Josh Heupel isn’t a guy that’s been talked about a lot in the Penn State coaching search, but one columnist argues that it would be in Heupel’s best interest to head to Happy Valley.
It hasn’t been the season the Big Orange Faithful have wanted.
Tennessee has had three chances for ranked wins and haven’t converted on any of them.
An overtime heartbreaker to Georgia, a double-digit loss at Alabama and a close loss to Oklahoma this past weekend have the Vols at 6-3 and clinging to a spot in the top 25.
With two more tough games at Florida and agent a revived Vanderbilt at home, Tennessee could well finish 7-5.
If that happens, the people of Knoxville won’t be happy.
USA Today’s Blake Toppmeyer argues that Heupel should move on.
WHAT TOPPMEYER WROTE
Toppmeyer suggested that Heupel might not be too far away from the decision to leave Tennessee being out of his hands.
“If Heupel loses to either Florida or Vanderbilt this month — let’s face it, the Vols could lose both rivalry games — and if next season looks similar to this one, well, I don’t need to tell you where this ends,” Toppmeyer wrote.
Toppmeyer also covered a recent comparison made by former Tennessee QB Jonathan Crompton, claiming that Heupel was Tennessee’s version of the coach Penn State just fired, James Franklin.
Toppmeyer feels this comparison “misses the mark.
“Heupel is better against Top 25 opponents,” he wrote. “He beat Saban in his second attempt and beat Saban’s successor, Kalen DeBoer, in his first try. Franklin never beat Ryan Day.”
Add Nittany Sports Now as a preferred source in Google! Click here to add us.“And yet those comparisons are being made in Tennessee, and the good vibes from 2022 have turned to mist.”
To Toppmeyer’s point, Heupel was an even 12-12 against top 25 opponents in his career (UCF and Tennessee).
Franklin’s big-game failures were well documented, with him gong 4-21 against Top 10 teams in his time at Penn State.
Heupel’s wins against Alabama in 2022 and ‘24 are the type of games Penn State didn’t win under Franklin.
Toppemeyer then finished the column with a blue-collar analogy.
“Up in Pennsylvania, they know what to do when the canary begins coughing in the coal mine,” he wrote. “Get out before it’s too late. Head to Penn State.”
WOULD IT MAKE SENSE?
Toppmeyer laid out reasons why Penn State would be a good fit for Heupel, but would it makes sense for Penn State AD Pat Kraft to hire him?
Heupel has a successful track record, going 28-8 at Central Florida before moving onto Tennessee.
After a 7-6 campaign in 2021, Heupel had his best season to date in ‘22, going 11-2 and finishing No. 6. Tennessee went 9-4 the next year before another double-digit win season in 2024, which ended in a College Football Playoff berth.
Heupel is also an offensive-minded coach, which many Penn State fans want due to the program’s struggles on that side of the ball this season (Penn State ranks outside the top 100 in scoring offense).
With that said, it’d be fair to wonder if the Penn State coaching search ending with a coach that had also fallen out of favor with his fanbase— which would likely have to be the case for Heupel to leave Tennessee— would be the best thing for the program.
