The college football news cycle and talking circus is a year-round event. But with just 100 days until the start of the season, plus events such as conference media days and fall camps somewhat on the horizon, writers around the sport are starting to find their footing with some of the hottest topics in the sport.
ESPN released a monster college football article on Thursday morning to highlight the 100-day-out aspect. This article included the top quarterbacks in the sport, the top freshmen, intriguing matchups, and more. But one of the more interesting sections was about 10 “wild predictions” heading into the summer.
As the title alludes to, these aren’t necessarily common or trendy predictions around the sport. The term “wild” is put in for a reason. But there is an interesting note tied to the SEC, and it includes Tennessee head coach Josh Heupel.
The No. 9 wild prediction on David Hale’s list is that six SEC coaching jobs come open at the end of the season. Hale admits that while this seems like a high number considering the conference just saw a half dozen jobs open last year, he also says it’s not impossible.
Hale doesn’t just give the six programs that he thinks could potentially open. Instead, he goes through several teams in the conference and gives some “what if?” situations. There are plausible ones, and there are unrealistic ones, such as Kirby Smart hanging things up at Georgia at the end of the year. He even joked that Lane Kiffin could wind up living “full time on the moon.”
But there are some serious thoughts in it, too.
“The rumblings in Knoxville have largely been limited to the message board zealots, but what happens to Josh Heupel if Tennessee falters with an inexperienced QB and a tough schedule, and ends up struggling to get to a bowl?” Hale questions in the write-up.
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Hale’s post also gives quick hypotheticals for Kalen DeBoer at Alabama, Shane Beamer at South Carolina, Pete Golding at Ole Miss, Jeff Lebby at Mississippi State, and Brent Venables at Oklahoma. He also mentions the possibility of Mike Elko, Clark Lea, and Eli Drinkwitz leaving their current schools after being attractive names in this past year’s coaching cycle. In total, 12 of the 16 coaches in the SEC are mentioned in this post – the other four not mentioned, Kentucky’s Will Stein, Arkansas’ Ryan Silverfield, Auburn’s Alex Golesh, and Florida’s Jon Sumrall, are all SEC newcomers.
In Early December, Josh Heupel was rumored as a potential candidate in the Penn State coaching search. This sparked some speculation as to whether Heupel may leave Tennessee, despite there being some uncertainty around the legitimacy of the rumors and interest.
Obviously, though, that didn’t end up happening. Heupel ended up quickly shutting down those rumors during an interview with On3 Sports’ Chris Low.
“I wouldn’t want low expectations,” Heupel told Low in the report. “That’s part of why I want to be here. We’ll win big.”
Josh Heupel went 7-6 with the Vols during his debut season in 2021, followed by a massive 11-2 season in 2022. While the 2023 season took a step back at 9-4, the Vols’ defense led them to a 10-3 record and a spot in the College Football Playoffs in 2024. The vaunted defense went away in 2025, though, as Tennessee went 8-5 last season.
All in all, Heupel has a 45-20 record at Tennessee during his five seasons at the helm.
The Vols open the season on Sept. 5 against Furman at home. Then, things get a bit tougher with a road trip to play Georgia Tech the following Saturday.
