Less than a week after an unexpected hole in his coaching staff was created, Butch Jones appears to be on the verge of filling it.
The first-year Tennessee head coach, the Knoxville News-Sentinel is reporting, has zeroed in on Robert Gillespie as the replacement for Jay Graham. Graham unofficially stepped down as the Vols’ running back coach for the same job at Florida State, although FSU has yet to announce the move.
Gillespie has spent the past two seasons at West Virginia as RBs coach.
Gillespie also has coaching experience in the SEC, spending 2006-08 as South Carolina’s RBs coach. He left for Oklahoma State and spent two years coaching the same position for the Cowboys. Gillespie’s replacement after departing the Gamecocks for OSU? Graham, who spent three seasons at USC before returning to his alma mater for the 2012 season.
In addition to coaching in the SEC, Gillespie was also a running back at Florida during the final years of Steve Spurrier‘s run with the Gators.
(Photo credit: West Virginia athletics)
UPDATED 8:21 p.m. ET: On his Twitter feed, Butch Jones announced that Gillespie has indeed been hired as the Vols’ running backs coach.