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Josh Heupel to hire Penn State's Anthony Poindexter as Tennessee assistant
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- Josh Heupel to hire Penn State's Anthony Poindexter as Tennessee assistant
Tennessee football will to hire Penn State assistant coach Anthony Poindexter on Jim Knowles ' defensive staff, Knox News confirmed.
Tennessee has not announced Poindexter's hiring. It usually does that only after a contract or memorandum of understanding is signed.
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Poindexer would join Ohio State assistant Michael Hunter and Penn State assistant Andrew Jackson as the new additions to UT's defensive staff.
Poindexter spent the past five seasons as co-defensive coordinator and safeties coach at Penn State, where he worked alongside Knowles in the 2025 season. In December, Tennessee coach Josh Heupel hired Knowles to replace fired defensive coordinator Tim Banks .
Now Knowles is retooling the defensive coaching staff, and Poindexter is a key addition.
Poindexter is expected to coach safeties, which he has done most of his career.
Banks coached safeties for the past five seasons at Tennessee. Willie Martinez has been the defensive secondary coach since 2021, primarily focusing on cornerbacks. Both were fired.
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Anthony Poindexter is in College Football Hall of Fame
Poindexter, a hard-hitting safety at Virginia, was one of the best college players of the 1990s. He was the 1998 ACC Defensive Player of the Year and a two-time consensus first-team All-American.
He was inducted into the College Football Hall of Fame in 2020.
Poindexter's NFL career was hampered by knee injury suffered during his senior season at Virginia. He played two seasons with the Baltimore Ravens and won a Super Bowl.
Poindexter impressed Jim Knowles at Penn State
Poindexter has coached in college football for 23 years.
At Virginia, he coached running backs, special teams and eventually defensive backs from 2003-13. He was defensive coordinator and safeties coach at UConn (2014-16) and Purdue (2017-20).
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In 2021, coach James Franklin hired Poindexter as co-defensive coordinator and safeties coach. He earned the respect of Knowles during their lone season coaching together at Penn State in 2025.
Adam Sparks is the Tennessee football beat reporter. Email adam.sparks@knoxnews.com . X, formerly known as Twitter @AdamSparks . Support strong local journalism by subscribing at knoxnews.com/subscribe .
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This article originally appeared on Knoxville News Sentinel: Anthony Poindexter: Tennessee football to hire Penn State assistant
