Tennessee football: Four potential concerns with Vols hiring Jay Graham

3. Part of a failed stint at Tennessee

Now this is why some might say calling out Jay Graham’s decision to leave Tennessee football the last time was a bit unfair. He joined Derek Dooley’s staff in 2012, and every other member of that staff was fired before Butch Jones took over in 2013. Given that transition, Graham may have wanted a bit more stability.

However, then it goes to a larger issue. Nobody can deny the fact that Graham was then part of a failed stint. Of course, that is still unfair, as he was only there for a year, and the seeds were already laid for Dooley’s program to unravel. On top of that, the offense wasn’t the problem in 2012, as it put up historic numbers. The Vols went 5-7 due to the defense.

Still, Graham was part of a staff that had its head coach get fired. The South Carolina Gamecocks, meanwhile, did not have a drop-off under Steve Spurrier in 2012 and then had their best team ever in 2013. That’s where he was 2009 through 2011. Sorry, but there’s no way we can ignore what happened during that time Graham was on campus.

Not only was Graham part of that failed stint, but Derrick Ansley and Jim Chaney were there as well. So Jeremy Pruitt is really loading up his staff with people who struggled that year, and it could be worthy of concern. Maybe, though, it was a top-down issue. We still had to bring it up.