When Virginia Tech fired football coach Brent Pry and later replaced him with former Penn State coach James Franklin, you knew that there were going to be significant changes coming with the coaching staff and roster.
If we're being honest, nobody had Franklin bring Pry back as his defensive coordinator at Virginia Tech on their bingo card. Well, maybe Franklin did. That's right, Pry is back in Blacksburg and doing what he loves, coaching football as a DC. That's not to say that he didn't like his job as head coach of the Hokies, but you get the point.
As expected, some of Pry's assistants left Virginia Tech after the frustrating 3-9 season concluded with a loss at Virginia on Thanksgiving Weekend. One of those coaches was cornerbacks coach Derek Jones. Some Hokies' fans were happy to see Jones go, as the last two years, the secondary play has been, well, not good. On Sunday, it was reported that Jones has landed a new job and he is making the move over to the SEC.
Former Virginia Tech assistant coach Derek Jones hired at Tennessee
Austin Price of On3 reported that Tennessee coach Josh Heupel and defensive coordinator Jim Knowles are hiring Jones to be the Volunteers' cornerbacks coach. That is somewhat of a surprise, but he apparently has a history with Knowles during their time together at Duke years ago.
The last two years, the cornerback play at Virginia Tech was suspect at best. Last year, it could be contributed to the players that he lost to the Transfer Portal and losing some players after Pry was fired. However, the year before, with players like Mansoor Delane and others, they didn't play well. They got torched on several occasions.
Jones will likely do well with Tennessee, but this isn't a hire that is going to move the needle with the fanbase, and if their secondary doesn't play well in 2026, then Jones could come under fire quicker there than he would at Virginia Tech.