Derek Dooley adds to Tennessee football’s head coach to Nick Saban assistant pipeline

For the third time in less than a decade, a former Tennessee football head coach is joining Nick Saban’s staff. Derek Dooley, who coached the Vols from 2010 to 2012, will serve as an offensive analyst for the Alabama Crimson Tide, according to a report from John Brice of Football Scoop.

There are lots of former head coaches who rehabilitated their careers working under Saban after being fired from their jobs. Mike Locksley, Mario Cristobal and Steve Sarkisian are just three of them. Bill O’Brien is currently on the staff.

No school has created a pipeline of fired head coaches to Saban assistants quite like Tennessee football, though. With Dooley joining Saban, the three head coaches to directly follow Phillip Fulmer on Rocky Top have all become Saban assistants after being fired from their jobs.

Lane Kiffin was hired as Alabama’s offensive coordinator in 2014, one year after the USC Trojans, whom he left UT for in 2010, fired him mid-season. He then landed on his feet to become head coach of the Florida Atlantic Owls in 2017, where he served for three years before taking over as head coach of the Ole Miss Rebels, his current position, in 2020.

Butch Jones became an offensive analyst for Alabama beginning in 2018, after UT fired him. He served in that role for three years before taking over as head coach of the Arkansas State Red Wolves this past year. Now, the coach between Kiffin and Jones is joining Alabama.

Dooley is a lot more unique than Jones and Kiffin, though. In fact, he’s more unique than Sarkisian, Locksley and Cristobal as well. That’s because he was actually a Saban protege. This is a reunification 16 years after the last time they worked together.

Saban’s history with Dooley goes back to 2000. Dooley was part of his staff all five years with the LSU Tigers, helping him to build a national championship program there. He then was with Saban at the Miami Dolphins both years before taking over as head coach of the Louisiana Tech Bulldogs.

Before his three years at UT, Dooley spent three years in Louisiana Tech. After his six years as head coach, he joined the Dallas Cowboys in 2013 as a wide receivers coach, a role he had for five years. Then he spent two years as the Missouri Tigers’ offensive coordinator under Barry Odom.

After Odom’s firing, Dooley joined Joe Judge’s staff with the New York Giants. However, Judge’s recent firing forced him to enter the market again, and that landed him in Alabama. On the bright side for him, both Jones and Kiffin got head coaching jobs after rejoining Saban. However, Dooley is older than both of them were when they got their next job.

Of course, now everybody is wondering about the successor to all three of these coaches for Tennessee football. Jeremy Pruitt took over for Jones and was fired after three years on the job. Ironically, he served with Dooley on Judge’s staff this past year, so he’s in the market too.

However, Pruitt may have a hard time landing a college job. He was fired due to an NCAA investigation into serious violations during his time as head coach on Rocky Top, an investigation that still hasn’t been concluded and also resulted in Fulmer stepping down as athletic director.

Still, like Dooley, Pruitt is a Saban protege, so it’s possible he becomes another former Tennessee football coach to land with him if it’s possible in any way. To be fair to Dooley, he inherited the biggest mess of any of these coaches. Although he had the worst tenure, he may deserve a second chance somewhere. He’s in the right place to try to get that chance.