Tennessee Vols head coach Josh Heupel’s name has come up in recent days regarding open coaching vacancies, including being a potential target by LSU for their open job according to one media member.

A notable name in the college football media world doesn’t sound quite as sure about that take, but there could be a reason that Heupel eventually would have interest in looking elsewhere.

On3 Sports college football insider Chris Low, who’s well plugged into the college football landscape, joined the 3HL show on 104.5 the Zone in Nashville on Monday afternoon, and while he doesn’t believe that Heupel is looking to leave at this point, says Heupel may listen to other schools that come calling and hints at a reason why.

Chris Low says Josh Heupel could listen to outside offers, noting that some coaches in the SEC are looking at “restarting” their clocks

“I don’t think he’s looking,” Low said. “Would he listen? If Penn State called or if somebody like Michigan opens, yeah, I think he would listen. I think any coach would. It’s just there’s so many jobs open. There’s so many jobs that are still open.

“I don’t think he’s gonna go somewhere just to go, but people ask me all the time, ‘would Kalen DeBoer listen?’ Well, yeah. If Lincoln Riley left USC, if the situation was right, [Jennifer] Cohen’s the AD there. She and Kalen have a good relationship. So, my answer to all of those questions is, yeah, if it’s right.

“I don’t think in Josh Heupel’s world he’s looking to leave Tennessee right now, but I think if something came open that he felt like was good, something that appealed to him – you know there’s always something to be said for a coach in the SEC for restarting your clock. There really is. There’s a reason there’s been so many guys come and go every 3 or 4 years. It’s just hard in this league, and guess what, it’s gonna get harder. There’s gonna be a lot of coaches in the next few years when the SEC goes to 9 league games, they’re gonna have pretty good football teams, but they’re gonna go 8-4, and the fan base isn’t gonna be real fired up about it.”

Low makes a fair point as far as capturing the nature of today’s college football landscape. 8-4 doesn’t cut the mustard anymore, and in the what-have-you-done-for-lately world of sports, patience doesn’t feel like it’s what it used to be.

Speaking of 8-4, that’s what Tennessee could be staring in the face unless they snap their 22-year losing streak in Gainesville and/or fail to keep Vanderbilt from reaching 10 wins and potentially reaching the playoff, either of which could leave a bad taste in Vol fans’ mouths over the offseason.

But Tennessee remains less than 12 calendar months removed from a College Football Playoff berth, so Heupel deserves a large benefit of the doubt regardless of how the season ends.

As far as Low’s belief that Heupel or other SEC coaches might look to restart the clock elsewhere, the only problem is that it’s a potentially temporary solution unless you win, and few programs are as well set up to win as Tennessee. Between the aligned support of university leadership and the coaching staff, the financial support and the facilities, and the fan support, there aren’t many programs that can compete with that.

We’ll see if someone rings Heupel’s agent in the coming weeks, but unless something big changes, don’t expect him to be leaving Rocky Top in the near future.

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