Why Josh Heupel having to hire two assistants for Tennessee football staff isn't a big deal | Adams

Tennessee football hired two assistant coaches last week. What was your reaction?

My guess is you were enthusiastic about the news.

Fans tend to be optimistic about any changes in their favorite program. And changes haven’t occurred that often in Josh Heupel’s three years as Tennessee’s football coach. So, when his running backs and linebackers coaches decided to move on, Heupel had an opportunity to upgrade his staff.

Maybe, he did. But how can you be sure?

It’s easy to evaluate head coaches. The won-loss record says it all. Ranking coordinators is trickier, though drastically easier than rating position coaches. An offensive coordinator is tied tightly to stats. Points and yards per game might not be as good of a measuring stick as a head coach’s won-loss record but provide a reasonable barometer of success and failure.

Attaching stats to position coaches can be folly, though. If you have a formidable stable of running backs, your rushing stats should soar if you have a competent group of blockers ahead of them.

Also, running back is such an instinctive position. How do you coach a great running back? You hand him the ball and point to the opponent's goal line while perhaps adding, "Hold it high and tight."

Tennessee recently lost veteran running backs coach Jerry Mack. It replaced him by hiring De’Rail Sims. Both − like most assistant coaches − are vagabonds.

Mack got his first assistant coaching job as a graduate student in 2004. Since then – except for a three-year run as North Carolina Central’s head coach – he has stayed at a job more than two years only once (the past three seasons on Heupel’s staff). Sims began his coaching career in 2010. He has had eight more jobs since then. His average stay: 1.9 years.

Don’t get the wrong idea. I’m not judging, just pointing out the wandering ways of assistant coaches. They don’t get ahead by standing pat. They usually need to move to move up.

Their movement is akin to sports writing. I have been at the News Sentinel for 37 years because the paper pays me an outrageously high salary and allows me more vacation time than I can take. I also was a sports columnist in Baton Rouge for five years. But my average stay at six other daily newspaper was 13.8 months.

That's why I regard assistant coaches as kindred spirits and wish them well in their career journey. Just don’t ask me to evaluate them.

Consider all the different assistant coaches former Alabama coach Nick Saban employed while winning six national championships with the Tide and another one at LSU. The assistant coaches seemed interchangeable when Saban was running the show.

You also would expect a program with Tennessee's resources to consistently hire high-level assistants. Changing one for another shouldn't result in a meteoric rise or horrific fall in its program.

There are exceptions. Tennessee defensive line coach Rodney Garner is one. He has proved his worth as both a coach and recruiter while working at three different SEC schools – Tennessee, Auburn, and Georgia. I can’t imagine any other coach more adept at sizing up who can play and who can’t on a defensive front. My guess is he would be harder to replace than a coordinator.

Now, back to the nomads.

What I like most about the Sims hiring is his first name, “De’Rail,’ and not just because it’s uncommon. It could be great for headlines. “Tennessee running game ‘De’Railed’ against Georgia.” Or, on a more positive note: “Tennessee running backs help ‘De’Rail’ Georgia’s national championship bid.”

Former News Sentinel sports copy editor and award-winning headline writer Roland Julian could have worked wonders with a name like “De’Rail."

When former Tennessee linebacker Jerod Mayo was drafted by the New England Patriots, he asked sportswriters at a press conference how they might use his name in a headline. His curveball caught them off guard. He then recalled his college headlines.  “Hold the Mayo” was one example.

Roland probably wrote most of those headlines.

I’m not creative enough to find clever ways to use the name of William Inge, UT’s new linebackers coach, in a headline. But I’m sure Roland could have.

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What’s interesting about the Inge hire: Some assumed he was on his way to Alabama, where he would reconnect with his former boss at Washington, coach Kalen DeBoer. The mere possibility that Tennessee bested Alabama in anything football related is a huge confidence booster for its fan base.

Roland's headline might have been: "William Inge ‘De’Rails’ Alabama hiring plans by joining Tennessee Vols.”

John Adams is a senior columnist. He may be reached at 865-342-6284 or john.adams@knoxnews.com. Follow him at: twitter.com/johnadamskns.

This article originally appeared on Knoxville News Sentinel: Josh Heupel: Tennessee football staff changes no big deal