BREAKING NEWS: Wilcox and and Sirmon Leave for Washington

Derek Dooley will now have to replace two more positions on his staff. Defensive Coordinator Justin Wilcox announced today that he would be leaving to join Steve Sarkasian’s staff at Washington, replacing Nick Holt, who was fired yesterday. Joining Wilcox will be linebackers coach Peter Sirmon. We knew there would be coaching changes this off season, and it was pretty obvious that at some point, Wilcox would leave, but this is a big blow to Dooley who will now have to revamp his defensive staff.

Wilcox, a former Oregon player, built his name at Boise State before coming to Tennessee. This season, Wilcox’s defense was one of the few bright point for the Vols, finishing 28th nationally in total defense. Wilcox reportedly was being sought by Texas to replace Will Muschamp, but opted to stay at Tennessee.

Peter Sirmon, a Wasington Native, played 7 seasons in the NFL before becoming a grad assistant at Oregon in 2009, and then he joined Wilcox in 2010 at Tennessee. Sirmon was one of the program’s best recruiters.

Wilcox wants to head back to the West Coast, he’s a native of Eugene, Orregon. There he cam make a name for himself and eventually become a head coach in the Pac-12, which I think would be his eventual goal.

Tennessee already let go of wide receiver’s coach Charlie Baggitt,  added Jay Graham as running back’s coach, and lost TE’s coach Eric Russel to Washington.