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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 Grant Halverson/Getty Images
Photo by Grant Halverson/Getty Images /

9. Larry Scott

Role: Offensive Coordinator

Hired by: Butch Jones

Year hired: 2017

Coach replaced: Mike DeBord

After replacing Mike Bajakian with Mike DeBord two years earlier, DeBord was surprisingly leaving to take the head coaching job with the Indiana Hoosiers. Like Dooley’s defensive coordinator situation in 2012, this coordinator move was part of a major staff overhaul.

Also, like Dooley, this was a move that may have gotten Butch Jones fired, but that’s not as clear. Still, after DeBord’s departure, Jones had a chance to make a splash hire. Mark Helfrich, Joe Moorhead and Billy Gonzalez were all on the table.

But in his own stubbornness, Jones wanted a puppet to keep his system in place, so he promoted Larry Scott, a guy with no coordinator experience. And Scott was tasked with running the program as it was coming off an underachieving season and having to replace its superstar running back in Alvin Kamara, its No. 1 receiver in Josh Malone and its most productive quarterback since Peyton Manning in Joshua Dobbs.

The results, again, were disastrous. Starting with a quarterback competition that went to Quinten Dormady, Scott dropped the ball in just his third game. Horrific management in the red zone cost Tennessee football at least 14 points against the Florida Gators, causing them to lose and immediately putting Jones on the hot seat.

By the next game, Jones’s team would begin a string of 15 straight quarters without an offensive touchdown, including two games without scoring an offensive point. The wheels came off the program, and by the time the Vols got set to face the Kentucky Wildcats, it was clear that Jones would be done. There were many reasons to fire him, but Scott’s horrific offense was a big one.

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