Tennessee head coach Phillip Fulmer announced Monday that Kevin VanDerzee has accepted the position of Director of High School Relations.

VanDerzee, 30, comes to the Vols from Richmond and is the third former Spiders football staff member to join Fulmer’s coaching lineup this year. Offensive coordinator Dave Clawson, Richmond’s former head coach, and wide receivers assistant Latrell Scott made the move to Knoxville last month.

“It’s a great opportunity for me and something I didn’t foresee happening,” VanDerzee said. “Dave (Clawson) took this job and we were in scramble mode at Richmond, and to be honest we had put together a pretty good recruiting class. We were just getting settled when the phone call came that this might be an opportunity and it happened quick.”

A native of Ravena, N.Y., VanDerzee spent two seasons as Richmond’s director of football operations after having served in the same position at Central Connecticut State and Massachusetts.

Other posts include a stint as fund raising executive director for Central Connecticut State football, defensive ends coach at Albany, gameday operations associate with the Wilmington (N.C.) Sharks of the Coastal Plains Summer Baseball League and two turns in the New York Giants’ player personnel department as a pro personnel intern.

“I’m very excited about finishing the staff from an administrative standpoint,” Fulmer said. “Kevin brings a varied background, including extensive experience with recruiting. I know he will do a great job organizationally and will challenge our staff in a creative manner.”

VanDerzee is a 2000 graduate of the State University of New York at Cortland.

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