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Tennessee football: Remembering four previous times Vols rehired a coach

By Caleb Calhoun

CLEMSON, SOUTH CAROLINA - NOVEMBER 17: Head coach David Cutcliffe of the Duke Blue Devils looks on as his team warms up for their football game against the Clemson Tigers at Clemson Memorial Stadium on November 17, 2018 in Clemson, South Carolina. (Photo by Mike Comer/Getty Images)
CLEMSON, SOUTH CAROLINA - NOVEMBER 17: Head coach David Cutcliffe of the Duke Blue Devils looks on as his team warms up for their football game against the Clemson Tigers at Clemson Memorial Stadium on November 17, 2018 in Clemson, South Carolina. (Photo by Mike Comer/Getty Images) /
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David Cutcliffe was a key part of Phillip Fulmer’s long-term success. Larry Marmie, ironically, just preceded it. Even his first stint just preceded the breakout success of the program, but in both instances he laid the foundation.

Marmie first joined Tennessee football in 1983. The year before, Bobby Jackson had resigned before the Vols’ bowl game as Johnny Majors kept singling out the flaws on his defense for his early-period struggles.

Jackson was the third defensive coordinator under Majors, so he needed a big hire to desperately take the program to the next level. Enter Marmie, who along with Walt Harris made a collection of two new coordinators on Rocky Top in 1983. Immediately, the Vols had their best year ever under Majors, going 9-3, and the next year they went 7-4-1 with dramatic improvements on defense.

Those improvements were enough for Marmie to become the defensive coordinator and eventual head coach of the Arizona State Sun Devils. Majors replaced him with Ken Donahue, and immediately the program took it to the next level, finishing in the Top 5 with an SEC Championship in 1985 and winning two more titles in 1989 and 1990.

After Larry Lacewell left following the 1991 season, though, Marmie returned to Rocky Top in 1992 and was there for all the drama that resulted in Fulmer replacing Majors while the team went 9-3. He stayed on for the 10-2 1993 season and rebuilding 1994 season.

But he left again after that season, and once again, it was right before a breakout period of the Vols, who went 45-5 the next four years with four Top 10 finishes, two Top 5 finishes, two SEC Championships and a national championship. Fulmer replaced him with the most long-term defensive coordinator in UT history in John Chavis.

Both times Marmie left, the program improved, but it’s safe to say he was a mark of stability. So you can’t really slam the rehire given the circumstances each time, and the guy clearly knows football well.

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