KNOXVILLE – Tennessee and strength and conditioning director Dave Lawson have parted ways, an athletic department official confirmed Friday afternoon.
Lawson had been with the Volunteers since 2013, but after spending the past three seasons as the football team’s primary strength coach, his role changed this past winter.
Associate strength coach Michael Szerszen took over the day-to-day duties with the football program in January as Lawson transitioned into a role overseeing the strength and conditioning program for Tennessee’s entire athletic department.
But Friday, Tennessee spokesman Ryan Robinson told the Times Free Press that Lawson is “no longer working in the athletic department” due to a “difference in philosophy.”
Lawson, whose salary was $200,000, will be paid through the conclusion of his contract, which runs through February 2017, though how much Tennessee will owe him would be mitigated if he gets another job. Robinson said there are no immediate plans for Tennessee to fill Lawson’s position.
Lawson was the primary strength coach for football coach Butch Jones during his tenures at Central Michigan, Cincinnati and Tennessee, but that changed this offseason, with Lawson noticeably absent from all of Tennessee’s spring practices.
Szerszen, who had stops at West Virginia, Army and Eastern Michigan before hooking up with Jones and Lawson at Cincinnati in 2010, will continue in his role as the football program’s strength coach.
Contact Patrick Brown at pbrown@timesfreepress.com.