Tennessee football: Four potential concerns over Brian Niedermeyer moving to coach linebackers
2. Only on-field coaching experience on offense
It would be one thing if Tennessee football was hiring a new inside linebackers coach who had experience with other parts of the defense. Brian Niedermeyer, however, has no on-field experience dealing with that side of the ball.
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Yes, Niedermeyer specialized in defense when he was a student assistant for the Arkansas-Pine Bluff Golden Lions in 2012, a volunteer assistant for the Miami Hurricanes in 2013 and a graduate assistant for the Georgia Bulldogs in 2015 and Alabama Crimson Tide in 2016. But none of those are on-field roles actually working with the defense, and we have to point that out.
Meanwhile, as we mentioned on the previous slide, when Niedermeyer played at Arkansas-Pine Bluff and at Glendale Community College and Butte Junior College, he was a tight end. So his playing experience is on offense as well.
Finally, Niedermeyer’s only two on-field coaching roles are leading the Vols’ tight ends the past two years and leading the East Texas Baptist Tigers’ wide receivers in 2014. So in three years as an on-field assistant and a college career as an on-field player, he has never coached any defensive position.
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Not only is this concerning when it comes to what he can coach, but it also makes you wonder if he has developed a philosophy that will mesh with Derrick Ansley. We know in an off-field role that it has worked with Jeremy Pruitt. But this is an on-field role, and we don’t know what to expect from him.