In the College Football Playoff era, Heupel is one of just four active FBS head coaches who have guided multiple programmes to New Year’s Six Bowl participation. In each of the last five seasons, his teams have qualified for bowl games and placed in the top 10 nationally in both scoring and total offence. Heupel, a lifelong student of the game who rose to the top as an assistant coach and player, is the son of a successful head coach.
The 44-year-old has developed two Heisman Trophy winners and five top-five Heisman finishers. He has also won eight conference titles, coached in 18 bowl games, and participated in several national championship games as both a player and coach. With 15, he is among the top 10 head coaches in the country for the total number of NFL Draft selections made during the last three drafts.
It is his third season leading the Tennessee Volunteers and his sixth overall as head coach as of the 2023 campaign.
The 44-year-old has produced five top-five Heisman finishes and two winners of the Heisman Trophy. In addition, he has coached in eighteen bowl games, won eight conference championships, and taken part in multiple national championship games as a player and coach. With 15, he is in the top ten national head coaches in terms of the overall number of selections made in the NFL Draft over the previous three drafts.
As of the 2023 campaign, this is his third season in charge of the Tennessee Volunteers and his sixth overall as head coach.
Heupel’s Vols were unranked when the 2022 season began, but they swiftly established themselves. An amazing road victory (34–27 in OT) over No. 17 Pittsburgh set the tone for a memorable three-game stretch that will live on in Tennessee history forever. In Baton Rouge on October 8, the Vols defeated rival Florida 38-33 while ESPN College Gameday was in attendance for the first time since 2016. Later that same day, they defeated eventual SEC West winner LSU 40-13. Since 1940, this was Tennessee’s biggest series victory.
For the second time in four weeks, ESPN College Gameday was back, this time for Alabama’s encounter on The Third Saturday in October. 11.6 million people watched the Vols defeat the No. 3/1 Crimson Tide, 52-49, with to a 40-yard field goal by Chase McGrath as time ran out. This was the third-highest number of viewers for a college football regular season game this year.
Tennessee scored 52 points and amassed 567 yards of total offence, which is the most points Alabama has given up in a game since 1933 and the highest in any game since giving up 54 to Sewanee on October 21, 1907. With five receiving touchdowns, wide receiver Jalin Hyatt tied an SEC record and established a school record. Meanwhile, quarterback Hendon Hooker turned into a hero by throwing for 385 yards and directing a two-play drive in the last 14 seconds to set up the game-winning touchdown.
