Tennessee football: 5 reasons for concern over Vols hiring OC Jim Chaney

4. Previous schools didn’t fight to keep Jim Chaney.

Last year, Kirby Smart and Jim Chaney clashed over personnel. This year, Smart named a co-offensive coordinator for him. And by the end of the season, many Bulldogs fans were not sad to see him leave and head back to Tennessee football.

You can think they’re just delusional, but the fact is the Dawgs didn’t fight to keep him. And yes, that’s a red flag. Face it. At this point, Smart is a more proven head coach than Jeremy Pruitt. Nick Saban is the only reason he doesn’t have a national championship and back to back SEC Championships.

You can say Chaney was a part of that, but Smart was the head coach. And he was willing to let Chaney walk. Chaney’s salary with the Dawgs was only $950,000. That’s very middle of the road for somebody who may be a high-profile offensive coordinator in the SEC.

The Vols offered him over $1.5 million per year. So it’s safe to say they valued him much more than the Dawgs. But Georgia isn’t the only team that didn’t miss him. The Arkansas Razorbacks were fine to see him go after the end of the 2014 season to join the Pitt Panthers. And heck, even the Panthers were fine to seem him go once they got Matt Canada.

We already mentioned that nobody was sad to see him leave the Vols the first time around. So when you break all this down, there could be a reason beyond the stats sheet. And that reason is our next cause for concern.