A look at how Dewayne Alexander’s Tennessee Tech coaching tree has spread to Josh Heupel, Lane Kiffin
Tennessee Tech (0-2) will play at Tennessee (1-1) Saturday at Neyland Stadium.
Kickoff is slated for noon EDT. SEC Network+ will broadcast the in-state matchup.
Dewayne Alexander is in his fourth season as Tennessee Tech’s head coach.
During Alexander’s tenure at Tennessee Tech, he has formed staffs in which assistants have advanced careers to join Southeastern Conference positions.
From 2018-20, Tre Lamb served as Alexander’s offensive coordinator and quarterbacks coach. Lamb is now serving as Gardner–Webb’s head coach.
Lamb has tailored his offensive philosophies and concepts from studying the likes of Appalachian State and Josh Heupel’s veer-and-shoot style.
“We’re Air Raid passing game,” Lamb said on the show “Football Two-A-Days” in January, two days before Heupel was hired as Tennessee’s head coach from Central Florida. “Air Raid principles with an inside power-running game. I do believe you got to run the ball to win games in certain situations. All our passing game is Air Raid principles.
“If you want to compare our offense to somebody, it probably would be a hybrid between Appalachian State and Central Florida. Those are two teams we study the most. I like the outside zone play that App. State runs and I like the way Central Florida formations you and throws the ball down the field. Those are the two teams we watch the most and cater our offense to our players.”
Tennessee Tech Golden Eagles head coach Dewayne Alexander watches his team during the second half at Fortera Stadium Saturday, Oct. 27, 2018, in Clarksville, Tenn. © Courtney Pedroza/The Leaf-Chronicle
In 2019, Kelsey Pope served as Lamb’s wide receivers coach on Alexander’s Tennessee Tech staff.
Lamb hired Pope to serve as his passing game coordinator and wide receivers coach at Gardner-Webb. Pope would depart Gardner-Webb as Heupel hired him as an offensive analyst at Tennessee.
Lane Kiffin has implemented the Baylor, veer-and-shoot offense into his Ole Miss program with offensive coordinator Jeff Lebby, much like Heupel has done during his head coaching career.
Kiffin also hired an assistant from Tennessee Tech’s coaching staff that runs the similar scheme of Heupel and Lebby.
Jake Thornton is in his first season as Ole Miss’ offensive line coach after serving as run game coordinator and offensive line coach for Alexander at Tennessee Tech from 2018-19. Thornton followed Lamb and Pope to Gardner-Webb in 2020 as the Bulldogs’ run game coordinator and offensive line coach.
Alexander joined the show “Football Two-A-Days” ahead of Tennessee Tech playing at Tennessee. The show can be listened to here or below.
