Paul Finebaum believes one SEC school is sticking by an ‘average’ head coach

SEC Nation: Paul Finebaum | Maria Lysaker-Imagn Images

The college football season is headed towards a close. Meanwhile, the coaching carousel is finally stalling to a halt following massive changes across the sport this fall. But as programs around the country nestle in with their new head coaches, SEC Network analyst Paul Finebaum came out with his one-word grades on the coaching situation at many of the top football schools.

During the exercise, which he did with AL.com, Finebaum generally gave positive reviews on the new coaching hires, especially within the SEC, as there were six leadership changes in 2025 alone. But Finebaum was also asked his one-word review on some sitting head coaches, such as Tennessee's Josh Heupel, who just completed his fifth season at the helm of the Volunteer program.

Paul Finebaum's one word for Josh Heupel: "Average."

Tennessee Volunteers head coach Josh Heupel | Randy Sartin-Imagn Images

Per the numbers, Josh Heupel actually comes in exceedingly above average among college football coaches. He actually just coached his 100th game as a head football coach in the Volunteers' loss to in-state rival Vanderbilt to close out the regular season. His record? 73-27.

That's a smokin' tally for a guy who's now coached eight straight seasons at the power conference level with five in the SEC. Heupel has reached the double-digit win threshold twice during his time in Knoxville — with a 10-3 mark and College Football Playoff appearance a year ago, then an 11-2 mark back in 2022 with Hendon Hooker under center. In between those peak seasons, though, Tennessee did have regular-season records of 7-5, 8-4 and then 8-4 again this season.

Tennessee is certainly an upper-half team in the SEC over Heupel's tenure, but they also certainly aren't a top-three program and may be right outside the top-five. Where Georgia and Alabama and even Ole Miss and now Texas have strung together multiple top-15 finishes in a row, Tennessee can't seem to overcame that hurdle of being an every-other-year type of program in the national spotlight.

In 2021, Heupel's first season, he was just laying out the foundation and Tennessee was merely average. 2022 sent goalposts into the river and featured the program's first 11-win season in decades. Then, 2023 was a roller-coaster Joe Milton experience that was ultimately slightly disappointing. The 2024 run was definitely admirable but not threatening nationally, and lastly, 2025 has been just alright after a bizarre QB swap in the summer (yeah, you all remember that?).

Is Josh Heupel a good coach? Absolutely, yes. The question lies with whether Heupel can elevate Tennessee above being the perennial, say, sixth-best program in the conference. Through five years that's just about where he is.