1) Suppose we fire Haupel who supposedly has a $37.5 million buyout.
We then would have to empty the bank to hire a "bettet coach".
Where's the NIL money coming from to buy future players and transfers?
2) With vacancies at UF, UCLA, Auburn ,Arkansas and Penn St what reputable coach would raplace a coach who had pulled UT out of a dumpster fire and won 30 games over the last 3 years?
The answer is no one unless they have an iron clad $50-$100 million buyout.
		
		
	 
I think people don't actually want him fired. I do think there is a large swath of people who wish he takes one of these big openings like LSU or Auburn because Tennessee gets paid that way and we are in a way better financial situation than these schools that are going to have to pay buyouts to fire and hire coaches.
Heupel has gotten the program to a level of good not great, but never going to truly collapse and that is all credit to him. I feels like we are in the Mark Richt era. Georgia didn't send him away for the sake of doing so. They did it because they had someone that was going to elevate the program from steady eddie good to GREAT in Kirby Smart. 
Right now, there aren't that many coaches who have a high likelihood of doing that. You aren't going to hire the Golesh, Sumrall, or Stein types to get the program to the next level. All of those guys are being mentioned for the Florida and Auburn and LSU's for rebuilding, not elevating. None of those guys have ever encountered those types of expectations. 
You aren't going to go hire a James Franklin or Jimbo Fisher type either. 
So I think fans who are very upset with Heupel are happy to actually keep him here, but wouldn't lose sleep if he left on his own because Tennessee wouldn't be harmed financially from it. 
I think there are only 2 homerun/splash hires that would work here. Conveinently, they have buyouts at their current schools that are around the same as Heupel's.