Willie Martinez Inks New Deal

Tennessee Volunteers defensive backs coach Willie Martinez has signed a contract extension that ties him to the program through the 2024 season.

Tennessee Volunteers defensive backs coach Willie Martinez has signed a contract extension that ties him to the program through the 2024 season.

Tennessee defensive backs coach Willie Martinez has signed a contract extension with the program. VolQuest first reported that Martinez signed a one-year deal to keep him in Knoxville, Tennessee, through the 2024 season. Martinez has manned that role since head coach Josh Heupel joined the program.

Martinez will make $540,000 next season. Tennessee also announced they extended defensive line coach Rodney Garner through the 2025 season. They lost two assistants this offseason, so locking down the rest of the coaching staff was paramount. They have strong continuity on both sides of the football and hope to use that to propel themselves into their first College Football Playoff berth.

Tennessee's defense took a big jump in 2023 from the previous two seasons, which was encouraging. The defensive backs looked very good through the first few weeks of the season but hit a rough patch and struggled to close the season. Tennessee continues to try and retool their secondary, and with many prospects that Martinez initially recruited now taking the field, we'll see what his vision for them was.

Tennessee Volunteers DBs coach Willie Martinez during a 2022 win over Akron. (Photo by Bryan Lynn of USA Today Sports)

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