Former Tennessee quarterback Erik Ainge is not bashful about who he thinks the Vols should hire for their next football coach. And he’s made it very clear who he hopes they stay away from.

Ainge even went the extraordinary step of posting a text message thread between him and Lane Kiffin where Ainge in one moment praised Kiffin’s play-calling ability, only moments after he said he didn’t want Kiffin to come back to Knoxville.

“You can go anywhere else,” Ainge wrote. “Not here.”

In other tweets, Ainge appeared to like the possible hire of Jeff Brohm, at least in part because of a potential staff he would bring to Tennessee.

Ainge, who played at Tennessee from 2004-07, was drafted by the New York Jets in the 2008 NFL Draft. He now works in radio in Tennessee on WNML.

Kiffin, the Florida Atlantic coach, has drawn some interest from some Tennessee fans, but others, perhaps like Ainge, don’t want to bring back the coach that left the program for Southern Cal.

Ainge said the program shouldn’t be turned down by anyone else, and suggests the Vols call Tee Martin or Les Miles.