The Tennessee Vols aren’t expected to be participants in this winter’s coaching carousel.

Josh Heupel is locked in as Tennessee’s head coach, and it’s unlikely that any programs will make a serious run at trying to swipe him from the Vols given his strong relationship with UT athletic director Danny White.

Heupel’s offense, however, could be at the center of the discussion around the LSU and Florida openings (among other openings).

That’s in part because former Vols offensive coordinator Alex Golesh, who is in his third season as the head coach at USF, is expected to be a candidate for several open jobs this winter.

CBS Sports’ Tom Fornelli doesn’t think Josh Heupel’s offense is a fit for Florida or LSU

When Golesh’s name was mentioned as a possibility for the Florida or LSU openings during a recent episode of the Cover 3 Podcast, CBS Sports’ Tom Fornelli questioned if Heupel’s offense can work for either of those programs (Fornelli basically threw some shade at Tennessee’s offense).

“Possibly an unpopular opinion — I don’t feel like that offense is meant for these programs,” said Fornelli of Heupel’s offense.

“To me, that’s just an offense that when it runs up against the kind of elite defenses you’re going to see in the College Football Playoff, it gets shut down,” added Fornelli.

That’s not a surprising take — a lot of folks in the national media have been dismissive of Tennessee’s offense. And they probably will be until the Volunteers make a deep College Football Playoff run.

What’s interesting, though, is that most of those same folks don’t seem to question Lane Kiffin’s offense at Ole Miss — which isn’t the exact same as Heupel’s offense, but it still utilizes tempo while spreading out the field and trying to get the ball to athletes in space.

The Athletic’s Dane Brugler, for example, was one of many NFL Draft analysts who noted that scouts questioned former Ole Miss quarterback Jaxson Dart’s fit in the NFL due to the offense he played in under Kiffin.

“With his physical tools and rhythm passing, he was an ideal fit in Kiffin’s quarterback-friendly offense, although the simplistic nature of the scheme leaves NFL scouts questioning his post-snap decision-making process when reads aren’t as structured and predetermined,” wrote Brugler before the 2025 NFL Draft.

It’s perplexing that Heupel’s offense gets questioned, but Kiffin’s doesn’t.

It’ll be interesting to see how the coaching searches at LSU and Florida play out. If Golesh, or another coach that runs a similar offense as Heupel, is seriously considered by LSU or Florida, it’ll instantly make Fornelli’s take about Tennessee’s offense look misinformed.

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