Thought to be headed for a broadcasting gig of some kind, Derek Dooley will instead (reportedly) be back on the sidelines in 2013.
According to ESPN.com’s Adam Schefter, Dooley is set to be hired by the Dallas Cowboys as the NFL club’s wide receivers coach. Neither the Cowboys nor Dooley’s outstanding Twitter feed have confirmed the move.
As reminded by the imitable Wes Rucker via Twitter, Dooley joining Jason Garrett‘s staff in Dallas should not come as much of a surprise given the relationship between the two coaches.
“He’s a huge Cowboys fan, and he gets to work for one of his best friends,” Rucker wrote.
The son of Georgia coaching legend Vince Dooley, Dooley was fired in mid-November after three seasons as Tennessee’s head coach. Given a short straw after the final years of the Phillip Fulmer era and Lane Kiffin‘s one-year carpetbag misadventure, Dooley finished his three years with the Vols at 15-21 overall and an abysmal 4-19 in SEC play.
Dooley had also served as Louisiana Tech’s head coach in the three years prior to his arrival in Knoxville. In his six seasons as a head coach at the collegiate level, Dooley has posted a combined 32-41 mark.
If the move comes to fruition, it won’t be the first NFL rodeo for Dooley as he served as tight ends coach -- under Nick Saban -- with the Miami Dolphins in 2005-06. Garrett was the quarterbacks coach on that staff.
Just two days ago, it was announced that Dooley would be a part of ESPNU‘s expanded National Signing Day coverage. Dooley, along former Auburn head coach Gene Chizik, will serve as a special guest analyst.
The fact that Dooley is on the outside looking in on that day doesn’t seem to hurt the coach’s feelings one bit.
“A player’s last chance to play the coaches...Not losing sleep that I will be in studio on this day,” the coach wrote on Twitter late this past week.