Tennessee football: Vols have many connections to Rutgers coaching change
It’s odd to bring up Tennessee football with the Scarlet Knights firing head coach Chris Ash. But the Volunteers have many connections to the search.
While Tennessee football was on its bye week, very few things happened that were relevant to them. But the Rutgers Scarlet Knights have a coaching transition going on right now that draws connections to the Vols in numerous ways.
New Jersey’s state school fired head coach Chris Ash four games into his fourth season after a 1-3 start and coming off a 1-11 season. That alone would not seem like a big deal. But all the names connected make it interesting.
First off, Ash’s replacement, Nunzio Campanile, is taking over as the school’s interim head coach and offensive coordinator. Campanile, who coached running backs for the team in 2018 and tight ends to start off this year, just happened to spend eight years at Bergen Catholic from 2010 through 2017, winning a state title in 2017.
Jarrett Guarantano, who has been Tennessee football’s starting quarterback for two full seasons now, just happened to play for Campanile at Bergen Catholic. By the way, Guarantano’s father, James Guarantano, was a wide receiver at Rutgers from 1989 to 1992.
During that time, a young graduate assistant who specialized in wide receivers worked with Guarantano by the name of Butch Jones. Yes, we’re talking about that Butch Jones. This could be a reason Guarantano committed to the Vols in the first place.
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Well, college football insider Brett McMurphy tweeted out that Jones, who was obviously UT’s head coach from 2013 through 2017, is one of the top three candidates for Ash’s replacement at Rutgers. Now how’s that for a twist?
We can even go deeper. Another top candidate to replace Jones is Greg Schiano, who coached the Scarlet Knights from 2001 through 2011. Everybody remembers the disastrous attempt by John Currie to name Schiano as Tennessee football’s next head coach to replace Jones at the end of the 2017 season. Could this get any crazier?
Right now, there is talk of Guarantano losing his starting job on Rocky Top. He already has numerous connections to Rutgers, including the interim head coach and a candidate for the next full-time head coach. Could all of this lead Guarantano to finish his career back in his home state?
The last time Tennessee football played Rutgers was 2002, and they won 35-14, but they were down 14-7 at halftime and were a mistimed spike at the end of the half from being down 21-7. Rutgers also upset the Vols in 1979, Johnny Majors’s third year.
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Simply put, the connections are actually pretty crazy. Whether or not it means anything in the future. But Tennessee football has numerous connections, many unceremonious, to the Rutgers coaching carousel. And seeing how it plays out will be intriguing.