Josh Heupel Performance Review

[Volteacher]

Lyle 5-18 vs ranked opponents
17 weeks ranked during his tenure
14-24 in conference

DONT COMPARE TO BUTCH

Heupel stand alone would be a B or B-
Losses to Florida and O-3 vs rivals this year
Defense liability
I HOPE 2022 was not an outlier and not the norm. Hoping that next few years are 10-2 seasons with chances to host a playoff game at Neyland at AT NIGHT!!!!

we as vol fans always compare to what we had FOOLEY AND B@TCH and not compare our football team to where all other SEC teams are at the time. We are far from Ugga and Gumps but we are really close to LSU and ole Miss which I think is a good thing. Right??

 

[Volteacher]

If Heupel goes 8-4 or 9-3 with Nico do we say 2022 was a “fluke” year like mizzou had this year and back to 4-4 conference play?

If Heupel goes 10-2 or makes the playoffs even if it’s an away game and get throttled by “Oregon” or whomever do we haul him as the next Fulmer and give him a 10 year extension and pay him 8 million a year??

 

[BowlBrother85]

If Heupel goes 8-4 or 9-3 with Nico do we say 2022 was a “fluke” year like mizzou had this year and back to 4-4 conference play?

If Heupel goes 10-2 or makes the playoffs even if it’s an away game and get throttled by “Oregon” or whomever do we haul him as the next Fulmer and give him a 10 year extension and pay him 8 million a year??

So many hypothetical scenarios in life .... and so little time to ponder them all.

 

[chuck0303]

I think for a lot of coaches Tennessee has had in the last 15 years, this past year could’ve been a disaster. We lost a lot of talent off of the ‘22 team. 5 NFL players, none whom made it past Day 2 of the draft. It wasn’t great, but Heupel still found a way to win 9 games. If Nico is the guy everyone believes him to be, we will be back on the big stage once again.

I give Heupel an A, thus far. I think he is probably one of the best coaches Tennessee has ever had in terms of X’s and O’s. His scheme is just a nightmare for teams that don’t have elite talent. He also has really taken care of business in home games. Neyland Stadium is definitely regaining its reputation as a daunting task for road teams.

My biggest concern is having a good OL. We don't need Nico running for his life every play or laying on his back. We have to protect him.

 

[OH-Vol]

His call to bring in and continue to play Joe Milton is the biggest concern

 

[Chitlin&theDude]

Dooley lost to them in his 3rd year. Jones lost to them in his 4th. I’m not the worlds biggest Heupel fan but it was a thing for a minute.

Not sure what you're talking about. But let me rephrase what I said. - Dooley, Jones and Pruitt were awful. Heupel is better than they were. We all agree. But the topic is Heupels performance. It's not his performance compared to other coaches.

 

[Jackcrevol]

just beat florida

 

[tennesseecoyote]

I’ll give him a B+. It would be an A-, if we beat Bama or Florida this year, but nope.
As for Huepel, I think we have to admit, we have a gimmick offense. Never sub, go as fast as possible, stretch the field from side to side, have little TOP. For folks (like Iowa) who have never seen it, it is very hard to defend.

I think we are the very kind of team that could go far in 12 team tournament style playoffs.

It would nice to be able to figure out a defense that can really compliment this crazy offense.
That’s my real complaint about our defense, is I don’t really sense an identity.
Pass Rushing Turnover Machines, is that it? What ever it is, if anything, we haven’t found it yet.

I’m taking a wait and see approach.

 

[Volador]

C (Average)
Looks like he js set at QB
Minus Florida, beat the average and bad teams.

Needs to improve on the road.
Recruiting needs work.
Major concerns with offensive line and wr.
Defense is a potential liability that can bite the team in close games next season.
Failed to improve coaching staff in the offseason.

And I may be the only person in Vol nation to believe that his call playing skills were questionable on too many occasions this year

 

[Remy]

C (Average)
Looks like he js set at QB
Minus Florida, beat the average and bad teams.

Needs to improve on the road.
Recruiting needs work.
Major concerns with offensive line and wr.
Defense is a potential liability that can bite the team in close games next season.
Failed to improve coaching staff in the offseason.

I’m going here for now. 2022 was great, this season was solid but nothing to crow about IMO. Am I being harsh? Let me go into the historical record and remind everybody we fired a guy who has streets named for him on The Hill.

