'A true mastermind': Hendon Hooker, Joe Milton weigh in on Joey Halzle's promotion to offensive coordinator
For Hendon Hooker, Joey Halzle was more than just a quarterbacks coach. For Joe Milton, his partnership with Halzle, Tennessee’s new offensive coordinator is just getting started. The two both weighed in on the promotion of Halzle on social media on Friday.
“Coach Halzle is a true mastermind of the game,” Hooker said, “and the best teacher I have been around. His promotion to offensive coordinator is well-deserved, and I am excited to see what’s next for the offense.”
“I couldn’t be more excited for Coach Halzle,” Milton said, “and look forward to the Joe-to-Joe connection. He has great knowledge of the game and someone we love going to battle with.”
It was announced on Thursday that Halzle, Tennessee’s quarterbacks coach the last two seasons and a longtime assistant coach under Josh Heupel, had been promoted to offensive coordinator. He replaces Alex Golesh, who left in early December to become the new head coach at South Florida.
“Joey has been instrumental in our record-setting offensive success over the past two seasons,” Heupel said, “and he’s built great trust within our team. I have known Joey for over 15 years, and his track record of player development has impacted every place he has been. He has complete knowledge of our aggressive offensive identity and principles.
“Having played and coached at this level, he understands how to connect with players and will continue to make a significant impact in recruiting. This will be a seamless transition for him as we strive to build a championship program that Vol Nation is proud of.”
Hendon Hooker had over 7,000 total yards, 68 TDs in two seasons at Tennessee
In Tennessee’s 31-14 win over Clemson in the Capital One Orange Bowl on December 30, Milton passed for 251 yards and three touchdowns to three different receivers and the Vols ran 38 times for 159 yards and a touchdown.
Over the last two seasons at Tennessee, Halzle helped turn Hooker into a Heisman Trophy candidate. He threw for 6,080 yards and 58 touchdowns and ran for 1,046 yards and 10 touchdowns in just 24 games with the Vols.
Moving forward, Halzle will oversee an open quarterback competition in the spring between Milton and five-star freshman Nico Iamaleava.
“We’ll have a quarterback competition this offseason and go from there,” Halzle said in Miami. “ … They all understand that. The conversation’s been had with all of them. They all understand that.”
Joey Halzle’s coaching history following Josh Heupel
Halzle’s coaching career has mirrored Heupel’s since 2009. He started as an offensive quality control assistant at Oklahoma from 2009-11, when Heupel was the co-offensive coordinator and quarterbacks coach for the Sooners.
Halzle was a graduate assistant at Oklahoma from 2012-14, then followed Heupel to Utah State as offensive analyst and assistant quarterbacks coach. He had the same role at Missouri in 2016, when Heupel jumped into the SEC as Mizzou’s offensive coordinator and quarterbacks coach. Halzle joined Heupel at UCF in 2019 as an offensive analyst and was promoted to quarterbacks coach in 2020.
