Former Tennessee football assistant, quarterback Randy Sanders announces retirement

Randy Sanders, a former Tennessee football coach and quarterback, announced his retirement as East Tennessee State's football coach Monday.

Sanders' announcement followed ETSU's season-ending loss to North Dakota State in the FCS playoffs. Sanders led the Bucs to their first outright Southern Conference title this season. He led the Bucs to a share of the SoCon title in 2018 his first season.

Sanders went 26-17 in four seasons.

ADAMS:Randy Sanders didn't get enough credit for his work at Tennessee

ETSU beat Vanderbilt in its season opener, its second win over a Power 5 program in its history. ETSU brought back its football program in 2015 after not fielding a team from 2003-14.

Sanders, 56, is a native of Morristown, Tenn., and played quarterback for the Vols from 1984-88.

Sanders coached at Tennessee from 1989-2005. He worked his way from position to coach to offensive coordinator. He was quarterbacks coach in 1989-90, wide receivers coach in 1991-92, running backs coach and run-game coordinator in 1993-98, and offensive coordinator and quarterbacks coach in 1998-2005.

Sanders was quarterbacks coach at Kentucky from 2006-08 and was offensive coordinator for the Wildcats 2009-12.

ETSU was Sanders' first head coaching job. He had been co-offensive coordinator and quarterbacks coach at Florida State since 2013 prior to being hired at ETSU.

Mike Wilson covers University of Tennessee athletics. Email him at michael.wilson@knoxnews.com and follow him on Twitter @ByMikeWilson. If you enjoy Mike’s coverage, consider a digital subscription that will allow you access to all of it.