College Football

East Tennessee State puts football coach on paid leave

Updated Mar. 4, 2020 11:32 p.m. ET

JOHNSON CITY, Tenn. (AP) East Tennessee State placed recently hired football coach Randy Sanders on paid administrative leave Monday while it investigates a ''potential violation of university policy.''

No other details were provided in the one-sentence statement.

Sanders was hired Dec. 17 to replace Carl Torbush, who announced his retirement at the end of the 2017 season. Torbush had been ETSU's coach since 2015, when the school relaunched the football program it had shut down for financial reasons in 2003.

This job represented a homecoming for Sanders, who was born about an hour from ETSU's campus. He spent 22 seasons at Tennessee (1984-2005) as a player and assistant coach.

With Sanders on leave, ETSU now has lost its head coach and offensive coordinator as it finishes spring practice. Offensive coordinator Marcus Satterfield left to take another job, his departure unrelated to Sanders, athletic department spokesman Michael White said.

White said receivers coach Mike Rader will lead the offense for the rest of spring practice while defensive coordinator Billy Taylor will continue to lead the defense and Daryl Daye will continue to coach special teams. ETSU's spring game is Thursday night.

Sanders was co-offensive coordinator at Florida State on Jimbo Fisher's staff last season. He was Florida State's quarterbacks coach in 2013, when the Seminoles won the national title while quarterback Jameis Winston won the Heisman Trophy.

Sanders also has worked as an offensive coordinator at Tennessee and Kentucky.

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