Tennessee hires Josh Heupel as new head coach. What’s next?
Tennessee has hired former UCF head coach Josh Heupel as its new head coach.
Danny White – who is now Tennessee’s AD – was formerly Heupel’s boss at UCF. He’ll be paid $4 million-a-year on a 6-year deal.
He said on his press conference: “I believe in a very, very bright future for Tennessee football. I believe that there’s a minor speed bump that we’re going through, but the kids that are in our program right now and the kids that are being recruited are going to have a chance to play and chase championships.”
First of all, we know that Tennessee fans would have loved a ‘bigger name hire’, but what self-respecting head coach would want to walk into a job which is facing major NCAA sanctions including scholarships losses and the possibility of not playing in bowl games for the next two or more years? (In Heupel’s contract there is also language about extra years on his clause should there be sanctions, apparently).
It was never going to be Penn State’s James Franklin. He was happy with the situation in Happy Valley. Lane Kiffin – I should think – wasn’t considered, and Clemson offensive coordinator Tony Elliott- who apparently looked long and hard at another job in orange – decided to stay in ACC Death Valley.
White himself decided to criticize those Tennessee fans already negative about Heupel’s hiring. “Some of you are awesome,” he said. “Some of you are failing right now. Why would we be negative? The future of this place is unbelievably exciting and positive and I couldn’t be more excited to be here. I see nothing but great days ahead.”
Heupel brings with his ‘street cred’ in the offensive department. He was the Heisman runner-up quarterback for a National Championship-winning Oklahoma team. He recruited and developed quarterbacks for one of the highest-paced, fun offenses in recent years in UCF (6th, 5th and 8th under his tutelage), and they won a lot of games (28-8 record in 3 years).
In a college football world where it seems that defense has gone out stage-left, Heupel’s offense – with SEC players – could definitely run with a bunch of schools.
Also, because he played at Oklahoma, he also knows what it’s like being in a College Football hotbed, because Norman, OK can be as mean and nasty as anywhere else in the nation.
So how will he succeed at Tennessee? Here’s a couple of thoughts:
- Manage expectations in the schedule
The NCAA sanctions are one thing, but there’s also one more thing: ‘Traditional’ rivals Georgia, Florida and Alabama are in much better shape than they are. If Heupel’s teams can get close (ie within 7 or less) to any of these three teams in the first two years, it’ll be pretty successful. Heupel goes 1-2 in those three games in any of his first two seasons it will be an unmitigated success. If he goes 3-0, he should be given the keys to the kingdom and a freaking statue.
2. Get some players back from the transfer portal
Tennessee has lost a ton of players to other schools via the transfer portal. We don’t know how many have signed on the dotted line yet, but Heupel will be trying to stop 8 of them – including star RB Eric Gray – from fully leaving K-Town. How much of the departures were serious, and how many of them were players ‘trying their luck’? We do know that Heupel will try and stop the likes of running back Eric Gray, three receivers and four linebackers from making the true walk. He will probably be trying to persuade ‘Big’ Kat Bryant – who Pruitt recruited from as a grad transfer from Auburn – to continue his decision to come play in Neyland. We also think that he’ll look for another quarterback. There are still a few names out there.
3. Have a good quarterback
Where Jeremy Pruitt failed was in the quarterback room. Jarrett Guarantano was NOT a good quarterback, yet he was repeatedly started by Pruitt, in a manner that if you saw it differently you’d probably swear that Guarantano knew where bodies were buried.
More importantly in today’s style of football, He knows how to coach quarterbacks. He was the QBs coach at Oklahoma 2006-10 and the co-offensive coordinator and QB coach from 2011-14. And he probably knows how to recruit them, too.
4. Start well
The rivals for 2021 for Tennessee (ie the ‘Big Games) have to be the clashes with Missouri, Kentucky, South Carolina and Vanderbilt. Go 4-0 in those battles and the Vols will probably go to a bowl game, bearing in mind the non-conference schedule is very winnable. The Ole Miss game will probably be a shoot-out. As mentioned, we think their games against Georgia, Florida and Alabama will be ugly losses.
But anything can happen on Rocky Top. And knowing Tennessee, anything will.