Clemson’s Kevin Steele, former Miami head coach Randy Shannon, LSU’s John Chavis and Alabama assistant Sal Sunseri have been some of the coaches mentioned as possibilities to fill the defensive coordinator position at Tennessee.
A week and a half after Justin Wilcox left the Vols for the same job at Washington to create that vacancy, another name has been tossed into the coordinator mix.
First reported by the Washington Post, and subsequently confirmed by the Knoxville News Sentinel, long-time Navy coordinator Buddy Green is set to interview at UT on Thursday. That would mark the second straight day a candidate has had a sit-down with head coach Derek Dooley; Sunseri reportedly interviewed for the job Wednesday.
The Post went on to write that “it’s unclear whether he would accept the job even if offered”, although it’s unclear why Green would interview for a job he wasn’t certain he’d accept.
Green has spent the past 10 seasons guiding the Navy defense, and has also been a coordinator at his alma mater North Carolina State as well as Southern University. From 1994-99, he was the head coach at Tennessee-Chattanooga.
In addition to Wilcox, Dooley has lost wide receivers coach Charlie Baggett (retired), special teams coordinator Eric Russell (Washington State) and linebackers coach Peter Sirmon (Washington) since the end of the season. The only coach hired since then to offset the losses has been running backs coach Jay Graham.