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By Reice Shipley
Contributing Sports Writer
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The Tennessee Volunteers came into the 2025 season with hopes of returning to the CFP after making it to the playoff for the first time in program history. After falling short of that goal, the program announced a big coaching change in an attempt to get things back on track for 2026.
Tennessee had one of the best offenses in the sport this season, ranking inside the top ten in yards per game and points scored per game.
The defensive side of the ball, led by defensive coordinator Tim Banks, was an entirely different story. In particular, the Volunteers struggled in a huge way to limit opposing offenses in SEC play, allowing an average of 33.6 points per game in their eight conference games.
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The Volunteers' drastic step back on defense served as the major difference between last year's team, which earned a CFP bid, and this year's team. In 2024, Tennessee allowed just 16.1 points per game, which resulted in Banks being a finalist for the Broyles Award last year.
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Instead of giving Banks another chance to turn things around in the future, given his impressive track record, the program decided that it is best for each side to go in another direction moving forward. According to CBS Sports college football insider Matt Zenitz, the Volunteers and Banks are expected to go their separate ways.
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Clearly, the level of urgency to get back to a postseason contender seems to be quite high within the Tennessee program to make such a big change after a winning season.
Getting back to the kind of defensive effort showcased in 2024 should go a long way in doing just that. So the top of Tennessee's goals going into 2026 will likely bring in a new defensive coordinator that can help complement Josh Heupel's regularly great offensive system.
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