PFT from Barstool Sports asked Josh Heupel the question that everyone at SEC Media Days forgot to ask the Tennessee head coach
Reporters forgot to ask Tennessee Vols head coach Josh Heupel an important question at SEC Media Days in Tampa this week.
There was one specific question I was hoping Tennessee Vols head coach Josh Heupel would be asked at SEC Media Days in Tampa this week.
But no one asked it.
Well, not until PFT asked it on Wake Up Barstool on Thursday morning.
One of Tennessee’s biggest issues last season was clock management. The Vols struggled in end-of-half and end-of-game situations.
In Tennessee’s overtime win against Mississippi State, the Vols had a chance to win the game in regulation. But Heupel used only one of his three timeouts in the final 1:23 of regulation, which ended with a 44-yard Hail Mary attempt instead of a field goal attempt.
There was also the botched sequence at the end of the first half of the Alabama game, and then Heupel forgetting an important clock rule at the end of the Oklahoma game.
I like Heupel a lot — this isn’t me trying to throw shade at the guy. But every coach has areas where they can improve, and I think it’s clear clock management is one of those areas for Heupel (and I think it’s a result of Heupel just having too much on his plate on game days).
“I would say his tweak this offseason needs to be in terms of game management,” said The Knoxville News Sentinel’s Adam Sparks last November. “Because if you look at him on the sideline — usually you can’t see this on TV, but live you can — he’s obviously calling plays. He’s communicating a lot. Some of the game management and time management issues they’ve had in two or three games this year has been where he’s obviously trying to do three different jobs at one time.
“I do think this offseason, if not during the season, he needs to figure out some way to let some things go and be able to manage that a little better….or get rid of play calling duties.”
PFT asks Josh Heupel about clock management
Barstool Sports’ PFT asked Heupel on Thursday morning if he has a clock guy.
“I’m curious,” said PFT. “As a head coach, do you have somebody that is your clock guy that you look at and you’re like, ‘This guy knows all the scenarios for clock management.’ Or is that something that you keep in your own head and you want to manage that yourself?”
Great question from PFT. Unfortunately, Heupel went full coachspeak and gave a long answer that revealed, well, absolutely nothing.
“Certainly, for me, have a real understanding of the general parameters of how we want to operate,” said Heupel. “Number of timeouts, the situation where the clock’s at, but we do have somebody that’s in charge of our analytics department. And we’re in communication with them during the course of the week and certainly on game day, too.”
That is the opposite of a coach being candid. Which is Heupel’s prerogative — though I think everyone would like to see him be a little more candid and a little less coachspeaky.
It was a great question, and I think it’s something that fans would like to hear more about, but Heupel is guarded about that kind of stuff, so it’s no surprise that we got a non answer.
Good try, though, PFT.