Photo via Indiana Athletics
One of the off-season priorities for Tennessee football was bringing in a new strength and conditioning coach. Ultimately, Tennessee football landed Indiana’s Derek Owings fresh off a national title with the Hoosiers.
Owings will now be the highest-paid strength and conditioning coach in college football history, according to Matt Zenitz. USC also went after Owings, a 32-year-old, last season, but he turned down the opportunity. The pitch and pay day from Josh Heupel and the Vols was enough to leave the reigning national champions, though.
“Physical and mental toughness is paramount in everything we do year-round as a program,” Heupel said about the hiring. “No one understands this better at a championship level than Derek. He will elevate our strength and conditioning program with a relentless mindset and forge strong relationships with our players. He has a proven track record of utilizing modern training methods to maximize speed and strength, while specializing in injury prevention. He also understands what it takes to build an elite nutrition program to ensure our players are set up for on-field success and durability. We are thrilled to welcome Derek and his wife, Riley, to Rocky Top!”
With the announcement of the hiring, former players at Indiana that Owings coached sounded off in the Instagram comments.
Here’s what they said:
More From RTI: ESPN Snubs Tennessee of a Top 100 Player from the 2025 Season
WR – Charlie Becker
“Gotta good one, guess I gotta be a little vol now🤦♂️”
DB – D’Angelo Ponds
“HIM”
OL – Carter Smith
“Vols got a good one… gonna miss ya DO”
DB – Amare Ferrell
“best in the business”
OL – Mike Katic
“Better make sure Tenn has a good ping pong table 😓”
DL – James Carpenter
“Yessssir🤝🤝”
TE – Zach Horton
“Motion is medicine!!”
LB – Jailin Walker
“start stops otw”
“🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥”
DB – Bryson Bonds
“Da 🐐”
DL – CJ West
“🐐”
WR – Myles Kendrick
“🥲”
LB – Isaiah Jones
“🐐”
DL – Rolijah Hardy
“🤞🏾🥲”
DB – Tyrik McDaniel
“🔥🔥”
WR – Miles Cross
“💯”
QB Coach/Co-OC – Chandler Whitmer
“The best in game. Do your thing @owingsderek”