Rocky Top Talk, a Tennessee Volunteers community

Willie Mack Garza, who coached the Vols' secondary last season under Lane Kiffin, packed up his office and left town sometime in the last 24 hours and apparently didn't notify anybody on the current staff that he was leaving.

With new Tennessee coach Derek Dooley still searching for a defensive coordinator, the Vols were already shorthanded on their coaching staff. There's never a good time to be shorthanded. But two weeks before signing day is the absolute worst time.

The two schools were in the same district, just about 40 miles apart. [Trooper] Taylor and [Willie Mack] Garza knew each other off the field as well. Garza would sometimes go to rodeos in Cuero. Taylor was a teenage bull rider.