Tennessee Vols head coach Josh Heupel finds himself surprisingly low on a list he very clearly should be much higher on
Josh Heupel has done some terrific things quickly for the Tennessee football program. He's taken a program that was in tatters after the firing of yet another head coach – this time the embattled Jeremy Pruitt – and churned out the most wins in a season for the program in over 20 years in just […]
Josh Heupel has done some terrific things quickly for the Tennessee football program.
He's taken a program that was in tatters after the firing of yet another head coach – this time the embattled Jeremy Pruitt – and churned out the most wins in a season for the program in over 20 years in just his second season in town, winning their first major bowl game since winning the 1998 national championship with a 31-14 win over Clemson in the 2022 Orange Bowl. Two years later, he had the Vols in the College Football Playoff.
However, my colleagues here at A to Z Sports appear to have forgotten that yeoman's work that Heupel has done over the last four years – and even beyond that. Our panel of college football writers ranked their top power conference coaches across the country, and Heupel was missing from the top 20.
This was the stated criteria for consideration in the rankings:
For this exercise we looked at everything from years of experience, championships, playoff or bowl wins, to Top 25 seasons, overall record, and much more in hopes of creating the best head coach rankings list ever made.
Heupel came in 22nd on the list, just above SMU's Rhett Lashlee and one spot below Mike Norvell, whose Noles went 2-10 in 2024.
This was the explanation for Heupel's ranking, among others:
Josh Heupel (Tennessee), Lincoln Riley (USC), Mario Cristobal (Miami), and Brent Venables (Oklahoma) were ranked all over the place by our staff, which makes sense given their situations. All four have tasted some success, but they need to keep their impatient programs ascending.
Heupel took the Vols to the playoffs, but just lost his five star quarterback. Riley still hasn't quite figured out his Trojans defense, but the recruiting finally looks right. Cristobal finally put together a strong season in 2024, but his first overall pick quarterback is gone. Venables is beloved by the Sooners, and his 2023 10-3 season was impressive, but Oklahoma won't tolerate many more mediocre seasons. All four could leap up a tier this season or be tossed aside due to wild expectations sooner rather than later if they struggle.
I'm confused, as I thought the consideration was largely what they've accomplished over their careers, not whether their quarterback is returning or not. That's completely (or should be completely) irrelevant.
What Heupel HAS done since 2018 in his time at UCF and Tennessee is produce four 10+ win seasons and appear in two New Years Six Bowl games and a College Football Playoff game.
Meanwhile, Louisville's Jeff Brohm has one ten-win season (10-4 in 2023 with Louisville) since 2015-16 with no New Years Six or playoff game appearances. Arizona State's Kenny Dillingham had a nice story last year with 11-win Arizona State, but he's 14-12 over just two seasons. Where's the rest of the resume to support that? Lance Leipold's claim to fame is a 9-4 Kansas team in 2023, with every other season in Lawrence being a losing one.
I love my colleagues and applaud their terrific work, but the logic in these particular rankings just doesn't seem to make sense here with some of these coaches who came in well above Heupel.
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