Tennessee Reportedly Interested in Hiring Ohio State Linebackers Coach Al Washington As Defensive Coordinator

New Tennessee head coach Josh Heupel is in need of a new defensive coordinator, and it appears he's targeting Ohio State's linebackers coach to fill the role, according to Football Scoop's John Brice.

“Multiple sources on Sunday tell FootballScoop that the Vols’ search for Josh Heupel’s first defensive coordinator is centering on popular Ohio State assistant coach, Al Washington,” Brice wrote.

Per the report, “the Buckeyes are interested in retaining Washington and also have some additional money remaining from the retirement of Greg Mattison, whose salary at Ohio State the past two years was approximately $1.1 million per season.”

Washington has spent two seasons with the Buckeyes and is set to head into the 2021 season with new responsibilities as the team's sole linebackers coach after the retirement of co-defensive coordinator Greg Mattison.

If Washington were to take the Tennessee job, Ohio State would need to make further adjustments to a defensive staff that head coach Ryan Day thought was complete last week after promoting Matt Barnes to secondary coach and making Parker Fleming the full-time special teams coach.

Washington has been a massive asset for the Buckeyes on the recruiting trail as well, ranked by 247Sports as the No. 1 recruiter among all assistant coaches for the class of 2022, leading the way in the recruitments of linebackers Gabe Powers, C.J. Hicks and Dasan McCullough as well as offensive tackle Tegra Tshabola.

Though Washington is a Columbus native who had expressed a desire to stay at Ohio State for a long time when he joined the coaching staff back in 2019, this opportunity at Tennessee would give him the chance to become a defensive coordinator for the first time in his coaching career.