All for Tennessee
Fansided

Tennessee football: Ranking all 28 offseason coaching changes by impact on Vols

By Caleb Calhoun

Tennessee Herd Coach Josh Heupel at the 2021 Music City Bowl NCAA college football game at Nissan Stadium in Nashville, Tenn. on Thursday, Dec. 30, 2021.Kns Tennessee Purdue
Tennessee Herd Coach Josh Heupel at the 2021 Music City Bowl NCAA college football game at Nissan Stadium in Nashville, Tenn. on Thursday, Dec. 30, 2021.Kns Tennessee Purdue /
facebooktwitterreddit
Prev
14 of 28
Next
Clay Helton speaks after being introduced as the new head football coach for Georgia Southern University Thursday evening during a press conference at Bishop Field House in Statesboro.
Clay Helton speaks after being introduced as the new head football coach for Georgia Southern University Thursday evening during a press conference at Bishop Field House in Statesboro. /

2413. Pick Analysis. Clay Helton. 15. player. Chad Lunsford. Scouting Report. Georgia Southern Eagles

Previous role: Head coach, USC Trojans

(2015-21)

Going from a Power Five school to a school in SEC country will naturally affect Tennessee football. This is our first slide involving somebody who was a head coach at a Power Five school the previous year, and he brings huge connections to a fertile recruiting state.

Clay Helton took over for Steve Sarkisian when he resigned midway through the 2015 season. Helton led USC to a top five finish and Rose Bowl victory in 2016, and then he won the Pac-12 in 2017. Most notably among his assistant was Tee Martin, who then joined UT under Jeremy Pruitt and became known for recruiting Georgia, where Helton now is.

Anyway, Helton never did recreate the early magic at USC, and he was fired after a 1-1 start in 2021. Donte Williams finished the final 10 games there, and they went 4-8. Now, Helton replaces Chad Lunsford as head coach of the Georgia Southern Eagles. Lunsford had three straight winning seasons there from 2018 to 2020 but was fired after a 1-3 start in 2021.

Kevin Whitley coached the final eight games for Georgia Southern, and the team finished 3-9. With this coaching change, Georgia Southern is making it clear they want to be a major Group of Five power player in SEC country, and that could really impact UT, which needs to recruit Georgia heavily. How well Helton recruits it will determine how big this effect is.

Home/Vols Football