Former Vols assistant coach lands NFL defensive coordinator job
A former Tennessee Vols assistant coach is now a defensive coordinator in the NFL. The Los Angeles Chargers promoted Derrick Ansley to defensive coordinator on Monday. Ansley will replace Renaldo Hill in Los Angeles (Hill left the Chargers to become the new defensive passing game coordinator for the Miami Dolphins). Ansley, who served as the […]
A former Tennessee Vols assistant coach is now a defensive coordinator in the NFL.
The Los Angeles Chargers promoted Derrick Ansley to defensive coordinator on Monday. Ansley will replace Renaldo Hill in Los Angeles (Hill left the Chargers to become the new defensive passing game coordinator for the Miami Dolphins).
Ansley, who served as the Vols' defensive coordinator from 2019 to 2020, was previously the Chargers' defensive backs coach.
This will be Ansley's first stint as a defensive coordinator in the NFL.
The Chargers' coaching staff surprisingly has several connections to Tennessee.
Head coach Brandon Staley was a graduate assistant for the Vols in 2012. Ansley, meanwhile, was Tennessee's defensive backs coach in 2012, so that's that connection between the two coaches.
Chargers running backs coach Derrick Foster was also on Tennessee's coaching staff in 2012 (Foster was an offensive assistant).
Los Angeles tight ends coach Kevin Koger wasn't on the Vols' 2012 staff, but he still spent a year on Rocky Top. Koger was a graduate assistant at Tennessee in 2015.
The Chargers also have former Vols wide receiver Josh Palmer on the roster (another loose connection between Los Angeles and Tennessee is Chris Rumph II, a former Duke standout who is the son of former Vols co-defensive coordinator Chris Rumph).
Tennessee is represented well in the NFL and the Chargers are another example of that.
Featured image via Caitie McMekin/News Sentinel, Knoxville News Sentinel via Imagn Content Services, LLC
