Longstanding relationship leads Brady Hoke to Tennessee

 Brady Hoke tried to hire Butch Jones for his Ball State football staff when Hoke became the coach in 2003.

Jones didn’t take the job, but the two always remained in touch. The pairing finally happened this year, only the roles have reversed.

Jones hired Hoke as the new defensive line coach at the University of Tennessee on Feb. 7. The former Michigan, San Diego State and Ball State coach was officially introduced on Tuesday afternoon during a news conference at the Ray & Lucy Hand Digital Studio.

Hoke spent last season as the defensive coordinator at Oregon before being let go when coach Mark Helfrich was fired.

“Butch had called me and we talked a little bit about it," Hoke said of the chance of working together. "Obviously things went South in Oregon and you know being a defensive line coach most of my career - even as a head coach I still coached the defensive line - it has been great, and that relationship and the trust factor that we have in each other that was built over many years, it is one reason it was attracting to me to come to Tennessee."

Hoke replaced Steve Stripling, who has moved into the role of director of football program development at UT.

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He is taking over a defensive line that was ravaged by injuries last season and lost star defensive end Derek Barnett to the NFL. Having only been on the job a month, Hoke is still evaluating his personnel at UT.

“I think for me to say what they are or what I think right now I don’t know if that’s fair. I would love to go through spring and have a little bit better idea,” Hoke said. “Obviously we have some guys hurt and won’t be able to do everything in spring. But I do believe that observing how they have been in meetings and how they are approaching conditioning and watching them in the weight room a little bit, they have a good work ethic.”

Unlike when some coaches are added to a staff, Hoke still has Stripling to use as a resource.

"Strip knows these guys deeper and a little bit more than I do. I am working at it," Hoke said. "So having Strip around in a lot of ways has been great. When I first got here, that is the first guy I went to talk to about the players and those kinds of things. So Strip has been a great advantage to have."

Hoke’s addition was part of a partial staff makeover on defense for the Vols as they enter their second season under coordinator Bob Shoop. UT hired Charlton Warren to coach defensive backs while Tommy Thigpen returns as linebackers coach.

They are tasked with helping UT improve a defense that finished 95th in the nation in total defense (449.2 yards allowed per game) and 104th in rushing defense (218.5).

“I have a lot of respect for Bob and what he has done. I think one thing a year ago, they had a bunch of injuries and I can tell you a bunch of them were the guys who play up front,” Hoke said. “With Bob and Thig and Charlton, it has really been a lot of knowledge in the room and a lot of guys who have coached a lot of different guys and a lot of football.”

Hoke understands the frustrations of working through a rough season defensively. His short stay at Oregon ended after the Ducks finished ranked 126th (518.4) in the nation in total defense last season.

But Hoke doesn’t view what happened at Oregon as motivation for UT.

“I hope it doesn’t. Hopefully I’ve got that competitiveness and that fire every day,” he said. “That is one thing consistently that I think is important that you have to have. Were we happy or whatever about what we did? No. It was disappointing. But we all move forward, and so I am excited about what we have got going here.”

Hoke attended a UT spring practice two years ago between coaching stints, yet never envisioned returning as a member of the staff.

He’s excited about the opportunity to fully focus on the defensive line again after many years of splitting his time.

Asked to describe his style coaching in the trenches, Hoke paused for a few seconds.

“Detailed. I think passionate. I think emotional,” he said. “And I think a pretty good teacher.”

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