Josh Heupel receives raise, contract extension after Tennessee’s 11-win season

Tennessee Head Coach Josh Heupel stands on the field before a game between the Tennessee Volunteers and Pittsburgh Panthers in Acrisure Stadium in Pittsburgh, Saturday, Sept. 10, 2022. Tennpitt0910 00244

Josh Heupel led Tennessee to a No. 1 ranking last season, and finished with an 11-win campaign. After that, the Vols have rewarded the coach with a raise and a contract extension.

Heupel received a contract extension through January 2029, Athletics Director Danny White announced on Tuesday. Chris Low of ESPN reported that Heupel’s new deal will pay him $9 million a year and extend him through the 2028 season. Heupel is now in the top tier of SEC coaches by pay. Only Nick Saban, Kirby Smart, Jimbo Fisher and Brian Kelly make more. Heupel was hired at $4 million and bumped to $5 million last year.

“The results over Josh’s first two seasons speak for themselves,” White said in a release. “He and his staff have energized both our football program and our fanbase with an aggressive brand of football, a competitive culture that creates leaders and a relentless approach to raising the bar every single day. Despite a brief period of dormancy, Tennessee never surrendered its status as a college football powerhouse. We just needed an innovative leader like Josh Heupel to reignite the spark. It’s been fun to crash the party, but as Josh said after our Orange Bowl triumph, the best is yet to come.”

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  • Glad he got the raise, but I'm not so sure about the extension. Sure, he did great this year, but what if he turns into Butch Jones 2.0?

    Now, mind you, I'm not saying he will or he doesn't deserve the money. But the extent of it makes me wonder if there wasn't some other program sniffing around, looking to poach a coach.

    • Here's the Josh Heupel reality check for you before they throw around too many extensions at him...

      UCF 12-1 / 10-3 / 6-4

      The $8Million question is can Josh re-adjust after SEC defenses figure out his gimmicky offense? History says naw...

      • Same thing was said after last season.

        Here's some history for ya

        UT: 7-6/ 11-2 /?-?

        There is no "figuring out" our offense. Anybody with half a brain can understand how it works. Constant movement causes confusion, tempo causes missed assignments. The only way you beat it is by having superior athletes all-round, like Georgia did.

        Everybody said throwing the ball was gimmicky back in the 1900's. Now look. In the 90's, everybody said Spurrier's spread offense was gimmicky.

        Adapt or die.

        • And not to mention that Hyatt burned the secondary in that game like 3 times. Hooker was just having a bad day and didn't connect any of them.

        • Exactly 98. first it was "heupel is a terrible choice" than it was "his offense will never work in the sec" and then it was "now that the DC's have tape on it that gimmicky offense wont work". There has been tape on his offense for a number of years but I guess they needed SEC tape.

          By Humpers logic you have a bad coach if you dont improve every year. Guess if kirby loses a game this year he wont be any good...

          Vols likely wont finish 11-1 this season. That doesnt mean hes a bad coach. He still needs another 2-3 years to build the depth back up with quality players. We will see how bad he is in Nicos junior year, maybe his soph.

          Would love to see what kirby would have done with what heupel inherited in year 1 and 2.

          ga fans just have to troll TN articles. its what they do.

        • Never said he was a bad coach but I will go out on a limb and say his gimmicky football style will never win a championship.

        • And by the way, Kirby went 8-5 with his undersized ofensive and defensive front 7s...but he sure fixed that, didn't he? Going to be hard to load up on 6'8" 370 Oliners and expect to get off 3 to 5 plays every minute...

        • Oh, and 98Vol, as far as there is no “figuring out” our offense....sure there is. Recruit and develop DBs that can cover 1 on 1, it really is that simple...

      • Find something new. Y'all said this last season but where are we now? You said that exact same thing about "SEC defenses will adjust and blab blab...".

        But yet we're 11-2.

        Oh and did you remember when Jalin Hyatt burned your secondary on 3 different occasions?

        And btw, idiot:

        7-6/11-2

        Looks like an improvement to me.

        • Now was the idiot part really necessary?

          The problem an offense like his (or Kiff, or Riley, or...) has on a program is that the program's defense will never have the chance to develop always practicing at such an unsustainable breakneck speed...and ultimately, defenses win championships...Heupel was a good choice to get your program back to respectability, we'll see how it all holds up.

        • Very true on the defense part though. With our style of offense, the defense in later years might look worse then it ACTUALLY is due to inflated numbers.

  • If Coach Kiffin, Stoops and some of these other coaches are worth 8 mil plus, then certainly the market suggest Heupel is as well. Love the direction of the UT program. Great Facilities, Great Fanbase, Great History, and most of all it’s Great to be a Tennessee Vol!!!!

    • Are Kiffin and Stoops, both at 9 mil/year, really worth it? If they are, then Heupel is definitely worth it.

      I’ve thought for a long time these coaches were WAY overpaid, but it only takes one school, looking at you bama, to start the arms race.

  • Nice to see Josh walking in the Dan Mullen footsteps...next year another NY6 and another raise...the following year, Star Wars tryouts...

