Tennessee is set to hire Tim Banks, Penn State’s co-defensive coordinator, as a volunteer defensive coordinator, sources told ESPN.
Banks, 49, has spent the last five seasons at Penn State, where he also coached the Nittany Lions. Prior to that, he was the co-defensive coordinator in Illinois, the co-defensive coordinator in Cincinnati and the defensive coordinator in central Michigan, which is his alma mater. Yahoo Sports reported for the first time on Monday that Tennessee was entering into a bank employment agreement.
This will be Banks’ first coaching stint in the SEC, although he was an assistant in Memphis in 2001 and 2002. While in Cincinnati, Banks was nominated for the Frank Broyles Award in 2011 as a top assistant coach in college football.
The hiring of the banks completes a long and winding search by the new head coach of Tennessee, Josh Heupel, to find his defensive coordinator. Last weekend, Tennessee had extensive talks with Kansas City Chiefs coach Matt House, sources told ESPN, but House decided to stay in the NFL. Heupel also made a strong push for Ohio State coach Al Washington and then Tampa Bay Buccaneers coach Kacy Rodgers and earlier in the process contacted USC defensive coordinator Todd Orlando and defensive coordinator Louisville Bryan. Brown, among others.
Vols still have to fill most of the defensive staff, but veteran defensive line coach Rodney Garner was hired last week. Garner has spent the last 30 years training in the SEC. This is his second stop in Tennessee.