Could Tennessee have done better than Josh Heupel as head coach? | College Football Live

The College Football Live crew reacts to former UCF coach Josh Heupel getting the head coaching job for the Tennessee Volunteers.
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[@josh2456]

2nd season as the coach: No. 1 in the first CFP rankings of the season. Yeah, I think this hire was just fine.

[@rhrh2025]

This guy needs 100% fan support, and he's not getting it! Give him a chance, and get behind him!!!!!!

[@ramb0760]

TN fans are getting behind him now. Gotta give the man a clean slate.

[@jasonflynn7283]

Now TN is the #1 team in the country

[@drumking388]

When you take over a team that was undefeated, there is only one way to go. You can’t go higher. Dummies.

[@Britton_Thompson]

Doesn't change the fact he's going to get slaughtered at Tennessee nonetheless

[@jaymichaels2416]

Heupel is a good coach. He is a good offensive mind. Heupel will make Tennessee entertaining again. I think he’s going to do well.

[@trewright1482]

I have asked the same question about Auburn.

[@oreopuppydawg1564]

He’ll be great!

[@allensaunders449]

Yes

[@hleach4]

Go VOLS

[@foxtown7662]

See folks doubting the man and he’s not even been there a month.I hope this dude proves folks wrong.

[@chrisulmer694]

He will be a dramatic failure just like the rest of them, LOL. Just remember your post here and come back to it in a couple years.

[@timothys3119]

@@chrisulmer694 😂😂😂

[@chrisulmer694]

@@timothys3119 I stand corrected.

[@larryhatcher8927]

One mistake they made was firing Pruitt and stiffing him on his contact.....Now all of this is going to court and it going to be a big fight. I also hear that Tennessee is suggesting that the assistants also take less on their buyouts.....If I'm a big name coach (Hugh Freeze for example) I'm going to look at that and say "If I took that job they would find a reason to not pay my contact": The best thing Tenn could have done was to just call everyone in, fire them and hand them a check....They'll wish they had of done this

[@larryhatcher8927]

@Jim Slim No one has been busted. This is under open investigation. But that is not really that important. The important thing is that his contact was not honored. No matter the circumstances, I would consider that fact had I of gotten a job offer from Tennessee

[@larryhatcher8927]

@Jim Slim BTW you mean the coach that had the number of an escort service on his phone and then lied about it....That's the guy who is not going to be afraid?

[@Hengel_Andrews]

@@larryhatcher8927 haha people always conveniently forget the crazy things good coaches do.

[@jeffdemarcus160]

@@larryhatcher8927 don't forget the NCAA sanctions that followed his last SEC job. There was no way Freeze was going to be hired with that background going into an investigation.

[@larryhatcher8927]

@@jeffdemarcus160 There are, at least, 4 teams in the SEC that would hire Freeze right now if he said he would take the job...and that is with all of his baggage

[@Tribe_of_Levi]

Tennessee has a new hoed coach

[@Aloharayray808]

Wow 😯 I feel bad for DG at UCF🤦🏽‍♂️

[@oreopuppydawg1564]

We might even play 4 quarters, could you imagine?

[@arthurmabeejr8752]

I think it was an excellent hire according to what they had to work with, There is a looming NCAA investigation still underway, and we don't know what punishment Tennessee can face. As a Tennessee fan, and someone that has some strong insights, this was the best hire they could do. The top coaches don't want to wait 3-5 years to win championships, or have loss of scholarship in particular it makes it harder without an NCAA investigation charges coming up? When a coach comes in, it takes 3 years minimum to help build a program that also had transfer portals as well, this is with full scholarships on the table, and no bans for bowls or championships, if it's the SEC or National Championship. I think Coach Josh Heupel can turn it around, it will take more than 3 years if there is no bans??? There is 2 advantages here, first this gives Tennessee a chance to rebuild their program, second, this gives Coach Josh Heupel to quiet his critics, he is a coach that needs the chance to right his ship as well. If he is successful then he could have a very long career at Tennessee, he can bring in some top notch players, recruiting does make a difference in every facet of the game!

