A few former Tennessee Vols assistants will be part of the coaching team that newly appointed Alabama Crimson Tide head coach Kalen DeBoer is constructing in Tuscaloosa.
Robert Gillespie, the running backs coach for Alabama who has been an assistant since 2021, is apparently going to be retained by DeBoer, who was chosen late last week to succeed Nick Saban.
Gillespie spent the entirety of the Butch Jones era in Knoxville as the running backs coach for Tennessee from 2013 to 2017. When Jeremy Pruitt took over as Tennessee’s head coach in late 2017, he initially decided to keep Gillespie. However, Gillespie and Tennessee broke up two months later.
(Interestingly, Pruitt recently dispelled a myth that Gillespie supposedly began of Tennessee rescinding Michael Penix Jr.’s scholarship offer after Pruitt became the program’s head coach.)
Additionally, DeBoer is bringing former Vols graduate assistant Nick Sheridan with him to Alabama to serve as the Crimson Tide’s tight ends coach.
Sheridan worked under DeBoer at Washington and attended Tennessee as a graduate assistant from 2014 to 2016. He had a significant role in Josh Dobbs’ progress as a quarterback.
Getting used to life in the SEC will be one of DeBoer’s toughest tasks at Alabama, so it makes sense for him to bring in a few assistants with SEC experience.