We learned this week there's a major difference between Tennessee Vols head coach Josh Heupel and Clemson Tigers head coach Dabo Swinney.

And it's a difference that could end up paying dividends for the Vols.

It has to do with the NCAA transfer portal.

The transfer portal, which players can enter at any time, has brought a new element to college football. It's easier for coaches to quickly rebuild rosters thanks to the transfer portal. But it also means that programs going through rough times can suffer a mass exodus of players at any time (this happened to Tennessee after the 2020 season).

There are pros and cons to the transfer portal. But regardless of how anyone feels about the portal, it's not going anywhere. There might be rule tweaks in the future (a transfer signing period could be a good idea), but otherwise, this is just the new way of life in college sports.

Publicly, Heupel is just fine with the portal. He's pledged to utilize the portal to address Tennessee's roster needs.

"You just take a look at your roster with where you're at and what are some needs that you absolutely have to patch whether it's starters, depth, or competition at the position," said Heupel on Thursday. "In today's landscape, it's so different than it used to be. You have a 365-day cycle essentially to kind of evaluate your roster and try to help it out."

"There's certainly position groups that we feel like we have to add pieces to the roster, competition, potentially starter and depth," added Heupel. "On the back end of spring ball, we've positioned ourselves or we have an opportunity to get a couple of kids that can come in and impact us."

"And at the same time, I think you're always looking to add elite players to your program, so we'll continue to evaluate that in the transfer portal."

That's a much different attitude toward the portal than what we saw from Swinney earlier this month.

"My transfer portal is right there in that locker room because if I'm constantly going out every year and adding guys from the transfer portal, I'm telling all those guys in that locker room that I don't believe in them, that I don't think they can play," said Swinney to ESPN recently. "We're also not doing our job as coaches and recruiters if we're bringing in a bunch of transfers."

Those are big words from Swinney, though he's not exactly sticking to his strong statement.

Swinney also told ESPN that Clemson would look to add an offensive lineman from the portal in May.

I guess grabbing players from the portal is acceptable for Swinney if there's a need on his roster, but otherwise, he's staying away.

Which I'm pretty sure is how most coaches view the portal. We just don't get the conjecture from other coaches like we do from Swinney.

Tennessee has a coach in Heupel who rolls with the punches and deals with whatever situation is presented to him.

Swinney, on the other hand, will publicly whine about situations to whoever will listen.

Heupel obviously has a long way to go before his resumé can compete with Swinney's resumé. But when it comes to the likability factor of head coaches, Heupel absolutely has a leg up on Swinney.

Featured image via USA TODAY Sports