon Ducks’ defensive coordinator, he still has a longtime reputation as a position coach.

That reputation includes eight years with the Michigan Wolverines from 1995 until 2002, where he helped the 1997 team to a national championship.

He also has some experience coaching linebackers at previous stops.

Here’s a quote from 247Sports.

"Hoke is widely viewed as an outstanding recruiter and developer of top-level defensive talent, particularly along the front. Several of Hoke’s former signees were the nucleus of the Jim Harbaugh-coached Michigan squad that spent the 2016 season ranked in the top 10 almost wire-to-wire."

The consistent staff changes hint at the idea that Bob Shoop really did need to get his own guys on his staff.

Replacing Willie Martinez with Charlton Warren to coach defensive backs and now replacing Stripling with Hoke to coach defensive linemen signal that heavily.

Stripling will still remain on the staff in an off-the-field capacity, according to sources.