Charles LeClaire-USA TODAY Sports
MORGANTOWN, W.Va. — The University of Tennessee and Vols head coach Butch Jones confirmed Friday night the hiring of West Virginia running backs coach Robert Gillespie.
With WVU less than two weeks removed from the start of spring practice, Gillespie becomes the fifth staff change this offseason.
A former Florida Gators running back with strong recruiting ties throughout Florida and the Southeast, the 33-year-old Gillespie has been at WVU for two seasons. He previously coached for two seasons at Oklahoma State and three seasons at South Carolina.
Gillespie reportedly interviewed Thursday at Tennessee, where Jones was seeking to replace Jay Graham, who left for Florida State. WVU recently bumped up Gillespie’s salary to $300,000, a $50,000 increase over 2011.
Along with his recruiting success, Gillespie made an impact as a position coach. In 2011, he tutored Dustin Garrison during a standout freshman season, and Gillespie helped sophomore Andrew Buie emerge as a dual-threat tailback last season.
Dana Holgorsen fired cornerbacks coach Daron Roberts after the regular-season finale and then fired special teams coordinator/outside linebackers coach Steve Dunlap on Jan. 5. (Dunlap apparently has accepted a non-coaching role within the athletic department.)
Then came a spate of assistants leaving for more prestigious programs: Quarterbacks coach Jake Spavital headed to Texas A&M to work with Heisman winner Johnny Manziel, offensive line coach Bill Bedenbaugh departed for Oklahoma, and now Gillespie is bound for Tennessee.
Holgorsen previously backfilled those vacancies by hiring Brian Mitchell (cornerbacks), Tony Gibson (safeties), Lonnie Galloway (receivers) and Ron Crook (offensive line).
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Sportsline: Dana Holgerson 
Randy Mazey 5-20-2013 
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Comments
chad
awesome
March 1, 2013 at 5:41 pm | Report comment
JimJim
I think they see the writing on the wall.
March 1, 2013 at 5:44 pm | Report comment
Chris
What the hell is wrong with these coaches?
March 1, 2013 at 6:44 pm | Report comment
WVWho
SEC>BIG 12 especially in the sense of running backs. The move obviously isn't about money, he was getting plenty of it in Morgantown.
March 1, 2013 at 7:50 pm | Report comment
Wemakerain
Could still be about money, I think he is set to make $450 million (I'd leave for that), plus I bet his goal is to wind up back at Florida
March 2, 2013 at 7:16 am | Report comment
John
Fantastic. Excellent hire for Tennessee.
March 1, 2013 at 7:08 pm | Report comment
Abeck74
Please tell me what you mean by 'the writing on the wall'.? We have a tremendous recruiting class and just hired a tip notch o-line coach? Did I miss something? This is the coaching game. If the guy thinks he has a chance to make more money or further his career, he will leave. If not, he will stay...simple as that.
March 1, 2013 at 7:52 pm | Report comment
tw eagle
coach holgerson is on the way OUT . . .haven't you been seeing all gaff about the coaching staff . . .coach holgerson will be here till snyder retires at k-state or klingsberry flops at ttu . . .it's sad that the fatcats would rather have inside info than a winning program at WVU . . .
March 2, 2013 at 5:47 am | Report comment
Jay
I was on faculty at Texas Tech from August, 2009 through December, 2012. I worked with TTU administration quite often while there and know many of them well. There is NO WAY that school will hire Dana Holgorsen. Some of you need to simply move past that thought. You don't know what you're saying.
March 2, 2013 at 11:08 am | Report comment
tw eagle
possibly the crew at ttu that shafted leach will be gone in a year or two . . .i can see where coach holgersons renewed presence would make them feel uncomfortable . . .are you the same jay that goes by jay i ?
March 2, 2013 at 12:11 pm | Report comment
Jay
No. I am not Jay I. I suppose you never say never. It would require pretty massive turnover at Tech for Holgorsen to ever be considered for their head coaching job. Being a WVU grad, I asked a TTU upper admin friend of mine about the immediate possibility of Holgorsen to Tech when Tuberville skipped town. His response was simply an eye roll and head shake (in the "no" direction).
