Tennessee football: 5 assistant hires that got a Vols head coach fired
2. Sal Sunseri – 2012
Head Coach: Derek Dooley
Position: Defensive Coordinator
One of the worst hires ever made for a coordinator, Derek Dooley wrecked his career with Tennessee football due to the Sal Sunseri move in 2012. And it didn’t have to end up that way if Dooley just had more confidence in himself.
More from Vols Football
- How to Win a GUARANTEED $200 Bonus Betting Just $5 on the Vols vs. Florida!
- Tennessee Football at Florida: Five Keys to a Vols Victory
- Week 3 SEC Power Rankings: Did Tennessee Football’s Win Help At All?
- Week 3 AP Polls: Why Did Tennessee Football Drop in the Polls?
- Tennessee Football: Top Five Performers in 30-13 Win vs. Austin Peay
This all went back to the 5-7 season and Kentucky Wildcats loss the year before. Dave Hart publicly made it known he wasn’t supportive of the staff at that point, so many of them left, most notably defensive coordinator Justin Wilcox.
Dooley had Wilcox’s replacement in UT grad Kevin Steele, but Steele at that very moment had a rare collapse with the Clemson Tigers in the Orange Bowl against the West Virginia Mountaineers, allowing 70 points. So Dooley nixed the hire and brought Sunseri in from the Alabama Crimson Tide, where he was Nick Saban’s linebackers coach.
With 2012 the make or break year for Dooley, the move was a disaster. Sunseri was an unproven coordinator at that level, and he decided to employ the 3-4 switch. That switch was all the difference and proved disastrous.
Tennessee football had another 5-7 season despite a great offense with Jim Chaney calling plays, Tyler Bray throwing the ball, and Justin Hunter, Cordarrelle Patterson and Mychal Rivera there to make plays. The Vols broke 30 in five SEC games that year and lost four of them. They broke 40 twice and lost both times. And they broke 30 in three SEC road games but lost them all.
It was all due to Sunseri’s defense, which allowed over 30 points in all but the Vols’ one SEC win against the Kentucky Wildcats, after which they were already 4-7 and Dooley had already been fired. They allowed over 40 in six games, including one to the Troy Trojans.
Make no mistake, if Dooley makes a decent defensive coordinator hire, he keeps his job. With Steele, Tennessee football easily goes 9-3 at worst, possibly 11-1. That’s how much of a difference this hire made.
light. Related Story. Ranking Vols' last 10 seasons with first-year coordinator
As a result, the Sunseri hire could have topped this list. However, with Bray, Hunter and Patterson likely to leave the next year, it’s hard to know if Dooley wouldn’t have lost his job anyway in 2013. He could have maybe kept it going, but he had inherited a mess and was trying his best to stabilize it. What’s clear, though, is he would have lasted another year with a better hire there.