We received yet another example this week of how Josh Heupel is a much better head coach for the Tennessee Vols than his predecessor Jeremy Pruitt.

Heupel dealt with a situation recently that all head coaches deal with at some point — he had to replace a member of his coaching staff.

Wide receivers coach Kodi Burns left Tennessee for a job with the New Orleans Saints a couple of weeks ago. Earlier this week, the Vols announced that offensive analyst Kelsey Pope will be replacing Burns.

Heupel said this week in an interview with GoVols247 that he immediately knew Pope was the right guy for the job.

But it took a couple of weeks to make the hire. That's because Heupel wanted to make sure that he was making the right move. So even though he knew he wanted Pope, he still interviewed multiple coaches to ensure he was making the best hire for Tennessee.

"[I] knew that as soon as I talked to Kodi and Kodi was going to have an opportunity to interview with the Saints. My mind immediately went to Kelsey," said Heupel.

“In fairness to this program, [we] always want to make sure that we’re thorough in the process, and that’s why we did what we did, but you could tell by the response of our players and our coaches that everybody in here knows that he’s the right guy for the job."

This is a stark contrast to the way Pruitt used to handle things at Tennessee.

In 2020, Pruitt needed a new defensive line coach after Tennessee and Tracy Rocker parted ways.

Pruitt hired Jimmy Brumbaugh to replace Rocker without even formally interviewing him.

"When we had the job come open, we didn’t interview anybody else," said Pruitt in early 2020. "We didn’t interview him. We just offered him the job and he came."

Pruitt fired Brumbaugh just four games into the 2020 season, citing philosophical differences.

If Pruitt had actually interviewed Brumbaugh — and other candidates — that outcome could've been prevented.

Heupel understands the process that goes into making hires. He knows that just because you're familiar with a coach, and maybe even friendly with them, doesn't mean they'll be a good fit on your coaching staff.

Pruitt, however, just wanted to hire people he knew (or hires that were forced on him, like the Tee Martin hire).

Heupel has what it takes to be the CEO of a major college football program. And he showed that this week by taking his time to make the right hire to replace Burns.

Pruitt, on the other hand, had no business leading a college football program. Unfortunately for Tennessee, it took a couple of years of him destroying the program for that realization to come to the surface.

The good news, though, is that Tennessee is back on the right track under Heupel.

Featured image via Calvin Mattheis/News Sentinel / USA TODAY NETWORK