Kingsbury will be interesting there. They've given him a lot of room contractually to either be wonderfully successful or hang himself professionally.
Have a good weekend.
March 2, 2013 at 1:52 pm |
Jethro
Bye-bye
March 1, 2013 at 7:53 pm | Report comment
cutty77
I think he will stay in Mo-Town.On another note,you notice no one ever comes after Huggs Coaches.
March 1, 2013 at 8:10 pm | Report comment
N/A
Guess again:
@UTCoachJones Coach Gillespie will be joining our staff as the RB coach!
Expand Reply
March 1, 2013 at 8:42 pm | Report comment
cutty77
@NA,
Your Right on.But Tenn. has been such a loser for such a long time,i guess when you get a Coach from a winning Program,you think you have scored a TD.Butch Jones is a Good Coach,but he's out of his league.If i was Butch i would rent a House,not buy one.He won't be there long.LOL
March 2, 2013 at 11:34 am | Report comment
WVWho
He's already gone.
http://tennessee.247sports.com/Article/Tennessee-Vols-hire-Robert-Gillespie-to-coach-running-backs-119225
Who will Dana get to replace him?
March 1, 2013 at 8:44 pm | Report comment
tw eagle
huggins is a native West Virginian , he could go 0-30 and not only get a pat on the back but a big raise to boot . . .
March 2, 2013 at 5:51 am | Report comment
rattle snake
TROUBLING TO SAY THE LEAST.
the coach migration away from wvu is telling us something,, are the mice deserting the ship?
wow. with that much money he certainly wasn't tempted to stay, why else would he leave? what's going on.l
now we'll see who is hiring the coaches, is it ollie or dana...ollie may let him hire this one.
but man, this bothers me alot. i just don'[t like these coaches walking away from all this money, the money was suppose to stabilize our coaching staff, so what now.
March 1, 2013 at 10:37 pm | Report comment
James E Colombo
Honestly: We lose a QB coach who will coach the Heisman Winner. We lose a line coach to a University who been in top 10 year in and year out for decades. We lose a RB coach to a SEC school thats been a little down but still puts 100,000 ++ fans in the stands for a home game. Your talking about coaches who will be making from $300,000 to $500,000 a yr. These are not dropouts but opportunist. Check the records. He will be replaced with a well paid coach who can do the job probably even better.
March 2, 2013 at 11:25 am | Report comment
rattle snake
we have to figure out how to dump deforest without paying that huge buyout.
March 1, 2013 at 10:38 pm | Report comment
Chris
Why the hell did they even bother about coming here not one of them accomplished a damn thing pathetic and all of them jumped shipped because they couldn't handle it way to stick together guys.
March 1, 2013 at 11:51 pm | Report comment
george
This max exidus of coaches doesn't speak well for Coach Holgorsen. Last year after the Texas Game the WVU football team spiraled downward, starting with 2 players quitting and returning home, followed by 5 consecutive losses. Next came the firing of Roberts and DeForest being removed from coaching the defense. Then Dunlap was fired. This all took place in 2012. Then in 2013, thusfar, The following coaches deserted their old friend Holgorsen: Spivatal, Bedenbaugh and more recently Gallespie. In the middle of these coaches leaving DeForest was made Associate Head Coach and placed over the Special Teams.
If we look back at Holgs 2-years at WVU: Yes, he brought the "Air Raide", but during those 2-years WVU never got a running game going, Special Teams lack even more luster than in the past, and in 2012, WVU showed no ability in stopping the deep pass, got little pressure on QBs, had trouble stopping teams on 3rd & 4th down and had trouble creating and getting turn-overs, and let us not forget about the mass exidus of the defense coaches when Coach Casteel and his defensive coaches left to follow Rich Rod - maybe this should have been warning as to things to come.
