ESPN’s Paul Finebaum thinks no college football head coach is safer than Tennessee’s Josh Heupel on the heels of quarterback Nico Iamaleava’s departure to UCLA in the spring transfer portal.
The Volunteers, who made the College Football Playoff last year, losing in the first round to eventual national champion Ohio State face a rough stretch of games in the SEC this year, hosting Georgia and Oklahoma and taking a trip to Alabama.
Paul Finebaum Calls Josh Heupel One of CFB’s Most Secure Coaches After Nico Iamaleava Departure
But Finebaum doesn’t think that matters. In an interview on McElroy and Cubelic earlier this month, he said Tennessee’s record this year doesn’t really matter. And that was before the Vols landed Appalachian State and UCLA quarterback Joey Aguilar in the portal.
“In the interim he is a hero,” Finebaum said. “There’s no question on that conversation. Ultimately, every coach is graded in the same way, but we’ve seen in different situations … where if you have the right leadership, and Tennessee does … I guess I want to say it doesn’t really matter what the record is, and I’m going to say it really doesn’t matter what the record is this year, because Josh Heupel has earned the goodwill of that fan base and really of a lot of people.”
“Ultimately, it does matter. We’re talking about the short term, because this college football season is underway at the moment, and Tennessee doesn’t have a serviceable quarterback, so if they blow a bunch of games, fans will give him a pass. Ultimately, you have to win. But in the short term, I don’t know of a college football coach who is more secure than Josh Heupel.”
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Aguilar transferred to UCLA in December after two years in Boone for the Mountaineers. After the Bruins signed Iamaleava, Aguilar headed to Tennessee to take his spot. In two years with Appalachian State he threw for 6,760 passing yards, 56 touchdowns and 24 interceptions. He added 456 yards and five touchdowns on the ground.
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