Tennessee football: Ranking all 28 offseason coaching changes by impact on Vols
Scouting Report. Oklahoma Sooners. 815. Pick Analysis. Lincoln Riley. Brent Venables. 3. player
Previous role: Defensive coordinator, Clemson Tigers
Yes, both Clemson Tigers coordinators have left to be hired by other schools. Since the hires resulted in them leaving Clemson, they naturally have a huge impact on Tennessee football. Brent Venables replaced Kevin Steele as Clemson’s defensive coordinator in 2012, and like Tony Elliott, he helped take Dabo Swinney’s program to new heights.
It’ll be interesting to see how Swinney succeeds with both of these guys gone, but if it contributes to the downfall of Clemson, it gives the Vols a huge advantage. After all, one thing that has hurt them is that the past 17 years have involved Steve Spurrier coaching the South Carolina Gamecocks, Clemson thriving as a program or both.
UT’s history requires that it be able to recruit The Palmetto State, and now there’s an opportunity to do that. Beyond that effect, though, Venables is taking over an SEC school. Now, it was close between Venables and Elliott as to which hire meant more.
If Elliott had taken over Virginia Tech, which we already mentioned, this would be a different story. However, UVA doesn’t impact Tennessee football as much, and Venables going to a future SEC school will have a slightly greater impact. As a result, both hires are huge for UT, but Venables means a bit more but just barely.