He may already have a conference championship, two top 25 finishes and three winning seasons in three years, but new Tennessee football head coach Josh Heupel still has a lot to do. Where he compares to other coaches proves that.
Tom Fornelli of CBS ranked Heupel No. 52 in his ranking of 65 Power Five head coaches Tuesday. Heupel was ahead of only two other head coaches in the SEC: Shane Beamer of the South Carolina Gamecocks, who came in last place, and Clark Lea of the Vanderbilt Commodores, who came in third from last place.
Among new head coaching hires, Heupel came in fifth behind Steve Sarkisian of the Texas Longhorns, Bret Bielema of the Illinois Fighting Illini, Lance Leipold of the Kansas Jayhawks and Bryan Harsin of the Boise State Broncos. Here’s what Fornelli wrote about Tennessee football’s new head coach.
"Unlike the other first-year Power Five coaches we’ve discussed, Heupel comes to Knoxville with head-coaching experience. He went 28-8 at UCF with a conference title, and that’s boosted his stock a bit with our voters. Of course, I would be remiss if I didn’t mention that Heupel’s first season at UCF was his best, and the record worsened with each passing season. Heupel is also inheriting a very different situation at Tennessee than the one he found at UCF."
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Obviously, there are lots of questions about Heupel on Rocky Top, and it’s ironic that Leipold is ahead of him since UT athletic director Danny White, who hired Heupel, also hired Leipold when he was with the Buffalo Bulls. There was speculation that the Vols would hire him.
Although the concerns are legitimate, including the fact that Heupel did regress each season with the UCF Knights, there are still plenty of things to like about the Heupel hire. He brings offense to Knoxville, Tenn., he has SEC experience after two years as offensive coordinator of the Missouri Tigers in 2016 and 2017, and he has numerous recruiting connections.
Notably, his predecessor at UCF, Scott Frost of the Nebraska Cornhuskers, came in five spots ahead of him at No. 47. Of course, UCF was winless the year before Frost took over and went undefeated in his second year, so Heupel at this point is viewed as a guy that inherited a good situation from Frost. Given Frost’s struggles, that could be concerning for UT.
At the same time, though, this all also proves that finding the right coach at the right program is often times just luck. Resumes don’t always mean that much unless you’re the Alabama Crimson Tide hiring Nick Saban. Heupel could very well be Tennessee football’s guy. Everybody will just have to wait and see.