Tennessee’s new athletic director, Danny White, didn’t have to look far to get his football head coach. Sources told ESPN that White is hiring UCF Josh Heupel as the next flight coach.
White previously hired Heupel when White was the UCF athletic director. Tennessee is scheduled to make the official announcement at 8:35 a.m. ET.
White, announced Thursday as Tennessee’s new AD, has been working quickly to find a replacement for Jeremy Pruitt, who was fired on Jan. 18 after an investigation that found out what the university chancellor, Where Plowman, described as “serious violations of NCAA rules.” White launched an extensive network through the firm Parker Executive Search and contacted or interviewed several candidates, including James Franklin of Penn State, Luke Fickell of Cincinnati, Sonny Dykes of SMU, PJ Fleck of Minnesota and Tony Elliott, offensive coordinator of Clemson, among others.
Sources told ESPN that in recent days, Elliott held serious discussions about the job, but turned down the Tennessee openings and chose to stay at Clemson.
Heupel, 42, has been UCF head coach for the past three seasons after taking over from Scott Frost, who led UCF to an unbeaten 13-0 record in 2017. Heupel is 28-8 with the Knights, including a 12-1 record first season in 2018. They finished 6-4 last season. Heupel owed UCF a $ 3.4 million purchase, according to the terms of his contract.
UCF has ranked in the top eight nationally in scoring offense and has averaged at least 42.2 points per game in all three seasons in Orlando.
Heupel, runner-up in the Heisman Trophy as quarterback for the Oklahoma National Championship team in 2000, has technical experience in the SEC. He was the Missouri offensive coordinator / quarterbacks coach in 2016-17 before getting the job of head coach at UCF. Heupel was also the coordinator of Bob Stoops co-offensive / quarterbacks coach in Oklahoma for four seasons, but was fired after the 2014 season, when the Sooners went 8-5.
Heupel would be the sixth flight coach to return to Phillip Fulmer, who was fired at the end of the 2008 season.