Josh Heupel’s latest hire at Tennessee had a big impact on two other college football programs
The Tennessee Vols have made some big-time hires this offseason.
Tennessee Vols head coach Josh Heupel made one of the biggest hires of the offseason last week by swiping strength coach Derek Owings from the Indiana Hoosiers.
Owings joined the Volunteers less than 12 hours after Indiana beat the Miami Hurricanes in the College Football Playoff championship game.
Owings, who quickly got to work after arriving at Tennessee, spent the last six seasons working for Indiana head coach Curt Cignetti (Owings also worked for Cignett at James Madison). Prior to working with Cigentti, Owings worked with Heupel for one season at UCF.
Hiring Derek Owings impacted more than just Indiana
Tennessee landing Owings had an impact on more than just Indiana.
The Hoosiers moved fast to replace Owings, hiring Tyson Brown away from Colorado State to serve as Indiana’s new strength coach.
Brown, who previously worked with new Colorado State head coach Jim Mora at UConn, was announced as part of the Rams’ coaching staff on Jan. 1.
Owings’ decision to leave Indiana for Tennessee had a domino effect that impacted multiple college football programs.
And the domino effect may not be over yet since Colorado State still needs to hire a new strength coach.
College football is a small world. Any single move by a Power-4 program can have a major impact across the sport.
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