Tennessee football: Four potential concerns with Vols hiring Jay Graham

4. History of leaving Vols quickly

Okay, so maybe this is unfair. But this is Jay Graham’s third stint as an assistant coach with Tennessee football, and in each of the past two stints, he left after only one year. The first time is understandable, as he was a graduate assistant under Phillip Fulmer in 2005. But the second time was after the 2012 season.

Derek Dooley was fired, Butch Jones took over, and Graham was to be the lone holdover on Jones’ staff. However, despite a reported increase in his salary, he left UT to join the Florida State Seminoles. At the time, nobody knew what to make of Jones, and it appears Graham was making the right decision for his own future.

However, nobody can deny with that evidence that he is willing to quickly leave a program. Rocky Top is not the only place that applies to either. In 2007, Graham spent time at two different schools. At the beginning of the year, he was part of Ron Caragher’s first staff with the San Diego Toreros, as they were having to replace Jim Harbaugh.

However, by the end of the year, Graham was part of the UT Martin Skyhawks staff. Simply put, he is not beyond leaving major programs quickly, and when it comes to smaller programs, he has been at multiple schools in one year. Taking that into account, the concern that he could leave has to be in the back of everybody’s mind. How could it not be?