        • NO, NO one can stand georgia fans. They're arrogant and have big fat mouths. Everyone is excited about when they lose, and they will, and when it happens, they are going to come down on you HARD. Can't wait.

      • I recognize you guys are a little slow, at least that is what Kelee Ringo said about Hyatt, but moving along...let this idiot break it down for y'all...qty. 1 - 5*, qty. 12 - 4*s, qty. 12 - 3*s...that = 52% BCR or as this idiot said...~50% blue chip recruiting class...add in an average player ranking for every recruit in your Heupel is killing it class of 90.79 and that puts you guys at 14th in per player recruiting rankings...haven't seen recruiting being killed at that level at RockyTop since what? 2019 Jeremy Pruitt levels?

        • Glad you are such a star gazer. Let me help you understand it, those rating are someone’s opinion on a high school player. It isn’t some guarantee of success on the field!

          A lot of the rankings are dependent on which camps a player attends, or doesn’t attend. Everybody can’t be a 5 star, there are a bunch of 3 star or lower players on NFL rosters right now.

          Just a little perspective for you, hope it helped you understand it a little better.

          Go Vols!

        • I was responding to one of your other idiotic posts but there are so many I know it’s hard to determine.

        • I don't disagree with you entirely, Snapshot. However there must be some credence to it, Kirby and UGa had zero Natties since 1980 until they started stacking top 5 classes on top of each other...gems in the rough are certainly to be found but please keep in mind it was not me that started this conversation off with the comment "Heupel is killing it in recruiting". While the numbers are a nice trend up for Vol nation after the Dooley-Jones-Pruitt sagas, the numbers while decent this year don't support "killing it", just sayin...

        • While I agree that he has a way to go, what Heupel has done recruiting is absolutely great. Sure, it might not be a top-5 class, but it's Tennessee's best class in almost a decade, and it includes the #1 overall recruit, who TN went and snatched out of USC's back yard. Heup has to continue to recruit better and better, but he's doing fine so far. Remember, the majority of these recruits committed before the season started, and you can't forget they did so despite the NCAA sanctions still hovering over us.

  • Let's all face the fact that a lot of SEC head coaches are overpaid. Drinkwitz at Mizzou got a raise to $6 Million and an extension for captaining Mizzou to a record of 15-17 at the time he received the raise and extension. Rewarding failure while spending someone else's money is exactly what the AD did.

    Josh Heupel has done a great job in Knoxville thus far and Danny White should have given a raise to probably$7.5 million. The two(important clauses in any contract is the number of years and the buyout). Think about Harsin at Auburn w/$15 Million buyout that was just money wasted. Having Tennessee strong in the East is good for the SEC. Hopefully the success continues in Knoxville, but there's always the "What if ?" in any college football program. Note: Dan Mullen at Florida. He went from hero to heel in about one(1) year.

    • and it sounds like he may be your next OC... he will be a better OC than HC though. I hope hes not the choice. Obrien was good. y'all just didnt see it. who knows you may miss him or not skip a beat. Time will tell.

        • Not looking to spar humper, I was waiting on this comment. I think some of these guys when they go from being a OC to Head Coach and having his team ranked #1 as Mullen did with Miss St, EGO is a real thing! I have to admit and pains me to do so Humper, lol, but I agree with this statement. See, i can be a nice guy!

        • Could we ask for more popcorn-worthy entertainment than a double-feature of Fisher/Petrino and Saban/Mullen?!

    • Heupel is very genuine individual where Mullen definitely doesn't give off that vibe. Heupel did more with less than Mullen, also lets not forget about Mullen's lack of recruiting and Heupel seems to be gaining ground every cycle on the current heavy hitters. Heupel and Mullen isn't a good comparison.

      • You do know Mullen's 4 recruiting classes ranked pretty much as high as Heupel's did this year, don't you?
        Mullet at UF - 90.75/90.56/90.74/90.51
        Heupel so far at UT - 88.10/90.79

        But hey, as long as he keeps finding those Hyatt type receivers and TPs in a QB who can sling the rock, there is always hope...he was a good one!

  • It doesn't seem to matter who's in charge in Hillbillyville, as Hillbillies never learn.

    It's gonna be hilarious what happens when they finish 7-5 or 8-4 in 2023 amidst a season when Vawl Twitter is calling for defensive staff firings and Milton to get benched for Nico and yet another annual beatdown by the Dawgs.

    But Clay Travis, he of notoriously bad betting advice, thinks the Hillbillies will beat the Dawgs at Kneeland, so I hope all y'all hillbillies bet your trailers or rent checks on the game! Hah!

  • $9 million extension?!?!
    It was a great season, but man these coaches salaries are out of control after just 1 season.
    Was OU looking to come after him or something?

  • Let's just say Heupel-thetically that this gimmicky offense is just a flash in the pan.

    Heupel helped to lead Oklahoma to a national championship as a player under Mike Leach as an OC. He then helped to lead OU to a ton of wins and chances to win the national title as Oklahoma's OC.

    After the last couple of decades, I'll take that kind of success every day.

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Keith Farner