Tennessee AD calls out Tony Elliott over insinuating he had a Vols offer

by Tony Crumpton - Assoc. Editor - Tue Aug 22 14:10:14 GMT-04:00 2023

Former Clemson offensive coordinator Tony Elliott held his press conference Monday, discussing various things, including his past head coaching interview with Tennessee before he got the Virginia gig.

"First of all, obviously, Tennessee is, in my opinion, one of the Blue Bloods," said Elliott. "One of the top-tier programs in the country. When I evaluated it, there were a lot of positive things about it. It just wasn't the right time for me. So when it came down to it, I prayed about it and said I wanted the Lord to lead me in the direction that He'd have me to go. So, it was close. But at the end of the day, when I looked at the totality of everything, it just wasn't the right time and the right fit for me. I'm happy for Heupel. Excited for him and what he's doing there. Obviously, an extremely passionate fan base. All the resources that you need to be a top-tier program."

Virginia and Tennessee play each other on September 2 with a noon kickoff inside Nissan Stadium.

"I'm excited about our matchup, when we play them, to kind of see where we are as a program," added Elliott. "I think you have to play games like this to get a barometer and to gauge where we're at. It either tells us, okay, we're ahead of where we need to be, or you know what, we still got a good significant amount of work to do. But I'm excited about the opportunity to play these guys. It was close, but at the end of the day, it just wasn't the right timing for me."

Tennessee Athletic Director Danny White saw the quotes regarding Tennessee and went to social media to clarify that Elliott never received an official job offer.

"Interesting… don’t remember offering," White tweeted. "Ignored this the first time, can’t do it again. An interview doesn’t constitute an offer. Interviewed several candidates, offered 1 (Josh Heupel)."

In total fairness to Elliott, I doubt many head coaching gigs would be offered without getting a yes privately beforehand by the coach.

No administration wants to publicly get turned down for a college gig in this day in age of social media and maximizing your school brand.

Regardless, not a classy look by White as he looks immature in this situation as this could have easily been communicated over the phone or just been left in the past.

However, I get it; you want to rile up your fanbase and sell tickets to the season opener. Mission accomplished, I suppose.