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Tennessee football: Ranking all 10 Vols coordinator changes this decade

By Caleb Calhoun

STARKVILLE, MS - OCTOBER 13: Tennessee Volunteers defensive coordinator Sal Sunseri coaches on the sideline in place of head coach Derek Dooley, who is coaching from the booth after hip surgery, in a game against the Mississippi State Bulldogs on October 13, 2012 at Davis Wade Stadium in Starkville, Mississippi. (Photo by Butch Dill/Getty Images)
STARKVILLE, MS - OCTOBER 13: Tennessee Volunteers defensive coordinator Sal Sunseri coaches on the sideline in place of head coach Derek Dooley, who is coaching from the booth after hip surgery, in a game against the Mississippi State Bulldogs on October 13, 2012 at Davis Wade Stadium in Starkville, Mississippi. (Photo by Butch Dill/Getty Images) /
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Photo by Scott Cunningham/Getty Images
Photo by Scott Cunningham/Getty Images /

Tennessee football is on the hunt for a new offensive coordinator. Let’s look back at the 10 coordinator changes the Volunteers have had this decade.

When you have a decade as tumultuous as what Tennessee football has had, you generally see a lot of changes. The Vols started this decade off with a new head coach, and they’re now on their third coach of the decade with one year left.

With that also has come a lot of coordinator changes. And just after his first year on the job, Jeremy Pruitt has been tasked with finding a new coordinator. In fact, this is the fifth straight offseason in which the Vols have had to find a new offensive or defensive coordinator.

Since 2010 began, only in 2011 and 2014 did Tennessee football return both its offensive and defensive coordinators. Of course, they went 5-7 one of those years and 7-6 another, so it’s not like retaining coordinators truly spelled success.

However, changing coordinators has been the downfall for coaches in the program dating back to Phillip Fulmer. And that has still been a factor this decade, which you’ll see here. With the Vols having to replace Tyson Helton, we’re going to look back at all 10 coordinator changes that have already happened this decade.

Our rankings will be based on the improvements they orchestrated to their side of the ball and what they inherited. It will also just take a general look at how their teams performed statistically in general.

In some cases, the Vols had solid coordinators on one or both sides of the ball, but extenuating circumstances made it hard to see at the time. However, there were other instances where the hire was clearly horrific from the start.

So let’s take a look at all these moves that Derek Dooley, Butch Jones and Jeremy Pruitt have made. This is our ranking of the 10 Tennessee football offensive and defensive coordinator changes that have taken place since the start of the decade.

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