re: Is Tennessee close to the edge where this is a must hit home run hire?

Yeah. Doubful anyone could recruit well enough at Nebraska anymore for them to consistently be a top 15 ranked team, let alone compete for championships.

For that reason, I think those dismissing Scott Frost as a viable Vols HC candidate because they assume he'd prefer the job at Nebraska (his alma mater) may be off the mark. He liked the UCF opportunity, because of the hotbed of HS players in that area that fit his style of offense.