Since 2013 came in: Deforest was made Associate Head Coach and placed over Special Teams, and coaches Spivatal, Bedenbaugh, and Gillespies left for opportunities elsewhere. Wait a minute - most of the defensive coaches left at the end of the 2011 Season, and most of the Offensive Coaches left WVU at the end of the 2012 Season.
If nothing else, none of this speaks well for Holgorsen. All Holg has accomplished since being at WVU is he brought in his Air Raid offense and nothing else other than creating turmoil in the locker room. Holgorsen has 2-years as Head Coach at the end of his first year he suffered a mass exidus of defensive coaches, then in year two he suffered a max exidus of the offensive coaches he hired, and in neither year was Holgorsen able to establish a running game, and in 2012 WVU had the one of the worst defenses in its history.
SO MUCH FOR THE AIR RAID.....................
How long will Holgorsen last before he is either demoted to Offensive Coordinator or fired? If fired, he'll have trouble landing another Head Coaching job.
March 1, 2013 at 11:58 pm | Report comment
larry
Any defection from WVU to another program is a step up for them.
If everything goes right, WVU is 3-5 years away from restoring the football program back to national prominence.
March 2, 2013 at 12:04 am | Report comment
tw eagle
once they force coach holgerson out . . .the WVU program will never come back . . .WVU has too high of a profile now for this "local gamesmanship" not to be noticed . . .no reputable coach will ever think of making WVU a part of his resume. . .and the newbies will never be able to recruit . . .aah , i'm gonna take a swag and say they want RR back . . .so they can go 1-11 and give him a raise cause he's a "good ole boy" . . .
March 2, 2013 at 6:02 am | Report comment
big tom
this really doesn't disturb me that much, it's just an opportunity to upgrade. Coach G proved he wasn't up to the job, by on field lack of production..this way we don't have to buy him out.
deforest poses the big problem , how in the world is he named associate head coach.. Is that not the joke of the century. He produced one of the worst defenses ever at wvu, and his assoc. HC..LOL over and over. That is what bothers me and he's being paid $500,000 to watch after special teams???? Another huge joke,
No wonder the athletic dept is in the red,, these hires like deforest are outright blunders.
My God, a junior high coach could have done a better job that deforest.
I have bigger worries than a running back coach leaving.... how are we paying for the weight room, huge salaries, and we are only getting a 50% cut from the big `12. .. MONEY AND TICKET PRICES IS WHAT WORRIES ME.
March 2, 2013 at 12:43 am | Report comment
James E Colombo
Brickstreet Insurance just donated 4M to WVU with 1M stipulated to be used for Football improvements like weight room area.
March 2, 2013 at 11:30 am | Report comment
Hoffy
Big deal. West Virginia is not the only program dealing with coaches being canned or leaving. Look at Oklahoma as an example. Their football staff has had an "upheaval" this offseason; new OL, DL, Tight Ends coaches, and I believe another new assistant.
So, it isn't the end of the world in Morgantown anymore than it is in Norman.
Loyalty to a program is, sadly, an archaic philosophy; contracts don't matter. It's about opportunity = $$$.
And so WVU lost a running backs coach. Last time I checked, didn't see any all-anything RB's the last two years; the running game wasn't what Holgie expected/wanted.
So, we got a new OL coach to help fix things. Good! Let's see what a new RB's coach can do to upgrade this part of the offense. Doubt a new guy can do worse...
March 2, 2013 at 9:27 am | Report comment
WVWho
I never knew an air raid offense was supposed to have a dynamic running game. You sir, are a genius!
March 2, 2013 at 12:41 pm | Report comment
stan
Holgorsen's offenses have always had good running backs with big seasons prior to coming to WV. Even though people call it the Air Raid offense it still has a pretty good running game. You should probably do a little research before you start insulting people.
March 4, 2013 at 12:10 pm | Report comment
Chris
Way i look at it the guys that left couldn't get it done and they bolted. I think WVU needed an overhaul and we will be better for it.
March 2, 2013 at 9:44 am | Report comment