Tennessee finalizing deal to hire UCF’s Josh Heupel as football coach, per reports

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Danny White scanned the field of candidates and apparently settled on the one he hired the last time he had a football vacancy to fill.

Tennessee is finalizing a deal to hire Central Florida coach Josh Heupel as coach, according to multiple reports. Yahoo Sports! first reported the news on Wednesday morning. Heupel would follow White, his former boss, to Tennessee.

Heupel, 42, is 28-8 in three seasons at UCF, which was his first head coaching opportunity. White had hired Heupel to replace Scott Frost. White had been UCF’s athletics director until Tennessee hired him Thursday to replace Phillip Fulmer, who is retiring.

© Charles LeClaire, Charles LeClaire-USA TODAY Sports UCF coach Josh Heupel reacts on the sidelines during a game last season at Pittsburgh. [Charles LeClaire-USA TODAY Sports]

A former Oklahoma quarterback who helped the Sooners win the BCS national championship during the 2000 season, Heupel’s teams are known for scoring.

UCF has ranked in the top eight nationally in scoring offense in each of his three seasons.

White dubbed Heupel “one of the brightest offensive minds in college football” in a December 2017 news release announcing his hire at UCF.

Before becoming a head coach, Heupel was Missouri’s offensive coordinator for two seasons, and the Tigers’ 37.5 points per game in 2017 paced the SEC. At Missouri, Heupel developed quarterback Drew Lock and stewarded an up-tempo system that relied heavily on run-pass option plays.

Heupel coached at Oklahoma under Bob Stoops from 2006-14. Heupel and Jay Norvell, who is now Nevada’s coach, spent four seasons as Oklahoma’s co-offensive coordinators before Stoops fired them. Heupel became Utah State’s offensive coordinator for a season before heading to Missouri.

Heupel’s buyout is about $3.5 million. 

Heupel will replace Jeremy Pruitt, fired for cause last week amid an ongoing investigation into recruiting malfeasance that Tennessee expects will result in several major NCAA violations.

Heupel’s first season at UCF was his best, after replacing Frost following his 13-0 campaign, after which Frost departed for Nebraska.

The Knights went 12-1 in 2018 under Heupel, culminating in a 40-32 loss to LSU in the Fiesta Bowl. They finished 10-3 in 2019 and went 6-4 this season.

BYU trounced UCF 49-23 in the Boca Raton Bowl to cap this season. The Knights’ other seven losses during the Heupel era each came by eight points or fewer, including a 36-33 loss in November to Cincinnati, which won the American Athletic Conference and finished 9-1.

UCF sophomore quarterback Dillon Gabriel threw for 3,570 yards and 32 touchdowns and four interceptions in 2020. He led the nation in passing yards per game.

While UCF’s offense remained prolific under Heupel, it plummeted on defense in 2020, ranking 123rd nationally in total defense and 92nd in scoring defense.

Heupel received a contract extension and a raise during the 2018 season, which took his contract’s expiration to Jan. 15, 2024. His salary at UCF was $2.3 million.

“When you factor in the increased expectations from the previous year and the adversity the team faced, all while taking every opponent’s best shot, the job they did was truly remarkable,” White said in a 2018 news release announcing that deal.

Heupel, a Aberdeen, South Dakota, native, was a two-year starter at Oklahoma. He finished as the Heisman Trophy runner-up in 2000 behind Chris Weinke, who is UT’s quarterbacks coach. The Sooners capped that season by beating Florida State 13-2 in the national championship.

Heupel began his college career at Weber State before transferring for a season at Snow College. Both schools are in Utah.

Heupel was Missouri’s offensive coordinator during the final game of Butch Jones’ coaching career at Tennessee. The Tigers trounced the Vols 50-17 on Nov. 11, 2017, and Jones was fired the following day.

Although he worked under then-Missouri coach Barry Odom, who came from a defensive background, the Tigers were known for their blazing offensive pace while Heupel was on staff, and Lock began to flourish.

“I prefer to play up-tempo, with a bunch of pace,” Heupel told reporters after he was hired at Missouri. “Throw the ball effectively. I do think you have to run the ball efficiently to win, at any league.”

At Oklahoma, Heupel helped tutor Heisman winner Jason White while Heupel was a graduate assistant in 2003, and he was Sam Bradford’s quarterback coach when Bradford won the award in 2008. 

After two seasons as a graduate for Bob Stoops, Heupel earned his first on-field assistant job in 2005 as a tight ends coach at Arizona. Stoops brought him back on staff as a quarterbacks coach the following year, and he was promoted to co-offensive coordinator in 2011 alongside Norvell, who is now Nevada’s coach. Stoops tapped Heupel to call plays in that dual arrangement.

Follow Blake Toppmeyer on Twitter @btoppmeyer. 

This article originally appeared on Knoxville News Sentinel: Tennessee finalizing deal to hire UCF’s Josh Heupel as football coach, per reports