Tennessee Volunteers hire UCF’s Josh Heupel as head coach

ORLANDO, Fla. — The Tennessee Volunteers hired University of Central Florida’s Jose Heupel as its next head football coach, the school announced Wednesday.

Tennessee hired Danny White away from UCF as its athletic director last Thursday, and his first job was finding a new football coach to replace Jeremy Pruitt, who was fired Jan. 18, The Associated Press reported.

READ: UCF AD Danny White named new Tennessee athletics director

“We looked at a number of potential candidates,” White said. “Josh Heupel, who I had the privilege of working with for three years, is everything we were looking for: winning with integrity, a history of championships and the architect of explosive offenses. He is a players’ coach and the kind of person the student-athletes go the extra mile for. I saw that first-hand, and you can see it in his coaching record.”

Heupel has been UCF’s head coach the past three seasons. He took over for Scott Frost, who guided UCF to an unbeaten 13-0 record in 2017. Heupel is 28-8 with the Knights, including a 12-1 record in his first season in 2018, ESPN reported.

He will become Tennessee’s fifth head coach, not counting interim or acting coaches, since the end of the 2008 season, The AP reported.

“I am thrilled to be coming to Tennessee,” Heupel said. “I understand that Volunteer fans are hungry for a return to the top that they so richly deserve, and it is my goal and commitment to bring a championship back to Rocky Top.”

READ: UCF Knights Quarterback McKenzie Milton commits to FSU Seminoles

UCF has ranked in the top eight nationally in scoring offense and has averaged at least 42.2 points per game in all three of Heupel’s seasons in Orlando, ESPN reported.

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