Vols Football: Five Candidates To Consider If Tennessee Defensive Line Coach Steve Stripling Leaves
By Zach Ragan
Brady Hoke
Current position: None
Brady Hoke is the obvious choice among fans to lead Tennessee’s defensive line in 2017.
Hoke is the former head coach at Michigan. He served as Oregon’s defensive coordinator last season.
All signs point to Hoke being the guy if Stripling steps down. He knows Butch Jones, and he even took in a few Vol practices in the spring of 2015.
Of course the one small concern here is that Hoke hasn’t been a position coach since he coached Michigan’s defensive line in 2002.
In fact, 2016 was the first year since 2002 that Hoke wasn’t a head coach, and that didn’t go so well for him.
Oregon gave up 41 points a game last season. Nearly dead last in the FBS division.
Hoke is a slam dunk as far as a big name hire goes. But it’s not a sure thing that he will have success with the Vols.
Plus there’s the fact that Tennessee will likely have to empty their pockets for Hoke as a position coach. He made $700,000 as Oregon’s defensive coordinator last season.
There’s also the likelihood that Hoke won’t be in town long. He was a head coach for over a decade, he probably doesn’t plan to be a position coach anywhere for any length of time.