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Tennessee's Josh Heupel receives 3 votes in ESPN's ranking of top 10 college football coaches

IMG_3593by:Grant Ramey•05/16/25•

GrantRamey

Tennessee Volunteers Head Coach Josh Heupel via Matt Ray/On3
Tennessee Volunteers Head Coach Josh Heupel via Matt Ray/On3

Tennessee coach Josh Heupel received just three votes in ESPN’s ranking of the top 10 coaches in college football. ESPN’s college football reporters voted in the poll, which ranked Georgia’s Kirby Smart at No. 1, ahead of Ohio State’s Ryan Day and Clemson’s Dabo Swinney. 

Notre Dame coach Marcus Freeman was ranked No. 4, in front of Texas coach Steve Sarkisian, Oregon’s Dan Lanning, Alabama’s Kalen DeBoer, Penn State’s James Franklin, Utah’s Kyle Wittingham and Iowa State’s Matt Campbell. 

There were 14 other coaches that received votes, including Heupel, but only Kansas State’s Chris Klieman and Iowa’s Kirk Ferentz received less votes than the Tennessee coach, getting one vote each.

The other coaches that received votes were LSU’s Brian Kelly (13), North Carolina’s Bill Belichick (10), Indiana’s Curt Cignetti (10), Kansas’s Lance Leipold (10), Army’s Jeff Monken (8), Louisville’s Jeff Brohm (6), Arizona State’s Kenny Dillingham (5), Ole Miss’s Lane Kiffin (3), Colorado’s Deion Sanders (3) and SMU’s Rhett Lashlee (3).

Josh Heupel ranked No. 17 in USA Today’s Top 25 College Football Coaches 

Heupel was ranked 17th in USA Today’s top 25 college football coaches earlier this month. That list was also topped by Smart, Day and Swinney. 

Heupel is 37-15 in four seasons as Tennessee’s head coach, including a 20-12 record in SEC games. He led the Vols to the College Football Playoff last season, where they lost in the first round at Ohio State in the first year of the 12-team playoff era. 

Tennessee has won 10 or more games twice under Heupel, finishing 10-3 last season and going 11-2 in 2022, including a win over Clemson in the Orange Bowl in the program’s first New Years Six bowl appearance during the College Football Playoff era. 

“If Tennessee didn’t hit rock bottom after firing Jeremy Pruitt amid an NCAA investigation,” USA Today wrote of Heupel in its rankings, “it at least could reach down and touch the bottom. Then Josh Heupel arrived and pulled the Vols out of peril. 

“He’s beaten Alabama twice. He jolted Tennessee’s offense to life with his warp-speed system. In a sign of coaching growth, he made the playoff by building a good defense. He’s a coach with a high floor, even if he might be nearing his ceiling.”

Tennessee opens 2025 season against Syracuse in Atlanta

Tennessee opens the season on August 30 in Atlanta against Syracuse, a Noon Eastern Time kickoff on ABC at Mercedes Benz Stadium in the Aflac Kickoff Game. 

The Vols host ETSU in the home opener at Neyland Stadium on September 6 and SEC play starts at home against Georgia on September 13.

UAB comes to Knoxville on September 20 and the Vols go to Mississippi State on September 27 in the first SEC road game of the season. After an open date on October 4, Tennessee hosts Arkansas (October 11) then goes to Alabama (October 18) and Kentucky (October 25). 

In November the Vols host Oklahoma (November 1) and New Mexico State (November 15), go to Florida (November 22) and close the regular-season schedule at home against Vanderbilt (November 29).

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