Derek Dooley has been fired as as Tennessee’s head football coach.
“He handled as you would expect,” Tennessee Athletic Director Dave Hart said during a press conference, according to a transcript. “He handles it in a a mature manner, in a respectful and appreciative manner as far as him being the head football coach at the University of Tennessee for the past three years. It meant a lot to him.”
Dooley, the son of legendary University of Georgia coach Vince Dooley, was hired in January 2010 as Tennessee’s head coach. He replaced Lane Kiffin when Kiffin abruptly resigned after one season to take the head coaching position at the University of Southern California.
“I will tell you while the results, which are very important, are not what he wanted, not what the team wanted, not what our fan base wanted, Derek Dooley did indeed improve this program. There is no question about that,” Hart said.”He inherited a very, very, difficult environment. One that I am familiar with having been here these 13 months. Quite honestly he was given a pretty short stick to take into that battle. Given those facts, he did a good job in a lot of areas in putting a solid foundation under our football program.”