Tennessee Football. Saturday, Sept. 15, 2024. Photo by Cole Moore/Rocky Top Insider
NFL assistant coach Derrick Ansley has joined the Dallas Cowboys’ new defensive coaching staff as the team’s defensive backs coach and passing game coordinator.
Ansley served two stints as an assistant coach with the Tennessee Football program. He spent one season as the Vols’ cornerbacks coach in 2012 under the direction of head coach Derek Dooley and defensive coordinator Sal Sunseri. He coached standout players such as Justin Coleman, Brian Randolph, and Byron Moore. Ansley then spent time with Kentucky, Alabama, and the Oakland Raiders before returning to Tennessee in 2019. He then spent two seasons on Tennessee’s staff as defensive coordinator under Jeremy Pruitt before being fired due to NCAA violations.
Since his time at Tennessee, Ansley has served on the Los Angeles Chargers coaching staff (2021-2023) and the Green Bay Packers coaching staff (2024-2025). He’ll now join the Cowboys coaching staff under newly-hired defensive coordinator Christian Parker. Ansley interviewed for the position last week and officially signed with the Cowboys this past Saturday.
It wouldn’t be out of this world to see Ansley work with a former Tennessee player on his defense in the near future. The Cowboys have been rumored to be in the cornerback market this offseason, which has some analysts tying them to cornerbacks Jermod McCoy and Colton Hood in the NFL Draft. NFL.com’s Daniel Jeremiah tagged Hood to the Cowboys at No. 12 in his latest mock draft.
Ansley won two national championships with Alabama during his time in college football. He was a graduate assistant during the Crimson Tide’s championship in 2011 and the defensive backs coach for Alabama in 2017.
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Josh Heupel’s Tennessee football program has seen significant defensive staff changes since the end of the 2025 season. The Volunteers hired Penn State’s Jim Knowles as the defensive coordinator, who brought along Anthony Poindexter as the co-defensive coordinator and safeties coach. Tennessee also hired Michael Hunter Jr. as the cornerbacks coach and A.J. Jackson as the LEOs coach.
Knowles retained linebackers coach William Inge and defensive line coach Rodney Garner from the Vols’ previous staff under Tim Banks.
Banks, meanwhile, wound up at Auburn under Alex Golesh as the Tigers’ safeties coach. Auburn will return to Knoxville next season on the Vols’ 2026 season.