Tennessee head coach Josh Heupel is entering his sixth season as the head coach of the Volunteers. While the Vols only have one appearance in the College Football Playoffs during his time, Heupel and his staff have brought back an intrigue around the program that hadn’t often been seen in the years before him. Tennessee is still trying to crack the tier of yearly championship contenders, though.
In those five seasons, Heupel has a 45-20 record in Knoxville. He’s gone 2-2 in non-playoff bowl games and 0-1 in the College Football Playoffs. Tennessee has two 10+ win seasons during this stretch, with an 11-2 record in 2022 and a 10-3 record in 2024.
CBS Sports’ Brandon Marcello and Tom Fornelli have both released individual head coaching rankings heading into the 2026 season. Marcello lists Josh Heupel as the 16th-best head coach in the Power Four landscape.
Fornelli, meanwhile, has Heupel tagged as the 19th-best coach in the country, which is a three-spot drop from last year’s ranking.
“It’s not a strong argument, but an argument can be made that Heupel’s 8-5 mark in 2025 was more impressive than his 10-3 mark and playoff berth in 2024,” Fornelli writes. “Given the losses the Vols team had, both natural (draft departures, injuries) and otherwise (The Nico Saga), there was potential to see them bottom out in 2025. It didn’t happen, and Heupel deserves plenty of credit for that.”
Plenty of great coaches across college football pic.twitter.com/BfEF1KqI2N
— Brandon Marcello (@bmarcello) May 27, 2026
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Marcello has Heupel as the fifth-best coach from the SEC, behind Kirby Smart, Lane Kiffin, Steve Sarkisian, and Kalen DeBoer.
Fornelli has Heupel as the sixth-best SEC coach, behind Kirby Smart, Steve Sarkisian, Kalen DeBoer, Lane Kiffin, and Mike Elko.
Heupel has perhaps his biggest challenge coming up this fall, though. He’ll have a freshman quarterback leading his offense, whether it be George MacIntyre or Faizon Brandon, and he’ll oversee the installation of a brand-new defensive scheme after hiring Jim Knowles as the new defensive coordinator during the offseason. Plus, you’ll have a new nine-game SEC schedule, and the Vols will take on Georgia Tech in a true road game as a non-conference opponent in just the third week of the season.
Notable games on Tennessee’s SEC schedule this year include vs Texas, vs Auburn, vs Alabama, at South Carolina, at Texas A&M, vs LSU, and at Vanderbilt.
What do you think? Is Josh Heupel’s spot at 16/19 overrated, underrated, or just right? Leave a comment below.
