Tiger Brooks Removes Name From Consideration in TN Coaching Search

Dear People of Earth (Shout out to Conan!):

I am honored to have had my name mentioned in some circles (the car I was riding in yesterday) as being a viable candidate to take over the head coaching job at the University of Tennessee. While I have been a Tennessee fan since the womb and would be fascinated by the opportunity, I must take my name out of consideration at this time.

Much like a football coach, in my present vocation as Minister to Students at Indian Springs Baptist Church, I have the high honor and privilege of coming alongside young people and walking with them during a very pivotal time of life. I model, teach, train, encourage, support and, above all, offer the love, grace and truth of Jesus Christ. The nature of this relationship requires more than the two years that I have presently been on this job. The same could be and should be said of a college football coach who has also been entrusted by students and parents.

Much like the tenures that we are seeing in the present climate of college coaching, the "youth pastor's" tenure has historically, notoriously averaged 18 months or less.  Many voices are saying it is completely unreasonable to expect longer tenures-- that people are always seeking the next rung on the "ladder" or pursuing the almighty dollar.  That maybe fine for the person who basically works in a vacuum. The person that pushes papers around a cubicle or crunches numbers or tightens bolts on an assembly line, whose job does not call for meaningful relationships, may be able to hop around until they land their "Dream Job."  For people who are called to vocations like coaching, ministry, teaching, etc., in my humble opinion, opt out of that luxury.

I am not saying that all people will be like Bobby Bowden, Joe Paterno, Mike Morgan (if you know him, you get it) or other people who spend decades in the same place. I am simply saying there is something to be said for planting and investing one's self in a given job for an amount of time sufficient enough to bear fruit.

In conclusion, I wish all the best to the University of Tennessee in their search for a new head coach to lead them into the future. As a fan, I pray that God would lead them to the right man for the job. However, for all of the aforementioned reasons, I will not consider leaving one of the best and most rewarding jobs in the world.

Kindest Regards,

Tiger