Tennessee Vols head coach Josh Heupel still has a lot to prove despite going 11-2 last season in his second year leading UT's football program. 

Heupel has to prove he can sustain the success he found at Tennessee last season.

But while Heupel still has to show that he isn't just a flash in the pan, I'd say he's done enough over the last two years to be considered among the top 10 coaches in college football. 

Not many coaches can come into a disastrous situation like the one Heupel walked into in 2021 and emerge as Orange Bowl champions less than two years later (with wins over Alabama, Clemson, Florida, and LSU all in the same season). 

The Athletic, however, sees it differently. The prominent national sports media outlet recently revealed their 2023 coaching tiers and Heupel landed with a group of coaches that includes several that have accomplished far less than him. 

According to The Athletic, the first tier of coaches (tier 1A) includes one name — Nick Saban. 

Fair enough considering what Saban has accomplished in college football over the last 20 years. 

The next tier (tier 1b) includes two names: Kirby Smart and Dabo Swinney. 

Again, that's fair. Those are the only two coaches who have come remotely close to matching Saban's success over the last two decades (and even they aren't that close). 

Tier 2 is where things get questionable. The Athletic list seven coaches in the second tier and Heupel isn't one of them. 

Instead, there are names like Lincoln Riley, Ryan Day, Jimbo Fisher, Jim Harbaugh, Brian Kelly, Luke Fickell, and Kyle Whittingham. 

There's a strong argument to be made that Heupel should be included in that tier — especially since Whittingham is listed (Whittingham has just one 11 win season since Utah became a Power-5 program despite playing in a weaker conference…and that 11-win season featured just one win against a top 25 opponent). 

Heupel is listed in Tier 3 along with coaches like Mark Stoops, Mike Gundy, Matt Rhule, Tom Herman, and Dave Clawson, among several others. 

Tier 3 should probably be split into two different tiers. There's just too big of a gap between a coach like Heupel and a coach like Jeff Brohm. 

And let's be honest, there's probably not a single Tennessee fan that would trade Heupel for any of the coaches in tier 3. And they probably wouldn't trade him for any of the coaches in tier 2, either. 

Despite placing Heupel in a lower tier than he should be in, The Athletic's Chris Vannini gave Tennessee's head coach some praise for what he's accomplished since becoming a head coach in 2018 (when he took over at UCF). 

From The Athletic: I don’t know if enough people appreciate what Josh Heupel has done. He’s 46-16 as a head coach, with six of those losses coming by one score. He took over a UCF team where undefeated seasons were the benchmark, and he produced just that in his first regular season. With a backup quarterback, the Knights played a Joe Burrow-led LSU to within one score. He took over a down Tennessee program amid a huge NCAA cloud and endured an exodus of players, but he put together a bowl season in Year 1 and an 11-2 season and top-six finish in Year 2.

If Heupel can get the Vols to 11 wins (or more) again in 2023, then The Athletic won't have a choice but to place him in a higher tier a year from now. 

Featured image via Denny Simmons / The Tennessean / USA TODAY NETWORK