Former Tennessee Football Coach Jumps Into Home State Senate Race
The former Vols head coach is leaning on family and football in his campaign.
Former Tennessee football head coach Derek Dooley is entering the political arena and is launching a bid for the Senate in his home state of Georgia.
The 57-year-old is set to run as a Republican and will face off against fellow party Reps. Buddy Carter and Mike Collins, as the GOP will look to take back one of the two Democratic-held seats. Georgia Gov. Brian Kemp was expected by many to run for Senate, but ultimately declined, and is backing Dooley, according to The Hill.
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Dooley leaned into both his family background and his time coaching football in his ad officially announcing his campaign.
"I spent three decades in coaching, probably doing the exact opposite of what a lot of DC politicians were doing," Dooley says in the ad. "I sat in kitchens and living rooms with people from all walks of life. The only thing that mattered was trying to create hope and opportunity for them and that family."
Leaning on football and family feels like a solid game plan in the state of Georgia.
Derek Dooley is running for Senate in the state of Georgia. (Photo by Wesley Hitt/Getty Images)
Dooley's ad also touches on some key issues his campaign may focus on, including border security and keeping transgender athletes out of women's sports.
Georgia's Senate race had a football-related flare to it in 2022 as well, when former Bulldog Herschel Walker ran as a Republican but narrowly lost to Sen. Raphael Warnock.
Dooley, who was born in Athens, Georgia, began his head coaching career at Louisiana Tech in 2007 before occupying the sidelines in Knoxville from 2010 to 2012. After posting a conference record of just 4-19, Dooley was let go by Tennessee, which was the last head coaching job he had.
Most recently, Dooley was a senior offensive analyst at Alabama from 2022 to 2023.