Tennessee football: Updated ranking of Vols 10 assistant coaches for 2020 season

Honestly, it’s hard to know what to make of the credit to give to Jim Chaney. Tennessee football was barely in the top 100 in points per game this past year, and the Vols only averaged 365.7 yards per game. Part of the bad scoring was their horrendous red zone offense, whose futility could not be ignored.

Taking all that into account, Chaney probably should have dropped from his No. 3 ranking on this list. But as solely the offensive coordinator, we honestly could not point to any game in which his play-calling was the issue. It almost always came down to execution, and while he made some mistakes within the flow of the game, he did a solid job overall.

On top of that, we have to give him credit for his overall track record as an offensive coordinator. He did have the Georgia Bulldogs produce elite rushing stats over a two-year period that were unheard of, after all, and he did the same thing with the Vols back in 2012.

What’s clear is that Chaney can maximize offensive weapons after developing them. Jauan Jennings and Marquez Callaway turned into NFL-caliber receivers, and by the end of the year, Eric Gray looked like an NFL-caliber running back. The offensive line is now loaded with stars as well. Given how it developed throughout the year, we’ll still keep Chaney up here.