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Tennessee football’s last five seasons returning both coordinators

By Caleb Calhoun

Defensive coordinator Tim Banks runs a drill during Tennessee football spring practice at University of Tennessee, Thursday, March 24, 2022.Volspractice0324 1066
Defensive coordinator Tim Banks runs a drill during Tennessee football spring practice at University of Tennessee, Thursday, March 24, 2022.Volspractice0324 1066 /
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Tennessee Head Coach Jeremy Pruitt jogs off the field following a SEC game between the Tennessee Volunteers and the Texas A&M Aggies held at Neyland Stadium in Knoxville, Tenn., on Saturday, December 19, 2020.Kns Vols Football Texas A M Bp
Tennessee Head Coach Jeremy Pruitt jogs off the field following a SEC game between the Tennessee Volunteers and the Texas A&M Aggies held at Neyland Stadium in Knoxville, Tenn., on Saturday, December 19, 2020.Kns Vols Football Texas A M Bp /

Changing coordinators used to be rare for Tennessee football. The Vols had the same offensive and defensive coordinators from 1999 to 2005 and 1995 to 1998. Through 2007, every offensive and defensive coordinator duo had stayed together for at least two years since 1993. Dating back to 1977, that only failed to happen three times.

Since the end of that 2005 season, though, they’ve never gone more than two straight years with the same coordinators, and they’ve changed at least one 12 times. They’ve changed both five times. Sure, head coaching changes fuel that, but that’s still lots of changes.

This year, they’re returning both coordinators for a sixth time. Josh Heupel and Alex Golesh return to run the offense this year while Tim Banks returns to run the defense. However, that doesn’t always mean good things. Let’s look at all five seasons since 2005 from there when Tennessee football returned both coordinators, starting with the most recent one.

Volunteers . 5. team. 839. . 2020.

3-7 (3-7)

  • Head coach: Jeremy Pruitt (3rd year)
  • Offensive coordinator: Jim Chaney (2nd year)
  • Defensive coordinator: Derrick Ansley (2nd year)

We all know how 2020 turned out, but entering the season, the morale was completely different. Despite the COVID issues, the Vols had finished the previous year on a six-game winning streak, they brought in a top 10 recruiting class, and most notably, they returned both coordinators for the first time in six year.

Jim Chaney was a star again on Rocky Top, and Derrick Ansley seemed to be coming into his own as Jeremy Pruitt’s understudy. Well, all that went out the window in 2020. Secondary play, which is supposed to be Ansley’s speciality, was horrible.

Meanwhile, Jarrett Guarantano reverted back to his beginning of 2019 self and stayed that way all year without Jauan Jennings and Marquez Callaway. Of course, Pruitt got fired for cause at the end of the year, and Tennessee football was forced to start from scratch again, so the excitement of stability went out the window quickly.

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