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Vols defenders experiencing multiple coordinators; Merklinger, Goree leaving

Tennessee Athletics photo by Elliot Walker / Tennessee junior linebacker Jeremiah Telander is in the process of playing three consecutive games with three different defensive coordinators.
Tennessee Athletics photo by Elliot Walker / Tennessee junior linebacker Jeremiah Telander is in the process of playing three consecutive games with three different defensive coordinators. Tennessee Athletics photo by Elliot Walker / Tennessee junior linebacker Jeremiah Telander is in the process of playing three consecutive games with three different defensive coordinators.

By David Paschall 5 min read

These are strange days for the defensive players of the Tennessee Volunteers.

The Vols lost their regular-season finale to Vanderbilt on Nov. 29 with Tim Banks as their defensive coordinator. They will face Illinois in the Music City Bowl on Dec. 30 with linebackers coach William Inge as their interim defensive coordinator, and they will turn the page in January with Jim Knowles as their defensive coordinator.

Knowles will make his Tennessee debut on Sept. 5, 2026, when the Vols will open by hosting Furman.

“I’ve told everybody that it’s a clean slate and that we’re all freaking freshmen again,” Vols junior linebacker Jeremiah Telander said this week during a news conference. “He’s been in the back just watching everybody. It’s a clean slate, but you just have to do what you’re supposed to do every day and be yourself.”

The Vols and Fighting Illini will take matching 8-4 records to Nashville.