KNOXVILLE – With the departure of Tracy Rocker to South Carolina, Tennessee has hired Jimmy Brumbaugh from Colorado to take over duties as defensive line coach.
Although Brumbaugh has never crossed paths with Tennessee head coach Jeremy Pruitt in the coaching world, he did work under current defensive coordinator Derrick Ansley at Kentucky. Brumbaugh was Kentucky’s defensive line coach during Ansley’s time as co-defensive coordinator in Lexington.
After a strong playing career at Auburn and short professional stops in the NFL and XFL, Brumbaugh had his first on-field job at Chattanooga as defensive line coach for Rodney Allison. Allison detailed Brumbaugh’s attitude as a player and coach to Vols Wire.
Brumbaugh’s first SEC experience came in 2006 and 2007 as an assistant strength and conditioning coach for a Les Miles-coached program that won the 2007 BCS national championship. Following his time in Baton Rouge were stops at Louisiana Tech, Syracuse, East Mississippi Community College, Kentucky, Maryland and Colorado. Brumbaugh coached the defensive line in each of these stints.
In 2019 at Colorado under Mel Tucker, Brumbaugh served as defensive line coach and co-defensive coordinator.
Tennessee gets an eager coach who has built his career on coaching the defensive line with SEC experience. Although Rocker was an excellent developer, Tennessee did not renew his contract and moved quickly to bring on Brumbaugh.
It appears as though Pruitt had a plan for Rocker’s replacement, and Brumbaugh will likely be expected to bring a high-energy attitude on the recruiting trail.
Tennessee’s defensive line returns every contributor from 2019, while adding players returning from injury and members of its 2020 recruiting class.