Former Vols LB coach Brian Jean-Mary speaks on leaving Tennessee for Michigan
For the first time since Josh Heupel's arrival in early 2021, the Tennessee Vols were forced to replace a defensive assistant coach this offseason. Linebackers coach Brian Jean-Mary left Knoxville earlier this offseason to take the linebackers coaching gig at Michigan. Jean-Mary joined Heupel's inaugural staff in 2021 after spending the 2020 season at Michigan […]
For the first time since Josh Heupel's arrival in early 2021, the Tennessee Vols were forced to replace a defensive assistant coach this offseason.
Linebackers coach Brian Jean-Mary left Knoxville earlier this offseason to take the linebackers coaching gig at Michigan.
Jean-Mary joined Heupel's inaugural staff in 2021 after spending the 2020 season at Michigan under then Wolverines head coach Jim Harbaugh (Harbaugh left Michigan this offseason to take over as the Los Angeles Chargers' new head coach, which resulted in Sherrone Moore getting promoted to the head coach role for the Wolverines).
Jean-Mary met with the media on Monday in Ann Arbor and he was asked about the decision to leave Tennessee for Michigan.
"Even when I left (Michigan), I told the guys it felt like the 2020 season was an incomplete part of my coaching career just because of COVID and the way things went," said Jean-Mary. "So even leaving and going to another program, [I] still felt a little bit of an attachment to the University of Michigan. And was an admirer from afar. And watching the success that they had, there was not a happier person than myself and my family.
"When the opportunity came up, when Coach Moore called me, it felt like it was too good of an opportunity to pass up. Just because like I said, there was a lot of attachment. A lot of good things that happened here, even though the year didn't go as we wanted in 2020. But it felt like it was where I needed to be."
Jean-Mary was a valuable part of Tennessee's coaching staff. He wasn't a coach that the Vols wanted to see leave Knoxville. But the good news for Tennessee is that they hired a top tier replacement in William Inge, an assistant coach who is already making waves on the recruiting trail for the Vols.
