Josh Heupel to Take UT Job
One thing that has stood the test of time in college football is the “buddy system.” If a coach or athletics director takes a new job at a premier program, it is expected that someone he or she has worked with will be on the way soon to join the staff.
Case in point: After cleaning out its athletic department, Tennessee decided to hire Danny White as the new athletics director. Previously, he had the same job at UCF. Just a week later it was announced that UCF head coach Josh Heupel, will now be the head man for the Volunteers.
White is in a tough spot considering the school doesn't know what will happen with the active NCAA investigation into their program.
Pete Thamel of Yahoo Sports initially broke the story, and in a post on Yahoo’s website wrote:
“Heupel is expected to make in the neighborhood of $4 million annually, which will leave him an ample salary pool for a big-name defensive coordinator and a staff that can recruit the SEC footprint. Tennessee’s search faced significant headwinds, as the athletic department is in financial turmoil, the program is under NCAA investigation and White was tasked with having to explain to candidates that he couldn’t quantify how serious the inevitable NCAA sanctions would be.”
Tennessee is obviously sorting through the mess that former head coach Jeremy Pruitt left them. The NCAA sanctions are pending, although if past situations like this are examined, the sanctions on the actual programs are hardly even worth noting. The coaches may be slapped with show-cause orders, but the program itself should be fine.
The real problem now will be winning back the Volunteers locker room. There has been a lot of uncertainty circulating about their program and now they have a new head coach. Heupel was able to find success at UCF and now will be tasked with one of the greatest rebuilds in college football.
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