Josh Heupel probably needs to learn a lesson from his SEC counterparts and start doing one important thing he’s uncomfortable doing
Tennessee Vols head coach Josh Heupel is going to have to get comfortable being uncomfortable.
Tennessee Vols head coach Josh Heupel isn’t exactly a media darling.
Heupel doesn’t seem to love doing media, he isn’t a regular on radio shows during the season, and he isn’t the type to regularly go on ESPN and make pitches for his team.
I respect the approach from Heupel — for him, it’s all about what happens on the field and behind-the-scenes.
But if Tennessee is going to position itself among the biggest brands in college football, then I think Heupel is going to have to get out of his comfort zone and start being a bit of a showman when it comes to selling the UT football program.
Josh Heupel needs to get comfortable being uncomfortable
Perception is as important as ever in his new age of college football. And Heupel can improve Tennessee’s perception by putting himself out there and shaping the narrative surrounding the Vols, instead of letting the national media control it.
Right now, we’re seeing college football coaches across the sport loudly proclaim their case for the College Football Playoff. Everyone from Steve Sarkisian at Texas to Clark Lea at Vanderbilt is dropping WWE style promos to sell their program (this doesn’t just happen come playoff time, either — many of theses coaches are loudly selling their program throughout the year).
Tennessee obviously isn’t in position to make the playoff this season, so it’s not like Heupel needs to be out there making the case for the Vols right now.
But a year ago, when the Vols did reach the playoff and had an argument to host a home game, Heupel took a “let the chips fall where they may” approach.
Heupel, for example, joined The Rich Eisen Show for a brief conversation last year before the final playoff rankings were revealed, and he didn’t really try to convince anyone that Tennessee deserved a home game.
“For us as a program, those things (playoff seeding) are really out of our control,” said Heupel a year ago. “Certainly we’d love to have a home game. But if you get into the playoffs, it really doesn’t matter if you’re not of the mindset that you’re ready to go play anyone anywhere at any time — if you’re not of the right mindset to have success in the bracket. We’ve played ourselves into a position where we’ll be in [the playoff]. Don’t know who the opponent will be until Sunday. But we’re excited about having an opportunity to play during this postseason.”
“I don’t know that [hosting a playoff game] will happen,” continued Heupel when asked what needs to happen for the Vols to host a playoff game. “There’s a handful of games here that certainly impact what’s going to happen on Sunday with the playoff bracket. I don’t know if there’s a scenario that actually ultimately gets us a home game with what happens this weekend. At the end of the day, we’re excited that we’re in. You just had the bracket up there, right now it’s Ohio State. There’s a lot of things that can change. We’re excited…the message to our guys is good teams continue to get better throughout the course of the season and we gotta continue to get better before we get to the first round.”
I don’t know if Heupel making a loud pitch to host a home game would’ve changed anything for the Vols last season, but it was certainly worth a shot. The College Football Playoff committee, after all, is made up of humans. And it seems clear they’re influenced by brands and politicking. Just ask Vanderbilt about overcoming brand bias as they’re likely going to be left out of the playoff despite finishing with a 10-2 record in the SEC — perception matters.
Heupel’s approach, from a pure coaching standpoint is sound. But it’s not what the current landscape of college football requires. I think being more vocal about Tennessee’s program — from controlling the narrative about the Vols’ offense to politicking for playoff seeding — is an improvement Heupel can make moving forward.
(Plenty of top coaches already take this approach, including Georgia’s Kirby Smart, LSU’s Lane Kiffin, Oregon’s Dan Lanning, Indiana’s Curt Cignetti, Texas A&M’s Mike Elko, etc.)
To be clear, this isn’t a criticism of Heupel. The goal for every coach each year is to grow, which happens in a variety of ways. This is just one way that I think Heupel can help take Tennessee to the next level.
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