What Tennessee's Josh Heupel said during his final press conference before the Citrus Bowl

Tennessee coach Josh Heupel on Sunday morning met with reporters for his final press conference before the Vols face Iowa in the Cheez-It Citrus Bowl on Monday (1 p.m. Eastern Time, ABC) at Camping World Stadium in Orlando:

Opening Statement

JOSH HEUPEL: Good morning, everybody. This has been a great week for our staff, our families and our players. I want to thank Steve Hogan everyone and associated with Florida Citrus Sports. It is a first-class operation. They have done a tremendous job of creating a great experience and taking care of everybody the entire week. It has been fun for myself, my wife and a lot of our staff to be back in the great City of Orlando. A lot of great memories, having spent three years here, and it has been fun to catch up with a lot of familiar faces, those at UCF, but also throughout the entire community.

It has been a fun week to kind of go back and get a chance to see a lot of people that have helped me on my journey and been a part of the success that we have had at the previous stop at UCF.

Excited about the game tomorrow. This is a big-time college football game, great way to kick off 2024. We recognize Coach Ferentz and his staff and their program, what they have done this year, but during the course of his tenure, as well. They play extremely tough, smart and physical. Great opponent and looking forward to kicking off.

How have you changed in your time as a coach at Tennessee since you left Orlando?

JOSH HEUPEL: No matter what role you are in or whatever profession you are in, you continue to learn how to become a better communicator, how to impact the people around you in a positive way. You continue to refine what you are doing inside of your program 365 days out of the year to allow kids to go be their best and create a culture that they enjoy being and love competing in. Just continue to do that. You learn so much.

As a leader of the program, you learn so much from the people around you, and in particular student athletes. Those guys have been instrumental in the growth of who we are and what we do.

Curious if you still have any sort of relationship with Coach [Chuck] Long, or some of the things you might have learned from him as your coach back then?

JOSH HEUPEL: I learned a lot from Coach Long. He helped refine me fundamentally. Helped me continue to grow in my understanding of the football game. How to lead the people around me.

That staff was filled with the Stoops brothers. Jonathan Hayes was there, as well. Those guys are all – have all made such an impact in who I am and what we do inside of our program. You look at the success that we had, that was because of a lot of the things that they learned, while they were at Iowa as players and as coaches. Have good relationships with a lot of those guys where I still talk to them periodically throughout the year.

The December crush and how you guys dealt with it with guys opting out, transfer portal, signing day; all that you’ve had deal with Bowl preparation, how did you deal with that and how did you go through that?

JOSH HEUPEL: I think Coach kind of alluded to it. The calendar in which we operate now it changes the way December and part of January unfolds for you. I think as we continue to move forward in this great game, is something that we have to look at.

It is different, because when your regular season ends, you go through the exit interview process. Each individual player is in a different position. For a period of time, there is some uncertainty with a portion of your roster.

For us, I think as we finished up signing day, that kind of became, you know, the lead-in to the Bowl game where you felt good about who was there, where they were at, their ability to play in the game, and you know, be a part of your roster.

Coach Ferentz referenced the unhealthy voices that some kids here. How much have you all encountered tampering and how big of a problem do you feel like that is in today’s game?

JOSH HEUPEL: Yeah, certainly a part of it. Players have so many different people as they are going through their process early as young players, you know, before the recruiting process even starts out from people that are training them to high school coaches to people that they have relationships with, seven-out-of-seven, that type of thing. It’s certainly part of the college land scrape right now.

Wish I had a silver bullet to change all that. I do not think I do.

As difficult as December has become with the transfer portal, with an earlier signing period; God forbid you want to spend time with your family over the holidays, you have to prepare for a game. Next year, it gets exponentially worse because both of your programs have been in competition for a playoff, and next year you have a 12-game playoff and games in the middle of the month. How do you anticipate trying to navigate this, and is now the red light flashing that something absolutely has to change or you guys will either burn yourselves out or there will be some tragic results?

