All for Tennessee
Fansided

Tennessee Vols morning report: Football staff, basketball postponements

By Caleb Calhoun

KNOXVILLE, TN - SEPTEMBER 09: Tennessee Volunteers fans cheer during the first half of the game against the Indiana State Sycamores at Neyland Stadium on September 9, 2017 in Knoxville, Tennessee. (Photo by Michael Reaves/Getty Images)
KNOXVILLE, TN - SEPTEMBER 09: Tennessee Volunteers fans cheer during the first half of the game against the Indiana State Sycamores at Neyland Stadium on September 9, 2017 in Knoxville, Tennessee. (Photo by Michael Reaves/Getty Images) /
facebooktwitterreddit

A winter storm slammed the south, and it has everybody below the Mason Dixon Line in a panic. That storm along with another COVID issue are affecting the schedules of multiple Tennessee Vols sports in different locations, which we’re going to break down here.

Our morning update on Rocky Top leads with the postponement of men’s and women’s basketball games. We’ll break down both of them and when they were rescheduled for, or even if they are going to be rescheduled.

Updates on the football staff, a weekly men’s basketball press conference and recognition for a volleyball player are also on our list of things to cover, so there’s plenty of news to get to. Let’s start with the scheduling updates.

Men’s basketball vs. South Carolina moved to Wednesday – UTSports

Three of six SEC games have changed dates due to a winter storm hitting the South, and a fourth changed its tipoff time. A fifth, the Tennessee Vols men’s basketball program against the South Carolina Gamecocks, will now take place at at 9 p.m. ET Wednesday after initially being scheduled to take place Tuesday due to a positive COVID test among UT personnel.

"Ticket holders will receive additional information via email and should expect to use their original ticket for the South Carolina game. Digital tickets will need to be reloaded onto the ticket holder’s digital wallet.The test that returned as positive was administered Sunday during routine COVID-19 surveillance testing, which is conducted three times per week in accordance with NCAA and SEC guidelines."

Lady Vols at Mississippi State postponed – Robert Holder, WATE

Tuesday night’s matchup between the Tennessee Lady Vols and Mississippi State Bulldogs has been postponed again due to a winter storm. However, since this was already a make-up game, another make-up date for this matchup has not yet been set.

"The game, originally scheduled for Feb. 4 was rescheduled due to COVID-19 protocols. The Lady Vols games against rival Vanderbilt were canceled for the same reason."

Josh Heupel announces offensive staff – Patrick Brown, GoVols247

Nearly three weeks after he was hired, Tennessee Vols football head coach Josh Heupel made nearly half of his staff official. It was all on one side of the ball as well.

"Tennessee’s first coaching staff under new coach Josh Heupel remains incomplete, but the Vols on Monday confirmed the hires of the five assistant coaches comprising the offensive side of the staff: Alex Golesh (offensive coordinator and tight ends coach), Glen Elarbee (offensive line coach), Kodi Burns (wide receivers coach), Joey Halzle (quarterbacks coach) and Jerry Mack (running backs coach). Four of the five coaches come to Tennessee from UCF, which averaged 43, 43 and 42 points per game the past three seasons under Heupel, who plans to call plays for Tennessee’s offense."

Tim Banks confirmed as UT defensive coordinator – Dan Harralson, VolsWire.com

The rumor started before the offensive staff was introduced, but by the end of the day, it had been confirmed that Tennessee football found its defensive coordinator. Josh Heupel still has more staff positions to fill out on defense, but this was a big pickup.

"Tim Banks has been hired as Tennessee’s defensive coordinator. He comes to Josh Heupel’s staff after serving in the same capacity at Penn State since 2016."

Rick Barnes holds weekly media session – Rob Lewis, VolQuest

On Monday, Tennessee basketball dropped to No. 19 in the AP Poll and No. 20 in the Coaches Poll after beating the Georgia Bulldogs and losing at the LSU Tigers last week. At 14-5 and 7-5 in the SEC, they are No. 12 in the NCAA NET Rankings and No. 40 in the RPI. As Rick Barnes addressed the media Monday, though, he still showed optimism. Here’s a bit of what he said.

"“We haven’t played to the ability that I think we can, and for that to happen we need our guys who have been through it longer to be more consistent. The more consistent they are and the more balanced we are—we definitely need Yves (Pons) and John Fulkerson and V.J. Bailey. We need those guys playing at the level that we know they’re capable of. The two young guys, I think they’re working hard. I think they’re playing hard. They have the attitude that we want them to have. They’re just learning that not every game is the same.”"

SEC recognizes Volleyball junior Natalie Hayward – SECSports

Thanks to her role in helping Tennessee volleyball sweep the No. 16 ranked Missouri Tigers this past weekend, junior Natalie Hayward was named SEC Setter of the Week. Hayward averaged 10.75 wins per set in UT’s two wins against Mizzou over the weekend.

"Hayward scored a pair of double-doubles with a career-high 54 assists and 14 digs in match one and 32 assists and 12 digs in match two. She also contributed five kills, 26 digs, two aces and two total blocks in the series."

Home/Tennessee Volunteers