KNOXVILLE, Tenn. – Tennessee defensive coordinator Tim Banks has been selected to the National Coalition of Minority Football Coaches (NCMFC) Coalition Academy for the 2022-23 athletic year, the organization has announced.
The Coalition Academy was started in 2021 and remains a first of its kind program for the highest levels of college football, pairing influential athletic directors with rising minority football coaches. This unique and purposeful year-long program ties together mentorship, networking, and advocacy to help advance the next generation of minority head coaches.
Banks is one of 12 coaches tabbed to the 2022-23 Coalition Academy class, including two from the Southeastern Conference. It represents the second straight year that a Volunteer coach has earned a spot on the Coalition Academy. In 2021, UT running backs coach Jerry Mack earned the prestigious honor.
In its first year, the Coalition Academy helped to counteract the narrative that there is a lack of qualified minority coaches to fill available positions and is helping to bring parity to the hiring process in college football.
The vast majority of NCAA Division I Football Bowl Subdivision (FBS) programs with head coach openings in the past offseason worked with the Coalition Academy to vet potential minority candidates. In addition to athletic directors being able to speak on behalf and advocate for highly-qualified Academy coaches, the program built extensive analytical profiles (created through a partnership with Sports Source Analytics) that were shared with football programs based on the requirements and needs they set for their open head coaching positions.
After its inaugural year, the Academy saw three of its participating coaches receive new head coaching positions. Several other Academy coaches were interviewed for FBS head coach openings and were final candidates.
Banks enters his second season on Rocky Top and his 16th as an FBS defensive coordinator. Banks’ defensive coordinator experience includes five seasons at Penn State (2016-20), four seasons at Illinois (2012-15), two years at Cincinnati (2010-11) and three seasons at Central Michigan (2007-09). He has been a part of five conference championships during his career as both a player and a coach and 13 bowl games.
Last fall, Banks was tabbed as a Broyles Award nominee. His unit led the nation in tackles for loss for most of the season, finishing second in the SEC and tied for eighth nationally with 102. That figure ranked the highest at Tennessee since the sack became part of the NCAA tackle-for-loss equation in the early 2000s, and it nearly doubled the squad’s total of 55 a year prior to his arrival.
Banks and the Vols are nearly a week into their 2022 preseason camp. Tennessee opens the season against Ball State on Thursday, Sept. 1 in Neyland Stadium.
2022-23 National Coalition of Minority Football Coaches Coalition Academy
Tim Banks, Tennessee
Doug Belk, Houston
Joe Dailey, Carolina Panthers
Des Kitchens, Virginia
Tem Lukabu, Boston College
Van Malone, Kansas State
Dell McGee, Georgia
Sherrone Moore, Michigan
Larry Scott, Howard
Lance Taylor, Louisville
Latrell Scott, East Carolina
Donte Williams, USC
-UT Athletics
