How Jimbo Fisher is partially responsible for Josh Heupel getting his first head coaching job at UCF
The Tennessee Vols hired Josh Heupel as their head coach in 2021 after he had spent three seasons as UCF's head coach. Heupel went 28-8 during his three seasons in Orlando. Before landing at UCF, Heupel served as Missouri's offensive coordinator from 2016 to 2017. If not for Jimbo Fisher, who is currently the head […]
The Tennessee Vols hired Josh Heupel as their head coach in 2021 after he had spent three seasons as UCF's head coach.
Heupel went 28-8 during his three seasons in Orlando.
Before landing at UCF, Heupel served as Missouri's offensive coordinator from 2016 to 2017.
If not for Jimbo Fisher, who is currently the head coach at Texas A&M (the team the Vols play this upcoming Saturday), Heupel may not have landed the UCF gig in late 2017.
After the 2017 season, Scott Frost stepped down as UCF's head coach to take the head coaching job at Nebraska, his alma mater (Frost was fired in 2022 after going 16-31 with the Cornhuskers).
Initially, it appeared that former Texas A&M head coach Kevin Sumlin was going to be the guy for UCF after Frost's departure. Sumlin and the Knights were reportedly in discussions about the job, but according to the Orlando Sentinel, talks stalled when the Oregon job opened.
The Oregon job opened because Willie Taggart stepped down, after some consideration, to replace Jimbo Fisher at Florida State.
Fisher left Florida State after the 2017 season to become the head coach at Texas A&M, replacing Sumlin (ironically) who was fired in 2017 despite never having a losing season with the Aggies.
Oregon ended up hiring Mario Cristobal instead of Sumlin, who eventually landed at Arizona (Sumlin was fired after three seasons).
If Fisher doesn't leave Florida State, then Taggart sticks around at Oregon and UCF likely hires Sumlin to replace Frost (though I'm sure then UCF athletic director Danny White, now the athletic director at Tennessee, will point out that he only offered the job to Heupel…but that's the standard operating procedure for college athletic directors).
College football is full of Butterfly Effect type moments. And Fisher and Heupel certainly share one of those moments.
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