Tennessee defensive coordinator Derrick Ansley has accepted a coaching job with the Los Angeles Chargers according to a tweet from Daniel Popper of The Athletic, who said Ansley was one of four names mentioned as additions by defensive coordinator Renaldo Hill.
Ansley joins first-year Chargers’ head coach Brandon Staley, who was recently hire by Los Angeles after serving as the Rams’ defensive coordinator. Ansley previously worked in the NFL with the Raiders before the organization moved from Oakland to Las Vegas.
Ansley departs for the NFL following a three-year stint as Tennessee’s defensive coordinator and defensive backs coach. He previously coached defensive backs at Tennessee in 2012 under Derek Dooley.
In 2019, the Vol defense was exceptional under Ansley, allowing only 334.5 yards per game – their best mark in a decade and finishing in the top 25 nationally. Under Ansley’s direction, Tennessee’s pass defense (194.0) finished No. 16 in the country, and the squad ranked No. 13 in interceptions (15), marking huge improvement from 2018 when UT allowed 222.9 passing yards per game and grabbed just nine interceptions.
Ansley came to the Vols following a one-year stint as the defensive backs coach for the NFL’s Oakland Raiders where his unit tallied 14 interceptions – up from five the year before.
He has coached 15 defensive backs that have been selected in the NFL Draft and six All-Americans, while winning two national championships at Alabama during stints as defensive backs coach (2016-17) and as a defensive graduate assistant (2010-11).
Ansley coached the cornerbacks (2013-14) and was the co-defensive coordinator and secondary coach (2015) at Kentucky after a one-year stint with the defensive backs at Tennessee (2012).
Following the firing of Jeremy Pruitt and Phillip Fulmer last Monday, Tennessee chancellor Donde Plowman and system president Randy Boyd announced five days later the hiring of UCF’s Danny White to be UT’s next director of athletics.
White announced the hiring of UCF’s Josh Heupel to be the next head football coach of the Vols on Wednesday afternoon. Heupel is the 27th head coach in the history of Tennessee’s football program.
