Josh Heupel reveals how NCAA investigation impacted interest in Tennessee job

Tennessee head football coach Josh Heupel has done what many other coaches before him could not do in Knoxville–revive the Volunteers’ historic football program. He’s helped to catapult the Vols back into the top 10, which is never an easy feat in college football, especially in the SEC.

Last season, Tennessee finished 11-2 for the first time in over two decades (2001).

On Friday, the Vols’ football program finally got an answer from the NCAA with regards to their violations under Jeremy Pruitt.

Heupel recently discussed how the cloud of the NCAA sanctions impacted his interest in the job before he was hired.

“This is an iconic brand and such a powerful and rich tradition inside the landscape of college sports and certainly in college football too. You’re talking about a program that is top ten in the history of wins, first-round draft picks, bowls, bowl wins. I grew up watching the game and just remember the great players and deep tradition of what was going on at Neyland Stadium. For me, it was the opportunity to take over a program like this and to be able to put your own stamp on it. To be able to compete for championships is certainly something I wanted to be a part of,” Heupel said.

“You mentioned Danny [White] and you talk about our leadership from president to chancellor. But having the ability to have real, open dialog with Danny during the process and to have great trust in where they ultimately thought this would end up – it gave me great confidence to be able to hit the ground running. It was going to be a speed bump for our program when I took over, but it wasn’t going to be anything that delayed our progress. People have been able to see that over the past two years. We are certainly excited about our football team we have coming back for 2023 and looking forward to what we’re doing in recruiting and the ability to build a consistent, championship caliber football program.”

For more on Heupel and the NCAA violations the Volunteers had to deal with, check out this article from On3’s Nick Schultz.

Heupel had to deal with negative recruiting on the trail

After leaving UCF, Josh Heupel walked into a rough situation when he took the job at Tennessee. The program was coming off the firing of Jeremy Pruitt in light of 18 NCAA violations — an investigation that ended Friday, more than two years after Heupel accepted the job.

It hasn’t been easy for the program in the time since Pruitt’s dismissal. As it turns out, it made things tougher for Heupel on the recruiting trail as he tried to rebuild the program.

He opened up about that on The Paul Finebaum Show on Friday.

“Our players, because they are with you every day, have a lot of trust in what you are doing in leading that program and what you’re going to try and get accomplished for them,” Heupel told Peter Burns. “I think the hardest thing for our entire staff was in recruiting because it had nothing to do with us who are currently there. People tried to use it against us in recruiting, negatively. We had to develop great trust with the recruits and their families.

“You talk about the culture you are building, and you talk about what happened and what you think the end result will be with the NCAA. Today’s work gives us the ability to put it behind us. It’s out in the open and it’s finalized. They can all realize that they have an opportunity to go and play for championships.”

Heupel officially took over in January 2021, meaning he’s had two full recruiting cycles since arriving on Rocky Top. Tennessee brought in the No. 15-ranked recruiting class from the 2022 cycle and has the No. 12 class coming in from 2023, according to the On3 Industry Team Recruiting Ranking. The Volunteers currently hold the No. 14-ranked group from the 2024 cycle.

The transfer portal also served as a key resource for Heupel and the Vols. Hendon Hooker was a key part of the turnaround over the last two years, helping take the program from a 5-7 record in Heupel’s first season to an 11-2 mark in 2022. Now, another transfer quarterback — Joe Milton — will take the reins as the starter now that Hooker is off to the NFL.

But now, the investigation into Tennessee is over. The Volunteers avoided a bowl ban, but still received an $8 million fine and Pruitt received a six-year show-cause, the NCAA announced Friday. Heupel addressed the decision not to ban the program from bowl games, and that added to his excitement about the decision.

“You don’t know until today what it’s actually going to be,” Heupel told ESPN. “It’s hugely important that our players were protected and the future players were protected as well. I’m really excited about the outcome.”

On3’s James Fletcher III and Nick Schultz also contributed to this article.