[@osmandius]

I wasn’t impressed with his ability (or lack there of) to recruit.

[@mattwilliam4803]

28 - 8 , as a Head Coach in Division 1 - NOT a Coordinator - says it all. Welcome back, Tennessee Vols - finally.

[@bigblade9518]

Opinions are like aholes, errbody has one. I for one am happy we went to a high power offensive system.

[@osmandius]

I enjoyed a high power offense at UCF over the past couple years. It’s a lot of fun to watch. Josh still has a lot to learn.

[@RylanMoffitt]

Boom or Bust hire

[@richardbishop8666]

Heupel is a far better coach than a team that is losing players everyday and will have scholarship limitations and a bowl band should expect to get. The funny thing is most of there players seem to be transferring to Oklahoma. I find that somewhat ironic.

[@raulespino7349]

Mike Grundy could have been a great hire but josh would help the vols tremendously ....

[@richardbishop8666]

Mike Gundy was not coming to Tennessee. Not ever.

[@chriscrocker6783]

100%... Hugh Freeze, Lane Kiffin or Jamie Chadwell or Mario Cristobal. The problem is they stalled their program with Phat Phuck I mean Fulmer and his self promoting indulgence and second you're cheap. Josh Heupel has been fired from a power 5 program. He didn't magically get better or build anything. I'm not even a Tennessee fan, but this hire is a joke. Clay Travis, although overly optimistic and thinks too highly of his net worth, was 100% right. In 3 years this clown will be fired and you'll be looking for a new head coach.

[@jakeb.5489]

This did not age well

[@BRoyceEke]

It’s the best we could do. Now move on and get to work.

[@gaoutlaw]

No, they couldn’t have.

[@yallhatebaadddyoung7356]

15 to 20 year pill or pills how many does it take?

[@redkap5816]

No

[@cdhballr8]

So he got the program at 13-0....no matter what he did it would have been worse. Great logic

[@marka1712]

12-1 first season to lose 7 over the next two seasons does not show that he could keep it going there. If he can get offense fixed and find the right def coordinator and let him do his thing it may work out decently. If he Pruitt’s the def like Pruitt did the offense then it’ll be another dumpster fire ending in a few seasons

[@xMtF54x]

Lmao

[@maverickmain2693]

Tee Martin?

[@herbertbradford9579]

We owe Tee a lot. He isn’t ready yet.

[@oddarcadegames]

Nah

[@yiasou1027]

Reminds me of Coach Cutcliffe. Give him a chance. Agree with ESPN, they need a program builder. Go Vols!

[@garydunn3868]

Volunteer football compliance and honesty is a dumpster fire. I hope Heupel has lawyers, detectives, spies, pastors, social workers, counselors and HONEST supporters on the train. It's SEC football - anything goes until you get caught, and Tennessee got caught. I hope he has a big buy out.

[@davidcole2337]

Tennessee with fire Heupel in 3 years.

[@timothys3119]

Oh really now?

[@jeffyeah4256]

marginal improvement as a coach...so they'll lose to bama by 21 instead of 31

[@chrisulmer694]

LOL

[@cyrussheets4450]

I don't know who Josh Heupal is, and they still couldn't have done any better. Tennessee is a clusterfuck lol

[@chasetidwell5674]

1980 lol

[@cyrussheets4450]

@@chasetidwell5674 Tennessee was better in 1980.

[@kinalee6467]

I saw CF go downhill after he took a Scott Frost program steadily down hill. He will have even less to work with at Tennessee. We'll see.

[@osmandius]

Look at our 2020 season, very disappointing. Sure, you can make a case regarding COVID but EVERYONE had to deal with COVID challenges. Success in sports is relative to your competition.

[@michaelland9236]

Less to work with? Are you crazy? He leaves a little nobody school and goes to the SEC and the 6th winninest program in all of college football .Even though they have been a dumpster 🔥lately. He will bring them back now he has SEC talent

[@jimgallagher2979]

Josh who?

