The Athletic unveiled their 2025 SEC head coach hot seat rankings on Monday and their list included very few surprises. 

Arkansas Razorbacks head coach Sam Pittman is ranked at No. 1 in their hot seat rankings, followed by Florida Gators head coach Billy Napier at No. 2 and Oklahoma Sooners head coach Brent Venables at No. 3. 

Tennessee Vols head coach Josh Heupel comes in at No. 13 after reaching the College Football Playoff in 2024. The only coaches ranked below Heupel are Texas Longhorns head coach Steve Sarkisian at No. 14, Ole Miss Rebels head coach Lane Kiffin at No. 15, and Georgia Bulldogs head coach Kirby Smart at No. 16. 

None of the coaches in the bottom half of The Athletic's rankings are in danger of getting fired (barring an unexpected disaster). For the most part, I'd say these rankings are fairly accurate. 

What's bizarre, though, is the takeaways on Heupel and Kiffin from The Athletic's Seth Emerson. 

Take a look at how Heupel is discussed versus how Kiffin is discussed. 

On Heupel: Heupel, 46, already has done what athletic director Danny White hired him to do: get Tennessee out of the wilderness. Heupel has done even better, with his 2022 team briefly ascending to No. 1 and last year’s team making the Playoff. The next step, of course, is not getting blown out in the Playoff and making (and maybe winning) an SEC championship. There’s still a question here of Heupel’s ceiling, but he has raised the floor.

On Kiffin: The only question fans have in Oxford is how long they can hold on to Kiffin. As long as he has been in college football, he’s still only 49, so he might not be in any rush to take one of the legacy jobs. Ole Miss is also doing everything it can to show Kiffin that he can win a championship there, with the collective-fueled 2024 team being one bad loss (ahem, Kentucky) from making it to the Playoff.

When it comes to Heupel, the big question is whether Heupel has reached his ceiling. 

The big question for Kiffin, on the other hand, is whether Ole Miss can hold onto the longtime head coach. 

Emerson also points out that Ole Miss is "doing everything it can to show Kiffin that he can win a championship there".

Excuse me, what? 

Heupel just guided Tennessee to its first ever College Football Playoff appearance after many media outlets ahead of the 2024 season had the Vols on the outside looking in. 

Kiffin, meanwhile, came up short of the College Football Playoff with arguably the best roster he's ever had as a head coach. And look, I'm not slamming Kiffin for missing the playoff last year. Sometimes it just doesn't work out. The Rebels lost a couple of games they should've won (against Kentucky and Florida) after failing to come through in the final moments. 

I think Kiffin is a good coach. In fact, I think he's one of the best in the sport (and I think the same about Heupel….these guys are easily in the top 10 or top 15 out of 134 FBS head coaches). 

But why is it that Kiffin seemingly gets a pass for missing the playoff in 2024 (with a loaded roster) while Heupel's "ceiling" is questioned after leading the Vols to the playoff with a first-time starting quarterback? What kind of narrative is being pushed here? 

Heupel and Kiffin are in similar stages of their career. I'm not trying to argue which one is the better coach. That's a pointless argument with no clear answer. They're both good coaches who are looking to take the next step in their careers. 

But what we do know is that Heupel is a College Football Playoff head coach and Kiffin, for now, isn't. 

And the idea that Heupel's ceiling should be questioned while Kiffin is a commodity that Ole Miss has to prove it's worthy of retaining is one of the most bizarre takes I've seen this offseason. 

I mean, maybe Kiffin's reached his ceiling. Maybe barely missing out on the playoff is far as he goes in his career. If you're going to say that about Heupel, you can easily say it about Kiffin. 

I don't think that's necessarily going to be the case for Kiffin — I think he'll eventually break through. But there's undoubtedly more evidence to suggest that Kiffin's "ceiling" should be questioned before Heupel's "ceiling" is questioned. 

The biggest concern for the Tennessee Vols in 2025 just became more complicated to solve

There’s no clear answer