Tennessee Vols Coaching Search: Is Chris Petersen Realistic For UT?

It’s now been over a week since Butch Jones was relieved of his duties as the head football coach of the Tennessee Vols.

The Tennessee Vols are in search of a new head coach, and they can’t afford to take a gamble on an up-and-comer this time around.

Tennessee needs to hire a proven winner as their next head coach, but that won’t be easy.

There aren’t a lot of coaches that have the reputation for being a proven winner. And the ones that do, probably aren’t looking to leave their current jobs anytime soon.

But you still have to make those calls, because you never know who will listen.

One coach who might listen is Washington head coach Chris Petersen, who is widely regarded as one of the best coaches in college football. He’s right up there with Urban Meyer.

Petersen led Boise State to unprecedented success, before leaving in late 2013 to take the head coaching gig at Washington.

Before Petersen was hired by Washington, the Huskies hadn’t won more than nine games in a season since 2000. In Petersen’s third year, he had Washington in the college football playoff.

Pretty damn impressive.

So we know Petersen is a great coach, but would he actually come to Tennessee?

That’s the multi-million dollar question.

Petersen left Boise State when his oldest son went off to college and his youngest son’s health finally improved. Petersen’s youngest son is currently a senior in high school, so if he wanted to make a move, the timing would work for him.

However, the biggest hurdle seems to be that Petersen is a west coast guy through and through. He grew up in California (his father still lives in California) and he’s spent his entire coaching career (except for one year in 1992 at Pittsburgh) coaching in the western half of the country.

This doesn’t mean that Petersen wouldn’t come to Tennessee (Chip Kelly is an “east coast guy”, but doesn’t seem to mind coaching on the west coast), but it also doesn’t mean it’s a natural fit.

There are, however, a few reasons why Petersen could consider a move to Knoxville.

Petersen currently makes just north of $4 million a year. Tennessee could easily pay him $7-$8 million to come to Knoxville (he’d be more than worth it).

Multiple reports have surfaced in the last few days that suggests there’s been contact between Petersen’s reps and Tennessee. Though it’s unclear, one report says Petersen’s reps could have initiated the contact.

We know that Petersen is frustrated with the lack of exposure his team gets on the west coast. If he came to Tennessee, he’d never have to worry about that again (a historically bad Tennessee team has played on Saturday night at 7 pm et for the last weeks). Petersen would also have incredible facilities to work with and a pretty good recruiting base too (the midstate talent is real).

Of all the potential options out there, I don’t think there’s a more sure thing than Chris Petersen (and yes this includes Jon Gruden).

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John Currie would be very wise to go after Petersen with every resource he has at his disposal.

There’s no doubt that Tennessee would be a force to be reckoned with if Petersen was at the helm.