Danny White, Tennessee’s new athletic director, didn’t have to look far to get his head football coach. Sources told ESPN that White is hiring UCF’s Josh Heupel as the Vols’ next head coach.
White previously hired Heupel when White was UCF’s athletic director. Tennessee is scheduled to make the official announcement at 8:35 p.m. ET.
White, announced Thursday as Tennessee’s new AD, has worked hard to find a replacement for Jeremy Pruitt, who was fired on Jan. 18 after an investigation that revealed what University Chancellor Donde Plowman’s “serious violations of the NCAA- rules “. White cast a wide net through the Parker Executive Search firm and reached out and / or interviewed several candidates, including James Franklin of Penn State, Luke Fickell of Cincinnati, Sonny Dykes of SMU, PJ Fleck in Minnesota and Tony Elliott, Clemson’s offensive coordinator, among others.
Sources told ESPN Elliott had serious discussions about the job for the past few days, but declined Tennessee’s rapprochement and chose to stay with Clemson.
Hipel, 42, has been UCF’s head coach for the past three seasons after taking over from Scott Frost, who led UCF to an unbeaten 13-0 record in 2017. Hipel is 28-8 with the Knights, including a 12-1 record in his first season in 2018. They ended last season with 6-4. Heupel would owe UCF a $ 3.4 million buyout, under the terms of his contract.
UCF is in the top eight fouls nationally and has averaged a minimum of 42.2 points per game in all three seasons in Orlando.
Hipel, second in the Heisman Trophy as a quarterback on the Oklahoma national championship team in 2000, has SEC coaching experience. He was Missouri’s offensive coordinator / quarterbacks coach in 2016-17 before taking the job as head coach at UCF. Hipel was also the co-offensive coordinator / quarterbacks coach under Bob Stoops in Oklahoma for four seasons, but he was fired after the 2014 season when the Sooners went 8-5.
Hipel would be the Vols’ sixth other head coach to go back to Phillip Fulmer, who was fired at the end of the 2008 season. Fulmer retired as an athletic director as a result of the Tennessee investigation.