Tennessee head coach Jeremy Pruitt has already added a number of coaches to his staff at UT with ties to Alabama. Now, he’s reportedly added another Alabama staff member to his team at Tennessee.
According to a report from Matt Zenitz of AL.com, Pruitt has hired away Garrett Cox from Nick Saban’s support staff at Alabama. Cox has been an analyst for the Tide since 2015, meaning he and Pruitt worked together there in 2016 and 2017.
Cox’s title at Alabama wasn’t specified, but it’s expected he’ll be an off-field analyst for the Vols and serve a similar role as other off-field assistants on Pruitt’s staff. Prior to coaching at Alabama, Cox was a linebackers coach at Texas Southern starting in 2011 after being promoted from the grad assistant role he took there in 2010. He was also a linebackers coach at Fort Scott Community College in 2009, and he was the administrative assistant for the linebacker coaches at Auburn prior to that. Cox was also an assistant linebackers coach for Buford High School in Georgia in 2008, and he served as a student assistant on Georgia’s defensive staff in 2006.
Cox is just the latest Alabama staffer to join Pruitt at Tennessee, and he’s the second off-field assistant to join the Vols from the Tide’s staff this offseason. Kerry Stevenson, Alabama’s Director of Player Development, was brought on to UT’s staff two weeks ago to likely serve in a similar role at Tennessee.
In hiring Cox, Pruitt now has eight coaches on his main and support staff at Tennessee who worked with him during his time at Alabama.
Defensive coordinator and defensive backs coach Derrick Ansley, co-defensive coordinator and outside linebackers coach Chris Rumph, special teams coordinator and inside linebackers coach Kevin Sherrer, tight ends coach Brian Niedermeyer, quarterbacks coach Chris Weinke, Director of Player Personnel Drew Hughes, and Kerry Stevenson all worked with Pruitt in some capacity at Alabama.
