Norfolk State announced on Wednesday that former Tennessee Volunteers Montario Hardesty and Anthony Parker will be joining the football staff.
Latrell Scott, the head coach at Norfolk State, coached wide receivers at Tennessee in 2008.
Hardesty, who will coach running backs for the Spartans, interned at Chowan University this past fall. The former Vol running back played at UT from 2005-09. He rushed for 1,345 yards during his senior season (fourth best single-season total in Vol history).
After a standout career at Tennessee, Hardesty was drafted by the Cleveland Browns in the second round of the 2010 NFL Draft.
Hardesty retired from the NFL after four seasons with the Browns.
Parker to coach his former position
Anthony Parker, who spent four seasons on Rocky Top as a guard, will coach the offensive line at Norfolk State.
Parker spent the past two seasons as an offensive quality control assistant at Tennessee.
Future Vol coaches?
Anytime a former Vol gets into coaching, the inevitable question is “Will they eventually be hired at Tennessee?”
Well, anything is possible, but it’s really an impossible question to answer. So many factors go into where a coach ends up. Situation, opportunity, experience, etc.
Of the two, I would say it’s more likely that Parker ends up back at Tennessee at some point. He’s already familiar with Butch Jones and the current system at UT.
If Parker has immediate success at Norfolk State and for some reason Don Mahoney leaves the Vols, then you can bet that Parker will immediately be on the short list of possible replacements.