Virginia HC Tony Elliott details how close he was to taking the Tennessee Vols job in 2021
Before Tennessee Vols athletic director Danny White hired Josh Heupel to replace Jeremy Pruitt as UT's head coach in early 2021, there was some interest shown in then Clemson offensive coordinator Tony Elliott. Elliott ended up sticking around at Clemson for another season and the Vols turned their attention to Heupel, which has obviously worked […]
Before Tennessee Vols athletic director Danny White hired Josh Heupel to replace Jeremy Pruitt as UT's head coach in early 2021, there was some interest shown in then Clemson offensive coordinator Tony Elliott.
Elliott ended up sticking around at Clemson for another season and the Vols turned their attention to Heupel, which has obviously worked out quite well for Tennessee.
After the 2021 season, Elliott accepted the Virginia head coaching job.
Coincidentally, Tennessee and Virginia play each other in Nashville on September 2 to open the 2023 season.
On Monday, Elliott was asked how close he was to taking the Tennessee job.
"First of all, obviously, Tennessee is, in my opinion, one of the Blue Bloods," said Elliott. "One of the top tier programs in the country. When I evaluated it, there were a lot of positive things about it. It just wasn't the right time for me. So when it came down to it, I prayed about it and said I want the Lord to lead me in the direction that He'd have me to go. So, it was close. But at the end of the day, when I looked at the totality of everything, it just wasn't the right time and the right fit for me. I'm happy for Heupel. Excited for him and what he's doing there. Obviously, an extremely passionate fan base. All the resources that you need to be a top tier program."
"I'm excited about our matchup, when we play them, to kind of see where we are as a program," added Elliott. "I think you have to play games like this to get a barometer and to gauge where we're at. It either tells us, okay, we're ahead of where we need to be or you know what, we still got a good significant amount of work to do. But I'm excited about the opportunity to play these guys. It was close, but at the end of the day, it just wasn't the right timing for me."
The NCAA investigation that Tennessee was knee deep in at the time is likely what kept Elliott from taking the job. That's where Heupel's familiarity with White, whom he worked with at UCF, probably eased some concerns.
Elliott is one of the good guys in college football. Rebuilding Virginia's program won't be easy, but it's hard to imagine anyone rooting against Elliott — except for Vols fans on September 2 in Nashville.
Update:
Tennessee athletic director Danny White tweeted in response to this story that he only offered the job to one person (Heupel).
Featured image via Ron Johnson-USA TODAY Sports