With Tennessee approaching its second open date of the season and its College Football Playoff hopes dashed, it’s a good time to take a quick look ahead to the Vols’ 2026 schedule which includes a nine-game conference slate.
Adding an extra conference game makes it all the more a challenging test, but there is one unique thing taking shape about the Vols’ slate. Tennessee will face three first-year head coaches during the 2026 season.
Arkansas, Auburn and LSU have all fired their head coaches despite there being a full month remaining in the 2025 season. Both Auburn and LSU travel to Neyland Stadium next season while the Vols travel to Fayetteville to face Arkansas.
The list could expand to four opponents if Kentucky decides to move on from head coach Mark Stoops at the end of the year. Kentucky ended Hugh Freeze’s tenure at Auburn with an upset win over the weekend but the Wildcats are still staring down the barrel of a 4-8 season which could lead to the termination of the SEC’s longest tenured coach.
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It’s an extremely chaotic year for the coaching carousel. Tennessee’s opponent openings don’t even include the opening at Florida which poses an interesting question. With the Vols no longer playing Florida every season, is Tennessee better off with the Gators hiring a better coach than the likes of Auburn?
Tennessee also doesn’t play Auburn, LSU or Arkansas every year so there’s really only short term gain in the Gators making a better hire from an on field standpoint. But the Vols’ recruiting territory overlaps with Auburn a lot more than it does Florida. Tennessee could be better off with Auburn remaining down compared to Florida.
Facing a first-year head coach is not as beneficial in the transfer portal era as it has been in the past because it is much easier to flip a roster and hit the ground running in year one. But it should still be somewhat of an advantage for Tennessee in the 2026 season.
Dating back to Josh Heupel’s first year, Tennessee is 6-0 against first-year SEC head coaches. Those wins came against Shane Beamer, Clark Lea, Billy Napier, Brian Kelly, Kalen DeBoer and Jeffy Lebby.
