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Tennessee football: Five reasons Josh Heupel won’t leave for Oklahoma Sooners

By Caleb Calhoun

Tennessee Head Coach Josh Heupel during an SEC football game between Tennessee and Kentucky at Kroger Field in Lexington, Ky. on Saturday, Nov. 6, 2021.Kns Tennessee Kentucky Football
Tennessee Head Coach Josh Heupel during an SEC football game between Tennessee and Kentucky at Kroger Field in Lexington, Ky. on Saturday, Nov. 6, 2021.Kns Tennessee Kentucky Football /
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Tennessee players take the field as the University of Tennessee Pride of the Southland marching band performs a pregame show and fans checker Neyland Stadium orange and white for the Florida game on Saturday, Sept. 24, 2016.0925 Kcsp Utfl 012 Mp
Tennessee players take the field as the University of Tennessee Pride of the Southland marching band performs a pregame show and fans checker Neyland Stadium orange and white for the Florida game on Saturday, Sept. 24, 2016.0925 Kcsp Utfl 012 Mp /

4. The immediate future for the Vols is brighter.

USC was a better job when Lane Kiffin left Tennessee football. Months later, the Reggie Bush scandal broke, and USC got hit with probation, but nobody knew that when Kiffin took the job. Instead, Kiffin was taking the easiest job in the Pac-12 and leaving a program that just got hit with an NCAA investigation..because of what he did.

It’s the opposite now. Heupel inherited a program under NCAA investigation, one that’s about to come out of those investigations in pretty good shape. Meanwhile, the Vols are in a good situation for 2022, largely because of what Heupel did his first year.

We’re not just talking about the success of this season to say UT is in a good situation. Their schedule sets up nicely as well. Next year, Rocky Top’s first five games involve two Group of Five opponents, a Power Five opponent that replaces its entire offense in the Pittsburgh Panthers, and two rebuilding SEC schools, with first-year head coaches, the LSU Tigers and Florida Gators.

That puts a 5-0 start on the table. Meanwhile, Oklahoma could be in trouble either way. They could be staying in a Big 12 with teams like the Oklahoma State Sooners and Baylor Bears staying elite while the Texas Longhorns take a leap forward while the league works against them, or they could expedite their entry into the SEC. Neither is a good situation for a new head coach.

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