Derek Dooley Era In Knoxville Officially Ends

The Derek Dooley era at the University of Tennessee ended on November 18, 2012, but his presence remained in the Knoxville community until August 22, 2014.

Dooley’s $2 million dollar home was sold on Friday, before it had a chance to be auctioned on Saturday, according to the Knoxville News Sentinel.

The former Vol head coach is now the wide receivers coach for the Dallas Cowboys. Dooley was a wide receiver in college at Virginia.

Dooley was never able to quite get over the hump during his three seasons on Rocky Top. He came close, several times. His teams narrowly lost big games to LSU, Georgia and South Carolina.

For all that went wrong during Dooley’s time at UT, there were some bright spots. He instituted the VFL program, indirectly sparking a hashtag that is used by Tennessee fans across the country.

Dooley also signed 14 players that would go on to spend time on NFL rosters. There are also some players still on Tennessee’s roster that Dooley signed that will be on NFL rosters some day.

There’s little doubt that it was best for both sides for Dooley to move on to another job.

And now the Vols are now in a much better place.

The Butch Jones era is well underway and some stability is on the way for Tennessee’s storied program.