[@randyreneau2086]

Just a mess,

[@HunterDavisTubaPlaying]

He was only hired bc the AD from UCF is now Tennessee’s AD. It’s not fair to any other candidate.

[@jamescampbell9533]

Who in the world else would want it?

[@oreopuppydawg1564]

They approached several other people that turned it down, signing day is soon. I hope he does great! Are you a UCF fan?

[@HunterDavisTubaPlaying]

@@oreopuppydawg1564 No I’m not. I’m not a Tennessee fan either. I just think that other candidates shouldn’t have been looked over just bc the new AD wanted someone familiar.

[@HunterDavisTubaPlaying]

@@oreopuppydawg1564 I take it back tho. I hope he does well. It was in the heat of the moment and i didn’t mean it but you know how it is bro

[@HunterDavisTubaPlaying]

@@jamescampbell9533 I just wanted others at least given a chance instead of the new AD automatically going to someone who he is familiar with. Y’know?

[@Osei_Bean_8ryant]

Should've stayed at ufc smh

[@kaidonspare6416]

glad he left

[@KNIGHT-T1ME]

Behind the scenes... UCF is laughing. Thank God he is gone. ⚡️🔛

[@osmandius]

Agreed, Danny did us a favor since apparently he didn’t have the same perspective of Josh’s performance that many fans did.

[@CC-kf2nc]

As a Tennessee fan this is painful when I seen UCF fans didn’t care ...

[@osmandius]

@@CC-kf2nc Honestly, I don’t think his performance will be a disaster at Tennessee but I do believe it will be underwhelming. I still think Danny is a rockstar AD though 🙂

[@CC-kf2nc]

@@osmandius hope so

[@timothys3119]

@@osmandius how you feeling now Tony?

[@eddiebrown687]

We hired an AD from a school, then he hired the coach from the same school, in the span of about 2 weeks. There's this unwritten code out there where this sorta thing is really frowned upon between major programs. You don't gut a schools athletic program like that, but we did it anyway. Our reputation wasn't that great before because of the insane amount of money the UT administration has wasted, and now it's even worse.

[@yallhatebaadddyoung7356]

I’d rather have tee Martin

[@chrisulmer694]

This guy will be a dramatic failure just like rest of them. I really couldn’t care less though, I got way better things to do with my time, LOL.

[@brianhester5263]

“couldn’t care less though, I got way better things to do with my time, LOL”...I love the irony in that statement. I LOL with you, Chris. Now, we can get on with trolling.

[@sbolden123]

Tee Martin should have been hired..and yes sir he's qualified.. stop making excuses as to why black coaches can't be head coaches

[@jamessaibot5681]

They tried hard their damndest to hire Franklin and Elliott who are both black. It's not because Tee is black, it's because hes part of the "old guard" they want to get rid of along with Fulmer and Jay Graham. And I agree. The boosters and alumni were making bad decisions.

[@sbolden123]

@@jamessaibot5681 more excuses

[@jamessaibot5681]

@@sbolden123 what's that even mean? If they were to hire a black coach that wasn't tee Martin hows that racist. You dont comeback with any verifiable proof of racism then I have to class you with people that chirp with the mantra of mindless masses. You better believe that had Franklin or Elliott said yes Tennessee would have a black head coach right now. I love Tee Martin but I'm sorry mate, if he was such great headcoaching material why hasn't he been stolen away from a dysfunctional Tennessee team?

[@oddarcadegames]

What are you smoking?

[@jamessaibot5681]

@@oddarcadegames who me or the guy that thinks Martin is hc material?

[@crimsonpride9975]

Be realistic. He'll be another in a long list of failures. Tennessee's glory days are gone forever...and I couldn't be happier.

[@jakeb.5489]

Still feel that way?

[@justinp5661]

Yea, we just won the Orange Bowl. 11 wins including Florida, LSU, Clemson, oh an uh... alabama..what a dumbest comment. Take that 52 and suck it!