How much did you lean on Josh Heupel during this process?
Well, I was super transparent with him through the entire thing. We obviously talked about the possibility of something happening. It was a crazy five or six days, man. I feel like I talked to everybody who had a job open. Some I was interested in, some I wasn’t, but all those things I mentioned had to be in place. Because I didn’t have to leave, obviously. I had zero interest in leaving.
Your South Florida program will look most like what program you’ve worked in previously?
I guess I haven’t really thought about it like that. Not to sound cliche about it, but I want this program to be what we as a staff build together. The guys I’ve seen who are successful are the guys who are who they are. And they are who they say they are. My wife tells me if I change at all, she will punch me in the face. I picked up a lot of things from different people, and I’ve also seen how not to do it. You’ve got to pour into kids, you’ve got to be honest with them, and that builds a level of trust in the entire program.
The programs that are successful, you see true alignment. True alignment means trust throughout the program. That’s board of trustees, president, AD, the head coach being allowed to do his job, all of it. And then it’s trust within the staff and players, too. I saw that at Tennessee, I saw that at Iowa State. It works. And when a head coach goes in and tries to change who he is, I think that’s when you’ve got problems.
Where is UT headed from here?
I think Josh is doing an incredible job, and he’s just being who he is. He’s really, really positive. He’s really, really real with the kids. He’s recruited well. I think this will be a pivotal year as you transition at quarterback. With Hendon (Hooker) playing like he did, you kind of weathered the storm (of the early years). And now I think Joe Milton is totally capable of doing it, too. Moving forward, in a lot of ways, they’ll go as far as the quarterback takes them. And I think they’ve got the right guys in there, with Joe, with Tayven (Jackson) and obviously with (freshman) Nico (Iamaleava). That’s where it all starts.
But beyond that, what Josh has been able to do in terms of being real, the kids actually having fun, I think Tennessee football has been very much a cool changeup to what college football is right now. And of course you’ve got alignment from top down, (AD) Danny (White) is doing an incredible job. From an NIL perspective, everything is in great shape. So I believe great things are coming.
What will you most take with you from Knoxville to Tampa?
Well, what we accomplished at UT is why I got this opportunity. I’m not blind to the fact that if we didn’t have success, I wouldn’t have had this opportunity. I had a bunch of them, and I say that super humbly, there were several jobs I turned down to take this one. Because this is an opportunity to actually go win, that’s why I took the job, but I understand it’s because of the success at UT. It’s really because of the ability of our guys to overperform and overachieve.
So I’m just so grateful for our players at Tennessee, what they did and how they bought in. And man, I got a million texts when I got this job, from like every single guy on the team, and I can’t explain how grateful I am for all of them.
. I wasn't talking to you . But I will tell ya Heupel ain't leaving old fart.
