Tennessee football: Tee Martin hired by Ravens

It’s official. Tennessee football won’t have any members from Jeremy Pruitt’s staff on Josh Heupel’s first staff. The last and most revered member among Pruitt’s assistants is now leaving Rocky Top for an NFL job.

Tee Martin was hired by the Baltimore Ravens as wide receivers coach. Famous for winning a national championship as UT’s quarterback in 1998, Martin has been the Vols’ wide receivers coach and passing game coordinator the past two years.

Although numerous assistants had been let go amidst the hiring of Heupel, Martin was the last potential holdout. There were numerous reports of Martin leaving Tennessee football for Baltimore, and the Ravens made it official on Twitter.

Martin follows Joe Osovet, who was the Vols’ tight ends coach this past year but was not retained five days ago. Osovet followed offensive coordinator Jim Chaney and quarterbacks coach Chris Weinke, who were let go a week ago. Running backs coach Jay Graham, a UT legend, joined the Alabama Crimson Tide in the past week as well.

On defense, Pruitt and Derrick Ansley both landed NFL gigs over the past week. Defensive line coach Jimmy Brumbaugh had been fired midseason, and linebackers coaches Brian Niedermeyer and Shelton Felton were both fired due to the investigations.

However, among all those departures, Martin obviously stands out. He is one of the most revered people on Rocky Top and has credentials as a recruiter and head coach as well. However, it’s believable that the departure was mutual.

It’s interesting what effect that will have on the Vols. The last time the program dealt with losing out on Martin was 2013, when he elected to stay with the USC Trojans over joining Butch Jones’ staff. At the time, Martin got the blame, but that decision appeared mutual as well. Either way, Tennessee football will miss him. He’ll always be a legend in Knoxville.