Where The Sporting News ranks Tennessee's Josh Heupel among college football head coaches
Tennessee Football coach Josh Heupel is the 11th best coach in college football and the sixth-best coach in the SEC, according to The Sporting News and its annual ranking of all 136 Division I head coaches.
Georgia coach Kirby Smart was ranked No. 1, ahead of Ohio State’s Ryan Day, Clemson’s Dabo Swinney, Notre Dame’s Marcus Freeman and Texas coach Steve Sarkisian in the top five.
Alabama’s Kalen DeBoer was ranked No. 6, followed by Oregon’s Dan Lanning, Penn State’s James Franklin, LSU’s Brian Kelly and Ole Miss coach Lane Kiffin.
Heupel was also ranked No. 11 by The Sporting News last summer.
“Heupel led Tennessee to its first College Football Playoff appearance and a 10-win season in 2024,” Bill Bender wrote for The Sporting News. “He’s 30-9 the last three years, and he’s beat Alabama and Florida two times each in the last four seasons.
“Heupel also got high marks for how he handled Nico Iamaleava’s transfer in the spring — but the results of that stand have yet to be determined. The Vols have lost one home game the last three seasons — another tribute to the turnaround under Heupel.”
Where other SEC coaches are ranked by The Sporting News
Missouri coach Eli Drinkwitz at No. 21 was the only other SEC coach ranked in the top 25, coming in ahead of No. 26 Mike Elko (Texas A&M), No. 40 Shane Beamer (South Carolina), No. 41 Brent Venables (Oklahoma), No. 44 Billy Napier (Florida), No. 45 Mark Stoops (Kentucky), No. 49 Sam Pittman (Arkansas), No. 53 Hugh Freeze (Auburn), No. 60 Clark Lea (Vanderbilt) and No. 79 Jeff Lebby (Mississippi State).
Heupel in May was ranked as the 17th-best head coach by USA Today, but did not make ESPN’s ranking of the top 10 coaches in college football, receiving only three votes in the poll.
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Heupel is 37-15 in four seasons as Tennessee’s head coach, including a 20-12 record in SEC games. He led the Vols to the College Football Playoff last season, where they lost in the first round at Ohio State in the first year of the 12-team playoff era.
Tennessee has won 10 or more games twice under Heupel, finishing 10-3 last season and going 11-2 in 2022, including a win over Clemson in the Orange Bowl in the program’s first New Years Six bowl appearance during the College Football Playoff era.
Tennessee opens 2025 season vs. Syracuse in Atlanta on August 30
Year 5 of the Heupel era opens with Tennessee facing Syracuse on August 30 in Atlanta in a Noon Eastern Time start on ABC at Mercedes-Benz Stadium. The Vols host ETSU in the home opener at Neyland Stadium on September 6 (3:30 p.m. ET, SEC Network+/ESPN+) and SEC play starts at home against Georgia on September 13 (3:30 p.m. ET, ABC).
UAB comes to Knoxville on September 20 (12:45 p.m. ET, SEC Network) and the Vols go to Mississippi State on September 27 in the first SEC road game of the season. After an open date on October 4, the Vols host Arkansas (October 11) then go to Alabama (October 18) and Kentucky (October 25).
In November the Vols host Oklahoma (November 1) and New Mexico State (November 15), go to Florida (November 22) and close the regular-season schedule at home against Vanderbilt (November 29).
