You can add another impressive member to the list of Tennessee football coaches. And this time around, it's a former superstar Vols playmaker who is ready to help out Josh Heupel and his defense for the 2025 season.
In this case we're talking about Marion Hobby, who suited up for Tennessee in the late 1980s. He was a third-round pick by the Vikings in the 1990 NFL Draft. After a short stint in the pros, his coaching career got started in 1995 and he hasn't looked back since. Now, he's returning to Knoxville to join his former program, which just reached the College Football Playoff last winter.
Tennessee is hiring former All-SEC defensive tackle Marion Hobby in a defensive analyst role, a source tells @On3sports. CBS first.
— Pete Nakos (@PeteNakos_) June 9, 2025
Most recently, he was the defensive line coach for the Cincinnati Bengals and was on Clemson's 2016 national championship staff.… pic.twitter.com/ak1qa2ETCT
Josh Heupel has hired Marion Hobby to join his Tennessee football staff
According to On3's Pete Nakos, Hobby is being hired as a defensive analyst. He'll work with defensive coordinator Tim Banks moving forward - Tennessee's defense was stout in 2024 and the same is expected to be the case for the 2025 season.
Hobby has loads of experience coaching both at the pro and college level. He got his start with Tennessee-Martin. Hobby then had stops with Louisiana-Lafayette, Tennessee, Ole Miss, Duke and Clemson. He worked for the Saints, Jaguars, Dolphins and Bengals at the pro level.
His long journey has now brought him back to SEC country. In 1989, Hobby was named First-Team All-SEC after a sensational year with the Vols. Now that he's back on his old stomping grounds, Hobby is going to work to help the Vols flirt with double-digit wins again.
Things are going to be different now that Joey Aguilar is expected to take over the offense for Nico Iamaleava, who is now with UCLA. Despite that, Tennessee is still built to make plenty of noise this fall and bringing in Hobby to join an already loaded coaching staff is even more exciting news for Heupel and his plans for '25.