Josh Heupel updates the timeline of replacing offensive coordinator Alex Golesh
Josh Heupel will start his search to replace former Tennessee offensive coordinator Alex Golesh after the Capital One Orange Bowl. The second year head coach of the Vols updated the process Thursday morning during a joint press conference alongside Clemson coach Dabo Swinney.
“Yeah, we’ll do all of that, handle all of that on the back end of the bowl season,” Heupel said. “Just everything that’s going on inside of college football after the regular season finishes, we’ll handle all that at the tight end position here on the back end of this bowl game.”
Golesh, who coached tight ends and was offensive coordinator the last two seasons at Tennessee, was hired as the new head coach at South Florida on December 4.
Tennessee (10-2) faces Clemson (11-2) in the Orange Bowl on Friday, an 8 p.m. Eastern Time start (TV: ESPN) at Hard Rock Stadium in Miami.
Heupel’s offense enters Orange Bowl No. 1 in scoring offense, total offense
Heupel will call plays in the Orange Bowl while working alongside quarterbacks coach Joey Halzle, offensive line coach Glen Elarbee, running backs coach Jerry Mack and wide receivers coach Kelsey Pope.
“For us as a staff, we go through that process every single week,” Heupel said of the adjustments made moving on without Golesh. “We go through it on game day.
“The fact that Joey and I have been together for 15-plus years, Glen and I have been together I think for seven years, the communication on game day is seamless, and I’m excited for this one.”
Tennessee finished the regular season No. 1 in scoring offense (47.3 points per game), No. 1 in total offense (538.1 yards per game), No. 3 in passing offense (332.3 yards per game) and No. 18 in rushing offense (205.75 yards per game).
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In 2021, Tennessee finished No. 7 in scoring offense, No. 9 in total offense, No. 12 in rushing offense and No. 39 in passing offense.
The Vols have produced back-to-back 1,000-yard receivers during the first two years of the Heupel and Golesh offense. Jalin Hyatt finished this season with 67 catches for 1,267 yards and 15 touchdowns, the most in college football. Cedric Tillman last season had 64 receptions for 1,081 yards and 12 touchdowns.
Quarterback Hendon Hooker was a star in the uptempo system, passing for 6,080 yards and 58 touchdowns, with just five interceptions, in his 24 career games at Tennessee.
Up Next: No. 6 Tennessee vs. No. 7 Clemson, Friday, 8 p.m. ET, ESPN
Heupel on Thursday was asked how Halzle’s workload has changed without Golesh around the offense the last four weeks.
“As much as anything, on the scripting side of it,” Heupel said, “but how we’ve operated and functioned from how we design our starters for each drive, communication, obviously Alex’s voice won’t be there on game day, but the collaboration of all of us, the way we communicate in between plays, to have been in the middle of all of it, Joey has been, Glen has been, I certainly have been, too.
“We’ll miss Alex. Alex will do a great job at USF. But the majority of our group and how we’ve operated just really hasn’t changed that much.”
