The Tennessee Vols made a decision that could hurt them in recruiting
Josh Heupel and the Tennessee Vols may have made a mistake this offseason
The Tennessee Vols recently made a decision that could have a negative effect on recruiting.
Last week, the details of contract extensions and raises for Tennessee assistant coaches were revealed.
Everyone on the Vols' coaching staff received a raise (except for defensive coordinator Tim Banks, whose deal hasn't been updated yet).
With the new deals in place, every Tennessee assistant is under contract for multiple years except for secondary coach Willie Martinez.
Martinez received a raise, but his contract is still set to expire after the 2023 season according to GoVols247.
The secondary is one of the Vols' biggest needs in recruiting.
If Tennessee is going to compete for a national championship, they need elite defensive backs.
That means they'll be going up against programs like Alabama, Georgia, Ohio State, etc for many of these defensive recruits.
Leaving Martinez on an expiring contract is easy recruiting ammo for opposing programs.
All those programs have to do is look at a recruit and ask them who their position coach will be if they commit to Tennessee.
There's no counter for the Vols to that question. Recruits aren't dumb — they know that not extending Martinez means the program might be willing to let his contract expire after 2023 so they can look for a new secondary coach (that might not be Tennessee's plan, but that's going to be the conclusion made by many — especially after the Vols' secondary struggles last season).
Josh Heupel and UT haven't made many missteps over the last two years, but they might have made one with the way they handled the Martinez contract. Maybe they didn't think anyone would notice, but it's become apparent over the last few days that folks in the college football world are well aware that Martinez will be working on an expiring contract in 2023.
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