The Tennessee Vols promoted Joey Halzle to offensive coordinator earlier this month to fill the coordinator position that Alex Golesh left behind when he accepted the USF head coach job.

Tennessee, however, still needs a tight ends coach (the position that Golesh coached) as Halzle will continue to coach quarterbacks for the Vols.

UT head coach Josh Heupel has been dealing with recruiting and the transfer portal (as well as Orange Bowl prep back in December) so the tight ends coach hire has taken a backseat over the last few weeks.

But with the transfer portal closing this week, it's expected that Heupel will shift his focus to filling the vacant spot on his staff.

A few names have been thrown around — though it's mostly speculation — as to who Heupel could hire.

Former North Texas head coach Seth Littrell, Heupel's teammate at Oklahoma, is one of the names that's been mentioned by folks. Oklahoma tight ends coach Joe Jon Finley is another name that's been mentioned as well, though it seems unlikely that Finley would leave Oklahoma for a lateral move (Finley played for the Sooners). UCLA tight ends coach Jeff Faris, a Knoxville native who played at Duke under former Vols offensive coordinator Dave Cutcliffe, has also been mentioned.

At this point, it seems like Heupel could go in any direction. An outside hire from the college ranks, promoting from within, or looking to the NFL for an assistant are all options that are on the table.

If Heupel goes the NFL route, there are a couple of options with Tennessee connections that could become available this week.

The Los Angeles Chargers' shocking loss to the Jacksonville Jaguars in the first round of the NFL playoffs this past weekend (they blew a 27-point lead) could lead to Brandon Staley losing his job as the franchise's head coach.

Staley, a former Vols graduate assistant (2012 under Derek Dooley), has several coaches on his staff who spent time at Tennessee.

And two of those coaches could make sense for Heupel.

The first one is Kevin Koger, who is currently the Chargers' tight ends coach.

Koger was a graduate assistant at Tennessee in 2015. He then followed former Vols tight ends coach Mark Elder to Eastern Kentucky. Koger was Eastern Kentucky's wide receivers coach/special teams coordinator for three seasons before joining the Green Bay Packers' staff as a quality control coach for two seasons under Matt LaFleur. Koger then joined the Chargers' staff as their tight ends coach in 2021.

If Staley is fired, Koger will likely be looking for a new job. And after seeing the way Golesh quickly advanced in his coaching career under Heupel, joining the Vols' staff could be an attractive option for him. Koger's time in the NFL would certainly play well on the recruiting trail. And that's what the Vols really need with this hire.

The other option is running backs coach Derrick Foster, who was an offensive assistant at Tennessee in 2012.

Foster is an Alabama native who has been with the Chargers for the last two seasons. Prior to his time in Los Angeles, Foster was Iowa's running backs coach for three seasons. Before coaching at Iowa, Foster spent two years at Samford.

During his time at Samford, Foster coached under Chris Hatcher.

Hatcher was one of the first college quarterbacks to run the air raid system under Hal Mumme and Mike Leach. Hatcher was the quarterback at Valdosta State in the early 90s when Mumme was the head coach and Leach was the offensive coordinator (he passed for 11,363 yards and 121 touchdowns during his time in college).

After his playing days, Hatcher was a graduate assistant at Kentucky under Mumme and Leach for two seasons.

Hatcher's roots are in the Leach/Air Raid system. Heupel, of course, comes from that same system (even though it's not what he runs at Tennessee). Foster has some experience in that type of system via his time at Samford, so there is at least some familiarity there — something that's usually attractive to Heupel.

If the Vols decide to hire Foster (if he's interested), they'd have to move current running backs coach Jerry Mack to tight ends (he's coached tight ends before).

There are several options out there for Heupel. He just has to figure out which one best fits with Tennessee's current staff. And he also has to figure out which one would help the Vols the best on the recruiting trail.

Featured image via Brianna Paciorka/News Sentinel / USA TODAY NETWORK