Tennessee Football: 3 realistic head coach candidates for Volunteers
Things have been a mess for Tennessee Football lately but the Volunteers are hoping that all changes with the hiring of a new head coach.
Tennessee recently fired former head coach Jeremy Pruitt and also let go of Phillip Fulmer, the long-time head coach and athletic director. On Friday, Danny White was introduced from Central Florida as the new athletic director and the head coach search is about to ramp up.
White has been at Buffalo previously and at UCF and at both places, whether it was football or men’s basketball, he made good hires. Scott Frost and Josh Huepel at UCF, as well as Lance Leipold as Buffalo’s football coach and Nate Oats, who is now at Alabama for basketball.
So White knows what he’s doing and that’s good news for Tennessee Football because the once-proud program is in a dark place.
This hire is going to be the key to turning it around and while the Volunteers are unlikely to attract an elite coach like Iowa State’s Matt Campbell, there are some solid names out there and here are three that seem most realistic.
Lance Leipold, Buffalo head coach
Leipold isn’t the sexy name that many Tennessee Football fans might want, but he’s a really good candidate and has an obvious connection to White.
Before turning around Buffalo, Leipold won six national championships at the Division III level with Wisconsin-Whitewater and since moving into the FBS, the winning hasn’t stopped.
The Buffalo Bulls aren’t exactly a brand name in the world of college football, so it took Leipold a few years to get going, but he’s led the Bulls to three straight bowl games and has won the MAC East in two of the past three years.
Certainly, White knows the kind of coach he’d be getting in Leipold and in terms of the off-field stuff, he wouldn’t be a risk. He’s a quality guy and a quality coach who could bring some much-needed respectability back to Tennessee football.
Yet, he’s not the only solid candidate the Vols should consider and here’s another group of five head coach Tennessee should have on its radar.