#7
Josh Heupel — Tennessee, January 2021
Tennessee 2021–The UCF tempo-offense coach who gave Tennessee its first 11-win season since 2001 — and the Hooker partnership that briefly made Knoxville a top-five conversation.
Year-2: 11-2 · '22 Orange Bowl · Hooker's Heisman finalist year
Heupel arrived from UCF in January 2021 with a 12-0 regular season as his most recent credential and a tempo-spread offense that nobody in the SEC was ready for. Year one (7-6) was the install year; year two (11-2, Orange Bowl, the Alabama-in-Knoxville win, Hooker's Heisman finalist year) was the breakthrough; years three and four normalized at 9-4. The hire's structural impact — Tennessee's first sustained national-conversation period since the Fulmer years ending in 2008 — places it firmly in the top-10.
Cohort divergence
Stat-folks rank
#8
Casual-fans rank
#8
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consensus
Year-over-year
Prior edition rank: — \u00b7 Movement: ↑ NEW