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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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5. Jim Chaney

Role: Offensive Coordinator

Hired (retained) by: Derek Dooley

Year hired (retained): 2010

Coach replaced: Lane Kiffin

Jim Chaney is the only coordinator holdover from a previous staff. He was technically Lane Kiffin’s offensive coordinator in 2009. However, Kiffin was the one calling the plays, so when Derek Dooley came in, this was basically a promotion. And we’re counting it as such.

Chaney’s pro-style is one based solely on maximizing talent. So if you have talent, it works. Look at the Georgia Bulldogs now. But if you don’t have talent, it doesn’t work, as is the case with Tennessee football when he first took over.

Because of that, we consider Chaney a total middle of the road hire. His hire was validated in 2012, when the Vols put up record stats on offense because of its talent. He got a break in 2011 because of how thin the offense was and the fact that his quarterback, Tyler Bray, and his top receiver, Justin Hunter, both got hurt.

In 2010, Chaney was tasked with either playing lots of veterans with limited talent or throwing in a ton of freshman, and that was most evident with the Matt Simms/Bray quarterback situation. Amidst all this, though, he was not the problem under Dooley.

Early on, Dooley probably could have used a more creative mind to make a splash with the Vols. But Chaney did what he was supposed to do, and by the time the Vols were ready to take off, it was a horrible defensive coordinator hire that cost Dooley.

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