Johnny Majors went 5-3 and Phillip Fulmer went 4-0 for the Vols 1992 season. We fired a favorite son for going 5-3. This is Tennessee. If you aren’t solidly competing with the big dogs of the SEC you cannot stay coaching here. That’s the way it is and don’t take the job if you can’t handle it. in 3 seasons Heupel has beaten UF once. That sort of thing especially losing to UF when they couldn’t produce a record to go to a bowl game this year does not warm my cockle. He beat Bama once a solid victory but has not come close to beating UGA. My jury is out on Heupel for now. I like the guy and hope he produces well enough to be our long term guy, but he has yet to do that.

As a reminder Butch Jones went 9-3 back to back and that second 9-3 season we all knew he was a dead man walking. Some looking at our schedule and saying next year we’ll be 8-4 again or perhaps even 7-5. Better not if Heupel does not want to be sitting in a flaming hot seat for the 2025 season is my opinion.

 

[Persian Vol]

A for sure. The dumpster fire he walked into his first year was probably the worst any of our head coaches inherited and we ended up having a winning record and a top 5 offense out of no where. Then the second year we have the best offense in all of college football in year 2 without 5 star talent across the board like our peers. We get a new QB who has no prior history of success and turn him into something that can at least manage the game at times, but of course handicapped the ceiling of this team in a big way and still ended up 9-4. Keep in mind we have had scholarship restrictions during this time and would still be considered rebuilding if he didn’t massively overachieve expectations the year prior.

 

[benchod]

Josh Heupel's record after 3 years.​

Overall: 27 – 12
Home: (18-4)
Away: (9-8) Includes neutral site and bowl games
Ranked: (8-8)
Bowl: (2-1)
2021 – 7-6 (4-4 SEC) Home: (5-3) Away: (2-3) Ranked: (1-3)
2022 – 11-2 (6-2 SEC) Home: (7-0) Away: (4-2) Ranked: (6-1)
2023 – 9-4 (4-4 SEC) Home: (6-1) Away: (3-3) Ranked: (1-4)
Record vs SEC: 14-10
1-0 VS -- Bowling green, Tennessee Tech, South Alabama, Ball State, Akron, UT Martin, Virginia, Austin Peay, UTSA, UConn
Pittsburgh - (1-1)
SEC Opponents
Vanderbilt – (3-0)
Kentucky – (3-0)
Texas A&M – (1-0)
LSU - (1-0)
Missouri – (2-1)
South Carolina – (2-1)
Florida – (1-2)
Alabama – (1-2)
Ole Miss – (0-1)
Georgia – (0-3)
BOWL Opponents
Purdue – (0-1)
Clemson – (1-0)
Iowa - (1-0)

Personally, considering the absolute mess he came in to I still consider this an A+ performance. That Florida record is my only needs improvement comment. As a fan I am still feel very fortunate he is our coach.

He's a great coach and we're fortunate to have him. Lots of tail wind behind us, it just needs to come together.

 

[Frozevol]

And I may be the only person in Vol nation to believe that his call playing skills were questionable on too many occasions this year

The quick response to that this year was it was caused by Joe’s limitations. I’m sure that played a role, but I screamed at the TV a lot this year when we ran off tackle on 2nd and 9.

 

[EZE]

A. If he had beaten Florida and finished with 10 wins this season, then it would be an A+.

But, given what he walked into, I can’t imagine any reasonable person not being happy with what he’s done so far.

 

[sonofUT62]

Not sure what you're talking about. But let me rephrase what I said. - Dooley, Jones and Pruitt were awful. Heupel is better than they were. We all agree. But the topic is Heupels performance. It's not his performance compared to other coaches.

I think it’s fair to evaluate his performance based off of his predecessors. Not having to worry about losing to Vandy anymore is nice.

 

[ptgrbn]

Overperformed in 2022, underperformed in 2023. I think most of us will know a lot more this time next year. I would say maybe a B- so far. Still a lot of room for improvement.

Did we underperform or did we just expect more than what was reality? Love to have Fla and Mizzou games back tho

 

[BigOrangeTrain]

I think 3 years (especially with a transfer portal) is fair amount of time to judge. Is his recruiting terrible? No. But we should not be where we are in the secondary and offensive line.

Name the coach that has walked into what Heupel did and performed like he has. The fact that we are where we are on the OL and secondary is a direct effect of Pruitt. Now I do believe Heupel should have replaced Martinez already. But given what he walked into and what he has done? I think this year was a better coaching job than last year honestly.

 

[BigOrangeTrain]

Overperformed in 2022, underperformed in 2023. I think most of us will know a lot more this time next year. I would say maybe a B- so far. Still a lot of room for improvement.

