Comment from Vols assistant shows how Josh Heupel feels about making excuses
Tennessee Vols linebackers coach/special teams coordinator Mike Ekeler made a comment about Josh Heupel this week that should make UT fans feel good about the man leading the program. Ekeler spoke at the Knoxville Quarterback Club on Monday and he opened by talking about how Heupel never made excuses when he arrived at Tennessee, despite […]
Tennessee Vols linebackers coach/special teams coordinator Mike Ekeler made a comment about Josh Heupel this week that should make UT fans feel good about the man leading the program.
Ekeler spoke at the Knoxville Quarterback Club on Monday and he opened by talking about how Heupel never made excuses when he arrived at Tennessee, despite taking over a less-than-ideal situation.
"I tell you what, this has been a heck of a ride here," said Ekeler (via 247Sports). "And it all starts back when we got here about a year and a half ago. Coach Heup, what I love about the man, he made no excuses. He didn’t talk about recruiting. He didn’t talk about this. He didn’t talk about that. He talked about what we had, and our kids and his whole message from Day One was, ‘We’re good enough to win, and we’re good enough to win right now. But our margin for error, it’s not real big'."
“And that’s what our kids rallied behind," added Ekeler. "And it started with last year. And we were darn close in a lot of those games, and this year, in the majority of them, we’ve found a way. We’ve made that extra play. He talks about it all the time, it doesn’t matter if it starts fast. It doesn’t matter if it doesn’t start fast. What matters is, when that clock hits zero, to be plus-1 or a whole heck of a lot more. And that’s kind of the mentality of our team. They’ve taken that from him."
Plenty of coaches in Heupel's situation would've made excuses for why Tennessee would require a five-year rebuild. And that mindset would've transferred to the team and there would've been no sense of urgency to compete for a national championship this season.
But instead of that approach, Heupel essentially said "why not us?" and players have followed his lead.
Tennessee fans heard excuses for years. They heard about "closing the gap" between the Vols and elite teams.
Heupel didn't give fans those excuses. Instead, he just went to work and started winning.
And fans love him for it.
It took a while, but Tennessee finally got it right.
Featured image via Brianna Paciorka/News Sentinel / USA TODAY NETWORK