JOSH HEUPEL: If you look at the placement of the first round of playoffs, everything that is going on in those first couple weeks of December, how do you add in preparation for a game of that size and magnitude during the course of what is happening. It was not like I was not on the phone or flying somewhere or in somebody’s house or at a school every minute of the day. There is not enough time to accomplish everything that you needed to at this point in the season or at this point in the calendar, let alone if you are preparing for a game like that.

That is where, again, the calendar of how everything unfolds, the game has changed so quickly, so dramatically. I do think it is something that we have to look at.

You mentioned on Tuesday that Joe Milton was going to be on the sidelines during tomorrow’s game. What role do you want him to play, and how beneficial that could be to not just Nico, but the entire team to have him there?

JOSH HEUPEL: Joe has done it the right way during the course of his career. You look at how everything has unfolded, he is a guy that chose to stay. Believed in his teammates what we were building, and how his coaching staff and players around him were going to help him grow as a player. Did a lot of really great things during the course of the season.

He has been a huge impact on our program for game day on Monday. Be another voice to help Nico as he comes off the sidelines, things that are going on. Being able to help him get ready for the next set and also create positive energy.

Besides being the quarterback on the field, throwing the football, making decisions, every other part of his roles that he has had during the course of the year he can still have on the sideline.

Can you elaborate just on your return to Orlando, any feelings of nostalgia, warm feelings? And also, just year three at Tennessee, where is your program at and are you — did you expect it to happen so quickly?

JOSH HEUPEL: As far as what we have done at Tennessee, where we started and took that program over at, how we were able to build a culture, re-solidified the locker room, continue to grow, and the success that we have had.

We have been disappointed with some of the results this season, obviously. Who we are, what we are about and how we are continue to go grow, what we have been able to recruit, we are really excited about the future.

There are so many people that go into reestablishing the foundational pieces of one of the greatest programs in the history of college football, and we have to continue to grow. We have to go chase championships. I know that is a standard at Tennessee, but excited about the future.

As far as being back in Orlando, I mentioned at the beginning, it is unlike you to show up late for a press conference. I thought that might get a couple chuckles out of the Orlando crowd (laughter), but maybe not.

This is a great city. My family, myself, we absolutely love living here. A lot of our staff at Tennessee was with us here. It has been great to be back in this city. To the administration, Coach Malzahn at UCF, they were great and allowing us to go practice there.

Rode in the first day. Rode through campus. Get off the bus, you are sitting right next to the Bounce House. Get a chance to get on the practice field. It was a lot of fun, because there was so many great memories that came back. Got a chance to talk with a lot of people that have been a huge part of my journey and our journey.

It has been a great week. We had a night where we had, I don’t know, 25, 30 players that got an opportunity to come by the hotel and hang out it. Was a great night.

If we put you in charge of college football for a day and you could change some things about the calendar, what would you do? What would you change?

JOSH HEUPEL: Games always change. I think that is a positive thing. Growth. It has changed so rapidly, so quickly that I do think you have to take — somebody has to take a hard look at how we put all these pieces together and continue to have the greatest game that there is. Do it the right way for everybody involved, and players at the center point of that.

To do that, I think you have to have all the players, and I said players; all the decision-makers in the world and somebody has to grab a hold of the reins and take it in the right direction.

Coach Tim Banks was asked the other day about losing a few guys to the transfer portal and how he viewed it, and he called it an opportunity. How would you say the younger guys have taken advantage of that opportunity or risen to the challenge, especially in this final week?

JOSH HEUPEL: Yeah, our practice and our preparation back home and here has been really good. The Bowl season, and Coach was talking about the changes during the course of his career, too. There are more guys that have opted out. You have guys that have made decisions to go to the NFL. Some have hit the portal.

It creates opportunity for guys that maybe have not played a ton on a unit. They have gotten some reps, probably played a lot of special teams. It is an opportunity for the young guys to take ownership and prove that they are ready to go play at a high level. In some ways, those Bowl games are a culmination and a finish to the ’23 season, but they are also the start and kickoff for a lot of those young guys to ’24.