Tennessee Tech will play a seven-game spring football season beginning Feb. 21.
The Golden Eagles did not play during the fall due to the coronavirus pandemic.
Third-year Tennessee Tech head coach Dewayne Alexander previewed the season on the show “Tennessee Two-A-Days.”
Alexander discussed how Tre Lamb, his offensive coordinator in 2019, took the head coaching position at Gardner-Webb and replacing him in 2021.
“I am very excited for Tre,” Alexander said. “He is an outstanding young coach and a reason I have been coaching for 30-plus years. I hired Tre and kind of gave him the keys to the car as a 29-year-old offensive coordinator. I worked with Tre previously, I’ve known Tre’s Dad. I knew Tre when he was a player here, and I was on the staff here when Watson Brown hired him right after he was finishing playing.
“I was brought here to work with Watson as offensive line coach and associate head coach, so I’ve gotten to know Tre very well. When I got the head coaching job, he was my first hire. He did a tremendous job here and a very bright, young coach.”
Lamb hired former Auburn player Kelsey Pope to serve as his passing game coordinator and wide receivers coach at Gardner-Webb. Pope will be part of Josh Heupel’s staff at Tennessee.
“I really gave Kelsey one of his first full-time jobs at the Division-1 level, an outstanding young coach as well,” Alexander said. “Those guys deserve all of the opportunities that they got.”
With the departure of Lamb, Alexander promoted Doug Malone as Tennessee’s Tech offensive coordinator in 2021.
“As far as us offensively, we are still going to be very similar,” Alexander said. “We are not changing terminology or anything because Doug Malone is taking over as our offensive coordinator.
“Doug is a very experienced coach and he was on our staff whenever I got hired. He was the second guy that I hired, so Doug was on the staff and worked alongside Tre the 2018 and 2019 seasons.”
Lamb previously joined the show “Tennessee Two-A-Days” ahead of the 2021 spring season. He discussed assembling his first coaching staff and offensive philosophies that he has studied from Heupel during his time as UCF’s head coach.
“We’re Air Raid passing game,” Lamb said. “Air Raid principles with an inside power-running game. I do believe you got to run the ball to win games in certain situations. All our passing game is Air Raid principles.
“If you want to compare our offense to somebody, it probably would be a hybrid between Appalachian State and Central Florida. Those are two teams we study the most. I like the outside zone play that App. State runs and I like the way Central Florida formations you and throws the ball down the field. Those are the two teams we watch the most and cater our offense to our players.”
Tennessee will host Tennessee Tech on Sept. 18 at Neyland Stadium during the Golden Eagles’ fall season.
The entire show with Alexander can be listened to here or below.
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