Latest news all but guarantees that Josh Heupel won't have interest in Michigan job
For some reason, there have been rumors flying around this week that Michigan could be interested in Tennessee Vols head coach Josh Heupel if Jim Harbaugh leaves for the NFL. I don't think there's much to these rumors. If Harbaugh leaves, it's certainly possible that Michigan will give Heupel a call — they'd be foolish […]
For some reason, there have been rumors flying around this week that Michigan could be interested in Tennessee Vols head coach Josh Heupel if Jim Harbaugh leaves for the NFL.
I don't think there's much to these rumors. If Harbaugh leaves, it's certainly possible that Michigan will give Heupel a call — they'd be foolish not to gauge the interest of a coach that took an SEC team from 3-7 to 11-2 in just two seasons.
But I don't think Tennessee fans should be worried about Heupel leaving. For one, I think he's happy in Knoxville and I think he views UT as a destination job.
There's also another major reason that Heupel likely wouldn't be interested in Michigan.
On Thursday night, The Athletic reported that Michigan received a notice of allegations from the NCAA.
According to The Athletic, Harbaugh was charged with a level I violation for providing "false or misleading information". The program was also hit with four level II violations.
Earlier on Thursday, Harbaugh released a statement that said he "expects" to be the Michigan coach in 2023. The statement was supposed to ease concern about Harbaugh bolting for the NFL (recent reports have suggested that Harbaugh will accept an NFL offer if one is extended his way). Typically a program will give a coach a new contract to shut down any speculation. That wasn't the case here. And with these violations popping up on Thursday night, it feels like there's still a pretty good chance that Harbaugh leaves Michigan.
Those violations also essentially guarantee that Heupel wouldn't have any interest in Michigan (again I don't think he would anyway, but you know how rumors in college football go).
Heupel is just now bringing Tennessee out of the darkness of an NCAA investigation. What would be attractive about leaving Knoxville for Ann Arbor and another NCAA mess?
Tennessee and Michigan are essentially in the same place as a program right now. Sure, the Wolverines made the playoff, but the Vols were right there in the conversation (and if not for that bad night in Columbia, Tennessee would've played TCU in the playoff last weekend). Heupel has all the resources he could ever need in Knoxville to win a championship.
Heupel almost certainly wasn't going to entertain an offer from Michigan before Thursday's news, but these Level I and Level II violations make me feel 99.99999 percent certain that Tennessee won't be looking for a new coach again this winter.
Featured image via George Walker IV / Tennessean.com / USA TODAY NETWORK
