Tennessee football fans in a glass case of emotion over Josh Heupel hire
Josh Heupel is the new Tennessee football coach and Vols fans are equally optimistic and pessimistic the former UCF head coach will be able to have success in Knoxville.
The Jeremey Pruitt era is over in Tennessee as the Vols hire former UCF head coach Josh Heupel to lead their program forward. This news comes not long after UCF’s former Athletic Director Danny White accepted the same role on the Volunteers’ staff.
White hired Heupel to coach UCF in 2017 after Scott Frost accepted Nebraska’s head coaching spot. In his three seasons with the Knights, Josh Heupel went 28-8, and most notably discussed for leading UCF to its second undefeated season in 2018 before eventually falling to LSU in the Fiesta Bowl.
Heupel will surely have his work cut out for him in regards to righting the ship in Tennessee. The Vols finished this past season with an awful 3-7 record after winning the Gator Bowl last season.
It can’t get much worse than that, but how do Vols fans feel about the hire?
Tennessee football fans tweet their reactions to the hiring of Josh Heupel
Some fans think Heupel was the hire the Volunteers needed.
Josh Heupel isn’t a “sexy” hire, but I think he’s the most promising hire since Kiffin in 2009.
— RANDY WATSON (@TheRandy_Watson) January 27, 2021
The “angry” fans have no idea who he is or what he’s accomplished, and anyone less than Nick Saban was a failure.
Fans like that are the ones who have never played a down in their life
Tennessee should be throwing parades in Knoxville to get a coach with the caliber of Josh Heupel at this point.....
— Stan J. Griffin 🐘 (@StanJGriffin) January 27, 2021
Others aren’t as hopeful.
Is it acceptable to enter the fan transfer portal if your team consecutively hires Derek Dooley, Butch Jones, Jeremy Pruitt, and Josh Heupel?
— trey (@trey_vanhooser) January 27, 2021
Lol Josh Heupel
— Corey Catholdi (@jetsmokey1) January 27, 2021
I’m happy to welcome Butch Jones 2 I mean Josh Heupel.
— Michael Stooksbury (@mikestooksbury) January 27, 2021
Some pretty reasonable questions and concerns have also been raised about Heupel since the announcement of his hiring.
We know Josh Heupel can coach offense. It’s all in stats. The question is can he recruit at Tennessee(not difficult), hire a good DC, and handle the pressure of being an SEC coach. Those are the 3 major questions for me. I’m going to give him a chance.
— Cameron Symlar (@CameronSym10) January 27, 2021
Jeremy Pruitt and Josh Heupel’s records over the last three years:
— Cole McCormick (@Cole_McCormick) January 27, 2021
Pruitt: 16-19
Heupel: 28-8
Both were first time head coaches. JH definitely inherited a much better program than JP did.
Can he do it in the SEC? Time will tell.
While Josh Heupel may have won 28 games at UCF during his 3 seasons, only 9 of those wins were against teams that had winning records:
— Drew (@IamDrewman) January 27, 2021
2018:
⁃Memphis (8-6)
⁃Temple (8-5)
⁃Cincinnati (11-2)
⁃South Florida (7-6)
Atleast Weve heard of Josh Heupel..that’s better than some of the names that were circulating
— Jody Lowe (@RealLife_J_LO) January 27, 2021
Only time will tell the impact that Josh Heupel will have on a Tennessee Volunteer program that needs a major cultural reset. It remains to be seen who Heupel will add to his staff to help him turn Tennesee around and get some recruits to Knoxville.
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