Tennessee football: Ranking all head coaches of Vols 2019 opponents

After the wheels nearly came off the Missouri Tigers in 2015 and Gary Pinkel resigned, Barry Odom seemed to inherit a mess in 2016. And he went 4-8 as a result. But in 2017, he turned things around to go 7-6, and in 2018, he went 8-5 and was two plays away from 10-3. Part of the last two seasons included back to back 50-17 wins over Tennessee football.

This year, though, Odom has a few more questions. Former UT head coach Derek Dooley is back as offensive coordinator in his second year, installing more of the pro-style. And Kelly Bryant is set to step in at quarterback to replace Drew Lock. Then there is the distraction of the bowl ban and whether or not Mizzou gets that lifted.

Taking all that into account, the Tigers’ season is going to be heavily dependent on Odom’s coaching abilities. He’s got to manage all these transitions and distractions. And he has already publicly feuded with Jeremy Pruitt in the offseason about Pruitt targeting some of his players for transfer with the bowl ban news.

All of this makes the Vols’ game at Mizzou in November very intriguing this year, and it’s one where coaching will play a huge role. But with all that, despite Odom’s success, it didn’t match Pinkel at his best in the SEC. After all, Pinkel won two straight SEC East titles. So we have Odom in the middle of the pack of this list for now.