Former Vols player explains the unique reason why Josh Heupel is finding success
Former Tennessee Vols wide receiver Grant Frerking explained the unique reason why UT head coach Josh Heupel is finding success
The Tennessee Vols are finally back on track after a 15-year detour into the wilderness.
Tennessee returned to the national stage in 2022 behind the leadership of head coach Josh Heupel.
The Vols' 11-2 season was Tennessee's best showing since 2001 when the program went 11-2 and nearly reached the BCS Championship game (that SEC Championship game loss to LSU will always be painful for UT fans).
Heupel has completely turned Tennessee around. He's the savior the program has been looking for since Phillip Fulmer was forced out in 2008.
So why has Heupel been able to find success when so many others couldn't?
Part of it, according to former Tennessee wide receiver Grant Frerking (who played for two years under Heupel), is because Heupel doesn't come from a "coaching tree".
Frerking, who joined us earlier this year on the Big Orange Podcast, pointed out that Heupel isn't trying to mold the program in the image of what he's learned from a mentor. Instead, he's completely put his own spin on running a program (and it works…really well).
The former Vol made the comments during an appearance on Paul Finebaum's show this week.
"I think Josh is unique because he's not coming from a coaching tree that he feels like he has to establish himself in," said Frerking. "He doesn't feel like he has to be someone that he's not. He was a player fairly recently and he was doing it at a high level of college football. And he was a coordinator, then he was a head coach at a G5 (group of five) school — a well-respected G5 school. And then he gets the Tennessee job."
"The person that was at Tennessee before was a Saban guy," continued Frerking. "And you can look at coaches across the country — who they worked for last — and that coach probably had a ton of success there and they wanted to model that program after it. Josh Heupel is unique because he wants to write his own script. And he wants his legacy there to be a Josh Heupel legacy — not in an egotistic way. He wants to own it and do it his own way."
Frerking is spot on. I had never really thought about the fact that Heupel doesn't really come from a particular coaching tree, but it's abundantly obvious he's not following anyone else's script (he was under Bob Stoops for a long time, but it was clear he always had a plan of how he wanted to do things…and now he's finally getting to use that plan).
Often times in college football, the best hires are the ones that don't generate much hype. That's certainly the case with Heupel. Tennessee's decision to hire Heupel in early 2021 was criticized and even mocked by some (opposing fans who thought UCF upgraded by hiring Gus Malzahn to replace Heupel).
Heupel, however, has proven to be a perfect fit for Tennessee. And like Frerking said — he's doing it his own way instead of trying to emulate what other coaches have done.
The Vols have a great one. Now they just have to make sure Heupel continues to receive the support necessary to run an elite program.
