Always a fun list.
Always a fun summer tradition, CBS Sports is back this week with their annual ranking of college football’s head coaches heading into the 2025 season. The outlet ranks the top Power Four coaches 1-68 based off of their improvement — or lack of improvement — from the previous season.
Tennessee head coach Josh Heupel was one of the ones on the way up this time around. Coming off of his first appearance in the College Football Playoff, Heupel moved up to No. 16 on the list. He was ranked 23rd on the list last season.
I’m sure plenty of people are worried about how Tennessee will look after showing the door to Nico Iamaleava, but when it comes to QBs and offense, Heupel deserves some benefit of the doubt. He’s certainly earned the adoration of many Vols fans who are thrilled to see their program return to national relevance. The Vols made the playoffs last year and are 37-15 in four seasons under Heupel, including 20-12 in the SEC.
2024 rank: 23 (+7) (CBS Sports)
It’s a more than fair ranking for Heupel, who resurrected a Tennessee program that felt dead in the water after the Jeremy Pruitt era. Athletics director Danny White deserves a lot of credit for the turnaround too, working hand in hand with Heupel to quickly clean up the program and put the Pruitt violations behind them.
Heupel’s infusion of spread-tempo offense instantly made the Volunteers relevant once again. It took him just 20 short months to have Tennessee ascend to the No. 1 ranking back in 2022.
And now comes the hard part — getting over the hump. Tennessee is starting to bang on that ceiling of joining the current elite programs, but as we saw against both Georgia and Ohio State last season, there’s still work to be done. Heupel now has questions to answer at quarterback with Nico Iamaleava headed out, but he’s worked his magic before with Hendon Hooker and even Joe Milton. Joey Aguilar, Jake Merklinger or George MacIntyre could be next in line.
As far as the SEC goes, Heupel checked in at No. 6 behind (1) Kirby Smart, (4) Steve Sarkisian, (8) Brian Kelly, (9) Kalen DeBoer and (12) Lane Kiffin. Eli Drinkwitz was the only other SEC head coach in the top 25.