The Tennessee Volunteers just came out on the better end of the wild coaching carousel that has been part of Kalen DeBoer’s transition as the new Alabama Crimson Tide head coach.
One of the biggest announcements when DeBoer took the job was that he would be bringing former Washington offensive coordinator Ryan Grubb to Tuscaloosa as well.
He did, but it didn’t last long.
This past year, Grubb helped the development of Michael Penix Jr. He was the architect behind the No. 2 passing team in all of college football, behind only Oregon, averaging 347.7 passing yards through the air per game and finishing the season with 38 touchdowns through the air.
But after committing to the Alabama Crimson Tide job, Grubb ended up heading back to the West Coast and taking the Seattle Seahawks OC position when Mike Macdonald took over as head coach.
DeBoer was forced to turn to tight ends coach Nick Sheridan as OC once Grubb headed back to Seattle.
The on Monday, the Alabama Crimson Tide football team is set to hire Baylor offensive line coach Chris Kapilovic, according to ESPN senior writer Pete Thamel. Kapilovic was hired at Baylor in December but is now expected to join DeBoer in Tuscaloosa after Scott Huff’s departure to the Seattle Seahawks.
While all these shakeups were taking place, the Tennessee Volunteers were sitting back quietly waiting to pounce.
On the defensive side of the ball, Kalen DeBoer hired South Alabama head coach Kane Wommack.
The new defensive coordinator played at Arkansas and Southern Miss before early coaching stops at Tennessee-Martin, Jacksonville State and Ole Miss.
He served as USA’s linebackers coach and DC in 2016 and 2017 before returning as head coach in 2021. Now, he’s remaining in the state, filling the void left by the retired Kevin Steele.
Keeping two assistants familiar with how Saban ran his program and that are plugged into the recruiting trail in the SEC is massive for a coach coming from a program so far away.
Tennessee Volunteers Hire Former Washington DC William Inge, Who Was Reported To Be Joining Alabama Crimson Tide
There’s nothing better than a good ole SEC rivalry and Monday’s latest development only throws more fuel on to the fire that burns between Tennessee and Alabama.
The Vols moved quickly to tab their new linebackers coach and is in line to fill both vacancies on its coaching staff in short order. The Vols are expected to hire former Washington co-defensive coordinator William Inge as its new linebackers coach, sources told GoVols247 on Monday evening. The veteran assistant coach will replace Brian Jean-Mary, who left Tennessee’s staff last week to return to Michigan.
Inge spent the past two seasons at Washington as the co-defensive coordinator and linebackers coach for the Huskies, who played for the national championship last season.
This is a significant move for the Tennessee Volunteers.
After starting his coaching career at Iowa as a graduate assistant in 1998, Inge coached at Northern Iowa, Colorado, San Diego State, Cincinnati and Buffalo and in the NFL with the Buffalo Bills, and he worked alongside or for new Alabama coach Kalen DeBoer at Indiana, Fresno State and Washington.
William Inge was DeBoer’s co-defensive coordinator at Washington and the defensive coordinator at Fresno State and coached the linebackers at both stops. There were reports he was going to join DeBoer in Tuscaloosa as the outside linebackers coach with the Alabama Crimson Tide’s hire for defensive coordinator, Kane Wommack, expected to coach the inside linebackers. However, Alabama never announced Inge as an official hire and he’s now part of the rival Tennessee Volunteers.
The Huskies went 25-3 over the past two seasons on the strength of a high-powered offense, so that part of the job will be familiar with Inge coming to Tennessee to help an improving defense under coordinator Tim Banks.