National media outlet has laughable coach ranking for Josh Heupel after Nick Saban's retirement
After Nick Saban's sudden retirement on Wednesday evening, 247Sports re-ranked the top 25 coaches in college football. And their ranking for Tennessee Vols head coach Josh Heupel is laughable. They have Heupel at No. 19. He was previously No. 10 on their list. From 247Sports: Josh Heupel still won nine games in 2023 despite losing […]
After Nick Saban's sudden retirement on Wednesday evening, 247Sports re-ranked the top 25 coaches in college football.
And their ranking for Tennessee Vols head coach Josh Heupel is laughable.
They have Heupel at No. 19. He was previously No. 10 on their list.
From 247Sports: Josh Heupel still won nine games in 2023 despite losing his all-everything quarterback Hendon Hooker. Last season was Heupel's huge turnaround in Knoxville after the Volunteers debuted at No. 1 in the first playoff rankings in November before losses at Georgia and South Carolina pushed Tennessee out of the final four picture. It was an unforgettable season that included the end of lengthy losing skids to rivals Florida and Alabama.
The 2023 season was a small step back for the Vols after an 11-win season in 2022, but Heupel still did a great job of leading Tennessee to one of its best seasons in the last 15 years despite losing a significant amount of talent to the 2023 NFL Draft.
But that's not the only reason this ranking is laughable. Somehow, 247Sports has new Houston head coach Willie Fritz, a man who has yet to coach a single game for a Power-5 program, at No. 17 on their list. Fritz just recently found some success at Tulane after several mediocre seasons. Fritz is also just two years removed from a 2-10 season at Tulane (Heupel, meanwhile, has never had a losing season as a head coach).
247Sports also has Kansas State head coach Chris Klieman ahead of Heupel at No. 16.
Klieman went 9-4 this past season and his best year as a Power-5 head coach was in 2022 when he went 10-4 at Kansas State.
Kansas head coach Lance Leipold, who is 17-21 in three seasons with the Jayhawks, is a good coach. But he hasn't done anything to warrant being No. 12 on 247Sports' list.
Heupel is one of the few coaches in college football that has a win against Nick Saban. He also has wins against Brian Kelly and Dabo Swinney. And he's managed to rescue Tennessee from the abyss, something that four previous Vols head coaches failed to do.
There's still a lot for Heupel to prove — no one is debating that. But ranking him behind obscure names like Leipold, Klieman, and Fritz isn't just silly, it's downright disrespectful.
