Staff file photo / Derrick Ansley, Tennessee's cornerbacks coach at the time, works on the sideline during the Vols' game against North Carolina State at the Georgia Dome in September 2012.KNOXVILLE - One can point to any number of reasons why Derrick Ansley left the highest-paying salary for a defensive backs coach in the NFL to return to college, specifically the University of Tennessee.
The appeal of getting to coordinate his own defense. The appeal of getting back around people he was familiar with, including Volunteers head coach Jeremy Pruitt. The appeal of getting back to the South.
All would be accurate.
"I think any time you take a job you have to create value for yourself and you have to take in the family factor," Ansley said recently. "Being from the South and coming back to the South was very appealing to me. Working with Coach Pruitt was probably the ace in the hole for me, because he kind of gave me my start as a graduate assistant at Alabama in 2010 when he was the secondary coach.
"He and I have a very, very strong and unique bond. I consider him one of my biggest mentors. He's helped me along the way throughout my career. Even when we didn't work together. When he was at Georgia and Florida State, we always talked and always bounced ideas off each other. He's helped me tremendously grow as a young coach. Coming back here - working here at Tennessee in 2012 (as a defensive backs coach), the familiarity with the campus, the fan base - it was a really easy sell for me to come back."
Ansley's relationship with Pruitt started at Huntingdon College, a Division III school in Montgomery, Alabama. And Vols defensive line coach Tracy Rocker was one of the defensive coaches at Troy University when Ansley played there. Ansley also has worked previously with co-defensive coordinator Chris Rumph and special teams coordinator Kevin Sherrer.
"What I enjoy most about Coach Ansley, he's the same guy that walked into Troy State, took control of the field, started as a freshman and directed the defense," Rocker said. "Now he's here as the defensive coordinator: It's the same person that had the drive, the competitive edge to be special.
"I'm excited to be with him, glad to be around him and looking forward to this fall with him."
Of course there's the opportunity to be the primary defensive coordinator, something Ansley never has done. Pruitt did the play-calling on that side of the ball last season, so handing over the controls shows a certain level of trust that Pruitt may not have had in 2018, his first as a head coach.
"The relationship with Coach Pruitt made it an easy no-brainer for me, but also to coordinate a defense for the first time in the SEC at a storied program like Tennessee," Ansley said. "We have an unbelievable tradition and an incredible boss in Coach (Phillip) Fulmer (the athletic director), who gives us everything we need resource-wise here. To come back to be a defensive coordinator and work with Coach Pruitt, both of those things were very positive in coming back."
Ansley's résumé includes having coached 11 college players to the NFL - 2017 Thorpe Award and Chuck Bednarik Award winner Minkah Fitzpatrick among them. Combine that with Ansley having spent last season with the Oakland Raiders under former Tennessee graduate assistant and Super Bowl-winning coach Jon Gruden, and it's no surprise there's an appeal to play for him and learn from him.
"I didn't know much about him, but just being able to be around him as much as I have, he's doing a real good job," linebacker Daniel Bituli said recently. "He's a great addition to this team. He went to the NFL where we all strive to be, so he definitely knows what he's doing, and we're glad to have him here."
Contact Gene Henley at ghenley@timesfreepress.com. Follow him on Twitter @genehenley3 or at Facebook.com/VolsUpdate.