Just when you are certain things can't possibly continue to keep getting worse at Tennessee . . . ESPN is now reporting that defensive coordinator Justin Wilcox and linebackers coach Peter Sirmon are leaving for Washington. That's right. Lateral move to Washington. A mere two years into the rebuilding project. On the heels of Derek Dooley telling a kid he can transfer anywhere except where he truly wants to go, sick father or not. And another key assistant retiring only a year or two into the job.
Sorry, but something's wrong. Yes, it could simply be that Wilcox and Sirmon are west coasters at heart and they want to go home, but the "lateral move" thing is eating at me. What is it about folks wanting to get out of Knoxville and head home to start over?
Maybe it's that the hard work is wearing people out. Maybe they've lost hope that the program is making progress. Maybe it's not that there's anything wrong here at all but just that they are chasing after what they believe is greener grass.
But maybe we've got even bigger problems than we thought. And it's not like we didn't think they were big enough.