Josh Heupel is avoiding the big mistake that Butch Jones made after year 3 at Tennessee
It's hard to believe but year three of the Josh Heupel era is already in the books for the Tennessee Vols. And it's been a fruitful three years. The Vols are 27-12 in three seasons under Heupel, which is easily the best three year stretch by any Tennessee head coach since Phillip Fulmer was let […]
It's hard to believe but year three of the Josh Heupel era is already in the books for the Tennessee Vols.
And it's been a fruitful three years.
The Vols are 27-12 in three seasons under Heupel, which is easily the best three year stretch by any Tennessee head coach since Phillip Fulmer was let go at the end of the 2008 season.
Butch Jones, the coach that's had the second most successful stint for the Vols in the post-Fulmer era, went 21-17 in his first three seasons as Tennessee's head coach.
The Vols had a College Football Playoff-caliber roster in Jones' fourth season, but Tennessee was unable to take a step forward and finished 9-4 for a second straight year.
That 2016 season, which featured inexplicable losses to South Carolina and Vanderbilt, may have played out differently if not for a big mistake that Jones made after the 2015 season.
In 2015, the Vols had the No. 17 scoring defense in the nation (allowing 20.0 points per game) under defensive coordinator John Jancek.
Jones, in a move that was widely praised by fans and media at the time, replaced Jancek with Penn State defensive coordinator Bob Shoop after the 2015 season.
And that proved to be a disastrous decision. Shoop and Jones didn't co-exist well and the Vols' defense regressed. In 2016, Tennessee had the No. 70 scoring defense in the nation.
Vols fans can't help but wonder if things would've been different in 2016 had Jones kept Jancek instead of chasing the "big name" and hiring Shoop.
Entering this offseason, Heupel is in a similar spot as Jones in 2015. There are plenty of fans who would love to see Heupel replace defensive coordinator Tim Banks, despite the fact that UT finished the 2023 season with the No. 23 scoring defense in the nation (20.3 points per game allowed).
The good news for Tennessee is that Heupel doesn't appear to be inclined to make a change at defensive coordinator like Jones did after the 2015 season.
Tennessee's defense had some frustrating lapses on third down in 2023. But no defense is perfect. And for the most part, the Vols' defense did enough to give Tennessee's offense a chance to win each game (outside of the games against Missouri and Georgia).
If Heupel replaced Banks, which would likely mean a whole new defensive staff, there's absolutely no guarantee that the defense would improve. In fact, it's more likely that the opposite would happen. A repeat of 2012 or 2016 would be far more likely than a drastically improved defense.
Heupel has worked hard to create a great culture at Tennessee. And a big reason the culture is so great is because of the coaching staff — both on the offensive and defensive sides of the balls. Making a change now wouldn't just be risky, it would be self-destructive.
