If there’s anything we’ve learned about this era of college athletics, it’s this: Sizzle is essential.

Tennessee football coach Butch Jones

As Tennessee continues it search for an offensive coordinator, though, perhaps it’s time to think a tad differently.

The Vols finally seem back on a path toward their proper place in college football’s upper crust, and there’s no denying that sizzle has been a big part of that process. Catchy phrases, savvy usage of social media and even —Â gasp —Â some non orange and white uniforms have helped Tennessee get back on the scene, and it’s generating success by any reasonable standard. In less than two weeks, the Vols will again have one of the nation’s top recruiting classes, and their on-field improvement in 2014 was impossible to ignore. They’re not “back,” but they’re on that path, and anyone who fails to see that is at least a bit ignorant, arrogant or both.

Just this once, though, sizzle should take a backseat to steak.

The Vols don’t necessarily need Mike Bajakian’s replacement to be the hippest, most handsome, most tech-savvy dude on the block. What they absolutely need, though, is someone who can take boss Butch Jones’ concepts on the offensive side of the ball, mesh them with the talent at his disposal and put points on the board.

It doesn’t matter where that man is coaching now. It doesn’t matter how much money he makes. It doesn’t matter whether he looks like a Ralph Lauren model or Ralph the plumber. He doesn't need to know the definition of "bruh." All that truly matters in the end is how many points and yards he can provide in an era where putting half-a-hundred on the scoreboard doesn’t guarantee a win.

No one should suggest that a coach’s ability to irrelevant. It’s absolutely relevant. In this era as much as any other, the ability to identify elite talent and convince that talent to attend your school is essential.

But a quick glance at Tennessee’s current coaching staff does nothing but support the argument to prioritize steak with the upcoming offensive coordinator hire.

Let’s play a quick game: Look at a list of the Vols’ current staff — the full-time coaches who can recruit on the road — and try to identify the worst recruiter. This is a subjective question, and it doesn’t require you to share the answer with anyone else. Just look at the list and find the man you consider the weakest recruiting link.

Vols rising junior quarterback Josh Dobbs

No matter which coach you just picked, that coach is a pretty darn good recruiter.

Staffs don’t accumulate talent the way Tennessee’s has the past two-plus years with weak links. This staff, led by its head coach, has sizzle in spades. It knows how to deal with kids. It knows how to get its foot in the door, and it knows how to keep that foot wedged in there. It gets results. This can’t be questioned.

In other words, barring any more major personnel losses, the recruiting hay is in the barn. This staff will recruit its pants off throughout its tenure in Tennessee. Jones will see to that. That’s not a problem, and it’s not going to be a problem.

What could be a problem, though, is finding the wrong fit to lead an offensive staff that’s been together for a long time.

Tennessee’s offensive coaches, with few exceptions, have known each other for years. They’re good friends. Their wives are good friends. Their children are good friends. They joke about their ability to finish each other’s sentences, but they’re not exaggerating. They often can do that.

No band stays together forever, though, and this one wasn’t an exception.

After serving as Jones’ offensive coordinator for eight seasons — all eight season of Jones’ head-coaching career —Â Bajakian decided it was time to go, and he headed back to the NFL. He’s coached in that league and always wanted to get back in that league at some point, and it’s tough to fault the man for wanting to coach the game at its top level. And it certainly doesn’t hurt that the Tampa Bay Buccaneers have the No. 1 overall pick in the upcoming NFL Draft, which means he’ll almost certainly be the position coach for Marcus Mariota or Jameis Winston in the next few months. That’s not a bad gig. At all. Perhaps a position coaching job in the NFL is a step down from being an offensive coordinator in the SEC, or perhaps it’s just a lateral move, but it’s certainly not a promotion. Regardless, it’s something Bajakian wanted to do, and it’s not a terrible move. It makes sense, at least on some level.

Whatever the reason, though, Jones will head into the 2015 season with a new offensive coordinator and play-caller for the first time in his career, so it’s no stretch to consider this upcoming hire the most important he’s made of his head-coaching career. And nothing is guaranteed with this hire. Ask Phillip Fulmer or Lloyd Carr what happens when you get this hire wrong. It’s bad, and sometimes it’s crippling.

Some people made this face when Tennessee hired defensive coordinator John Jancek. Who's doing that now? (Photo: Knoxville News Sentinel)

Jones is in absolutely no danger of putting himself on a hot seat in 2015, so let’s not go there. That idea’s a non-starter for many reasons. Jones is incredibly popular in this state right now, and why wouldn’t he be? He’s pushed mostly the right buttons since stepping foot in Knoxville, so he’s earned enough clout to make a few poor ones here and there.

But this is a huge hire, and Jones knows that, so my simple advice is this: Go get the best offensive mind you can find who will run your system the way you want it to be run. Go get a steak. If it sizzles on the plate like a fresh order of fajitas, that’s great. But make sure it’s a steak.

Fortunately for Tennessee fans, I think Jones understands this concept, and you don’t have to look too far into his past to prove that point. Some of his hires have come with sizzle, but another huge hire —Â his first defensive coordinator at UT —Â certainly didn’t sizzle.

Many scoffed when Jones brought John Jancek with him from Cincinnati to run Tennessee’s defense, and it was impossible at the time to say they were wrong. Maybe they weren’t right, but they definitely couldn’t proved wrong. Jancek’s lone previous experience being an SEC coordinator — a one-year stint as co-defensive coordinator at Georgia — didn’t exactly set the world ablaze.

Who, with the benefit of hindsight, would question that hire at this point?

This isn’t a demand for Jones to go Billy Beane “Moneyball” on this hire. This isn’t a game of who can do the most with the least. It’s a game of results. If you have a blank check and can hire the best offensive coordinator on the planet — someone with a dream-like duo of off-the-charts coaching and recruiting — then by all means, do that. Alabama’s SEC and national championships don’t mean less because they came with such a hefty price tag. Ditto for Kentucky basketball. Ditto for anyone else who doesn’t care how much success costs. Good for them. Paying top dollar for top talent isn’t illegal. There’s no salary cap here.

Just don’t mistake sizzle for steak. The latter is more important for Jones in this particular case.

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Contact Wes Rucker BY EMAIL at wesrucker247@gmail.com, or ON TWITTER or ON FACEBOOK