We didn’t underperform this year. And we didint over perform in 2022.

 

[BigOrangeTrain]

Did we underperform or did we just expect more than what was reality? Love to have Fla and Mizzou games back tho

Bingo. Also, had some key injuries that happened at the worst times. Cooper out for UG. Losing Bru early. Other injuries on the OL.

 

[Vol8188]

I’ll go with a B. Mainly because he won’t get rid of Willie Martinez and get serious about the secondary. He’s said over and over. TN will play elite defense. Great, but when.

Defense has improved every year in every category. Seems his DB coach is doing well

 

[Indianavfl]

People don’t like to consider injuries as a factor. But last season we had bad luck with injuries. Mays injury and Pili injury were big factors in Florida loss. Then we lost Bru who was key blocker on outside and security blanket for Milton. We were starting Dayne Davis and Ollie Lane most of the second half of season. He finally started playing well and then Kamal Hadden got hurt. A program that’s trying to get off the mat from the Pruitt fiasco and dealing with heavy losses from the 22 year couldn’t afford so many key injuries. We still ended up with 9 wins. Heupel has done an incredible job and will keep getting better!

 

[LadyVolette]

People don’t like to consider injuries as a factor. But last season we had bad luck with injuries. Mays injury and Pili injury were big factors in Florida loss. Then we lost Bru who was key blocker on outside and security blanket for Milton. We were starting Dayne Davis and Ollie Lane most of the second half of season. He finally started playing well and then Kamal Hadden got hurt. A program that’s trying to get off the mat from the Pruitt fiasco and dealing with heavy losses from the 22 year couldn’t afford so many key injuries. We still ended up with 9 wins. Heupel has done an incredible job and will keep getting better!

True, true lots of injuries and in critical spots too…and Heupel has done an amazing job.. good post

 

[VFL-82-JP]

When I was a kid, I remember my dad, one of my uncles, and other dads in the neighborhood talking football from time to time.

They spent a lot of energy arguing about the merits of the wishbone versus the I, talking about the highlights of the previous weekend's game, and praising the coach.

Didn't matter if the coach was Doug Dickey, Bill Battle, or Johnny Majors, they always talked well of the coach.

See, I think they all knew they were amateurs compared to those fellas. Some of the dads in the neighborhood coached pee wee football. Pop Warner, I mean. And they knew how big a gulf existed between their knowledge and the knowledge of the local junior high coaches, much less the town's one and only high school coach (he was like the most famous person in town, maybe tied with the mayor or the retired general who lived over off King's Lane). Forget about college coaches, they were mystically gifted in the arts of football.

My, how times have changed.

Today, Dunning-Kruger surrounds us in every aspect of life. We're smarter than rock stars about music, we're smarter than college and pro coaches about sports, and we're smarter than Wall Street about financial matters. We love nothing more than sitting around critiquing and "grading" experts.

Heh.

I miss the old days. I miss my dad and uncles. I miss their humility, their innate understanding that they knew a few things really well, but didn't know much at all about the rest of the world. They didn't mind acknowledging experts, and deferring to them.

*end walk down memory lane*

Go Vols! Great job, Coach Heupel, keep it up!

 

[Nationdom]

I give him a B. What he walked into was a roster better than 9 teams on the schedule his first year. He has had some bad losses. I am still on board with him. Needs to make the playoff this year and win it all next year. Winning it all this year is very real possibility since Nico will likely be the best QB in the country.

 

[VawlDave]

I’ll give him a B+. It would be an A-, if we beat Bama or Florida this year, but nope.
As for Huepel, I think we have to admit, we have a gimmick offense. Never sub, go as fast as possible, stretch the field from side to side, have little TOP. For folks (like Iowa) who have never seen it, it is very hard to defend.

I think we are the very kind of team that could go far in 12 team tournament style playoffs.

It would nice to be able to figure out a defense that can really compliment this crazy offense.
That’s my real complaint about our defense, is I don’t really sense an identity.
Pass Rushing Turnover Machines, is that it? What ever it is, if anything, we haven’t found it yet.

I’m taking a wait and see approach.

Are you serious? This is the type of comment other fan bases make about UT. A gimmick doesn’t get you a #1 ranked offense. A gimmick doesn’t get you a win over Bama in your second year. A gimmick doesn’t get players drafted in the NFL. A gimmick doesn’t adapt to be having a top rushing game when it better suits your personnel. No offense is a gimmick if it’s efficient.