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Tennessee Vols: “Under The Radar” Coaches That Could Replace Butch Jones

By Zach Ragan

KNOXVILLE, TN - SEPTEMBER 30: Tennessee Volunteers head coach Butch Jones leaves the field after a game against the Georgia Bulldogs at Neyland Stadium on September 30, 2017 in Knoxville, Tennessee. Georgia won 41-0. (Photo by Joe Robbins/Getty Images)
KNOXVILLE, TN - SEPTEMBER 30: Tennessee Volunteers head coach Butch Jones leaves the field after a game against the Georgia Bulldogs at Neyland Stadium on September 30, 2017 in Knoxville, Tennessee. Georgia won 41-0. (Photo by Joe Robbins/Getty Images) /
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CLEMSON, SC – OCTOBER 10: Defensive Coordinator Brent Venables of the Clemson Tigers calls out a play during the game against the Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets at Memorial Stadium on October 10, 2015 in Clemson, South Carolina. (Photo by Tyler Smith/Getty Images)
CLEMSON, SC – OCTOBER 10: Defensive Coordinator Brent Venables of the Clemson Tigers calls out a play during the game against the Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets at Memorial Stadium on October 10, 2015 in Clemson, South Carolina. (Photo by Tyler Smith/Getty Images) /

Brent Venables

Defensive coordinator at Clemson

This really shouldn’t be an under-the-radar name, but Venables’ name has been inauspiciously left off the lists of several national college football analysts.

Venables has been a defensive coordinator for a long, long time.

The former Kansas State Wildcat coached with Bob Stoops at Kansas State. Stoops brought Venables along with him to Oklahoma to serve as co-defensive coordinator and eventually defensive coordinator. Venables arrived at Clemson in 2012 and he’s helped usher in the golden age of Tigers football.

Obviously there’s concern about first time head coaches, but some of the best head coaching hires have been coordinators-turned-head coaches. Bob Stoops, Mark Richt, Dabo Swinney, Jimbo Fisher and James Franklin (at Vanderbilt) all made the leap from coordinator to Power-5 head coach and turned out quite well.

Tennessee could do a LOT worse than Venables.

But there is one catch — if Kliff Kingsbury is fired at Texas Tech, the Red Raiders’ AD, who is good friends with Venables, might snatch up the Clemson defensive coordinator.

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