Coaches Leaving ETSU & Tennessee a Cause For Concern

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Coaches Leaving ETSU & Tennessee a Cause For Concern

ETSU men’s soccer coach Bo Oshoniyi leaving for Dartmouth and Tennessee running backs coach Richard Gillespie departing could have ramifications.

Marky Billson, Host of Tri-Cities Sports NOW

This has not been a good week for sports in east Tennessee.

The Vols get blown out by Alabama, ETSU’s 16-game winning streak is snapped, and yesterday three local coaches left ETSU and Tennessee in what could leave a major impact on the local sports scene.

The departures of Robert Gillespie and Bob Welton from the Tennessee football coaching staff could be described as “a new broom sweeps clean,” but the loss of Bo Oshoniyi could have the most significant impact on the local sports scene.

Oshoniyi is a former MLS goalkeeper who still had many ties with the league, coaching in the MLS combine the past two years. Last season the Buccaneers were undefeated in the Southern Conference and the season before that the Bucs made the NCAA Tournament and defeated the top ranked team in the nation, North Carolina, in Chapel Hill.

Just last month Oshoniyi was given a contract extension through 2022.

New Dartmouth soccer coach Bo Oshoniyi

The Bucs’ soccer program is of special interest because at one time ETSU traded their football team for it. When the Southern Conference kicked the Bucs out for dropping the sport, they needed to find a new conference. The Atlantic Sun was there, but for membership the Bucs had to start a soccer program.

So money that could have been spent elsewhere, such as a new arena or a new football stadium, was instead put into the soccer program for the construction of their own stadium. And for the most part the Bucs have been winners on the pitch, first under Scott Calabrese and then Oshoniyi.

So why does a coach leave a scholarship program for one that has no scholarships? Granted, Dartmouth is a more well-know university than ETSU, but the Big Green also ranked 16th in RPI last season whereas the Bucs were 69th. And Dartmouth has captured the last four Ivy League championships.

With All-American goalkeeper Jonny Sutherland approaching only his junior season next year it would seem ETSU has a turn key team for whoever athletic director Scott Carter chooses as his second coaching hire. But there’s always a bit of apprehension and uncertainty when a new coach is hired to take over such a team.

The athletic budget is significantly greater at ETSU now than what it was 15 years ago, but is it great enough to continue to fund a winning soccer team when football and basketball have greater financial needs than before?

Obviously, it wasn’t enough to keep Oshoniyi in the fold.

There’s a burgeoning soccer community in the area. I can only believe it will expand if ETSU continues to win. That’s why the departure of Oshoniyi is perhaps even more important to the sports culture of the area than head football coach Carl Torbush’s was.

Meanwhile, Tennessee losing Gillespie, their running backs coach, and Director of Player Personnel Welton, who worked in recruiting, is significant.

Welton leaves for Nebraska in large part because Drew Hughes was hired to replace him when Jeremy Pruitt came aboard.

But that’s it. Only the players are left from the Butch Jones era.

Since Welton previously worked in the scouting department of the Cleveland Browns, he has Jimmy Haslam’s scent all over him. And any appearance of a separation from the Vols and Haslam is a positive.

Still, he was talented enough for Nebraska to want him.

Regardless, Welton’s departure isn’t major. Gillespie’s is. This is a former assistant head coach. This is the coach of Alvin Kamara and John Kelly. And it comes at a time in which it will be difficult to replace him.

When a new head coach is hired and the one assistant that was kept from the previous regime quits in two months, it speaks of a radically different way of doing things.

Since departed running back Jalen Hurd became Tennessee’s 6th all-time leading rusher on Gillespie

Maybe after a 4–8 season that’s a good thing.

But Gillespie had a reputation as a good coach and the top recruiter on the staff. For him to depart in this manner, described as a “mutual decision,” raises all kinds of skeptical questions about the new Jeremy Pruitt regime.

Marky Billson hosts Tri-Cities Sports NOW on 1420 NBC Sports Radio Tri-Cities weekdays 12–2 p.m. ET. Watch archives of the show here.