Tennessee Football had a busy offseason over the last few months with the additions of a handful of new coaches to the Vols’ staff. The UT media has had the chance to talk to several of them over the last month, but we’ll see them all in action when Tennessee officially takes the field for spring training camp next Monday morning.
From an in-game perspective, the biggest coaching hire that Tennessee brought in was its new defensive coordinator Jim Knowles. He came from Penn State during the 2025 season, but spent three years with Ohio State before that and won the national championship with the Buckeyes during the 2024 season. Knowles kept defensive line coach Rodney Garner and linebackers coach William Inge from the previous staff, but rounded things out with the additions of co-defensive coordinator/secondary coach Anthony Poindexer, cornerbacks coach Derek Jones, and LEOs coach AJ Jackson.
But the hire that Tennessee fans won’t get to see that often will be one of the most impactful of the bunch. That would be head strength coach Derek Owings, who came to Tennessee this offseason after helping build Indiana’s national championship squad for the past two seasons. Owings spent the last six years under Curt Cignetti, but is now starting a new journey with the Volunteers.
On3 Sports’ Chris Low recently went through some of the new staff hires that are poised to make a “major impact” with their new teams in 2026, and listed Owings as Tennessee’s representative over Knowles.
Knowles will become a household name within the Tennessee fanbase for what he does rebuilding the Vols’ lackluster defense. And, for that matter, so will his new assistants. After Tennessee’s secondary underwhelmed during the 2025 campaign, fans will quickly find out and learn the names of Derek Jones and Anthony Poindexter as they look for improvement within the back end of Tennessee’s defense.
But Owings and his team have the task of building the players that Knowles and company will be using on the field. He’ll work hand-in-hand with Tennessee’s entire roster throughout the offseason and during the season to keep them at their strongest and fastest shape in order to compete for all four months of the season. It’s no simple task, but Owings’ results speak for themselves.
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Heisman Trophy winner and projected No. 1 overall NFL Draft pick Fernando Mendoza credited Owings and his staff for helping him gain weight and prepare him for his championship-winning season last year.
“Coach Owings and the strength staff here got me up from I think 205, 210 to now a low of where I need to weigh in and weigh-ins every week at 225,” Mendoza said on The Pat McAfee Show in January. “With that, I’ve been able to put on good weight where I’m able to run and I’m able to still be fluid in my movements. Whenever the team needs me to run, I can always run.”
That quote was something that really stuck with Tennessee fans, with the hope that Owings and his team can help mold potential starting quarterback George MacIntyre’s body before the season. And if it can happen with Mendoza, it can happen with other positions too.
It was incredibly evident that Indiana’s players were upset by Owings’ departure following the season. On his farewell post to Indiana on Instagram, 15 of his IU players shared comments of affirmation. Former star wide receiver Charlie Becker even wrote that Tennessee got a good one, and that he might have to be a little bit of a Tennessee fan moving forward.
We’ll have clear results as to what Jim Knowles and his staff do with Tennessee’s players on the field this fall, but it’ll be up to head strength coach Derek Owings and his staff to get the Vols in the right place before that happens.
“I would describe it as work,” Tennessee RB DeSean Bishop said about working out under Derek Owings. “You know, lot different from last year. Been put through the fire a little bit. That’s exactly what we need. We believe that’s going to help us become the team we want to be. I’m looking forward to what else he has to offer for us.”
day one in the lab 🧪#GBO 🍊 pic.twitter.com/KS8Ze4vCcc
— Tennessee Football (@Vol_Football) January 21, 2026
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