The SEC coaching carousel is always spinning, but heading into 2025, it’s beginning to tilt with real weight. Alabama’s Kalen DeBoer inherits the legacy of a dynasty and all the pressure that comes with it. Brian Kelly at LSU enters a year where the results must match the swagger and spending. These are big names with big expectations. But there’s another name — a CFP coach with a $37.5 million buyout — now stepping onto the hot seat with his sneakers just beginning to smoke. His team’s season teeters between being the fourteenth toughest schedule overall, yet it is also one of the easiest schedules of 2025 per SN. Depending on which half you’re watching.

Joel Klatt, breaking it all down on his show, wasn’t shy in taking names. And though he didn’t originally plan to, he eventually circled at Tennessee Vols Josh Heupel. Klatt opened up about his hesitancy: “Tennessee, Josh Heupel… I didn’t really want to like put Heupel on the pressure index, but then I gotta tell you — didn’t love the whole Nico saga.” That saga, of course, refers to the exit of former five-star QB Nico Iamaleava, whose departure has clouded what should’ve been a smooth follow-up to Tennessee’s first Playoff appearance.

Klatt didn’t stop there. “Where do we sit, Tennessee fans, with Josh Heupel? I think it’s ‘we like you’ — but some really good years with Josh Heupel, some marquee failures under Josh Heupel. It does not help that they lost their quarterback.” He wasn’t shy about the tension either: “I’m sorry, but there’s just more to the story than the Tennessee faithful want to throw out there. They ran out there and ran Nico Iamaleava under the bus. Now I’m not saying Iamaleava and his family didn’t share in some of the blame for how the relationship went south, but it wasn’t all that happened.” It’s a messy truth for a program that just last season reached new heights — only to now feel like it’s scrambling for answers.

With no Nico and fan confidence beginning to fray at the edges, Klatt underlined why 2025 could be make-or-break. “Hey, we like you, but we don’t have a quarterback anymore — and what are we doing?” Tennessee’s playoff momentum didn’t come with a parachute. Their national spotlight burned brightly — until they “got ran out of the building” in their postseason moment, according to JK. It’s a cruel echo in Knoxville: build, rise, flame out. Josh Heupel got the benefit of the doubt for a few years, but now that doubt’s creeping in.

It doesn’t help that Tennessee Vols opens the season with a sneaky-tough game in Atlanta against a Syracuse squad that might hover near the top 25. Then comes the SEC grind: road games at Alabama and Florida, two rivals Josh Heupel has split with so far in his four meetings. At home, the Vols host juggernauts Georgia and Oklahoma. Tennessee hasn’t beaten Georgia in eight straight matchups — a stat that bites harder each year. Klatt laid it out clearly: “Kentucky, the pressure game… because KY is the one that you just can’t lose to and it’s on the road… but you know the game — it really is, it’s Oklahoma. That’s the game, that’s the moment the pressure comes to fruition for Josh Heupel.”

Klatt even predicted how the Vols might start: “I think they really should be five and one… I’m gonna give them the win at Kentucky. Going into the second half of the year… they’re going to lose to Georgia. So they’re five and one… let’s say they lose to Alabama — then they’re 5-2. Let’s say they win — now they’re 6-2. Now you’ve got OU. And it’s like you’re either a six and three team or you’re a seven-win team moving forward.” It’s that kind of binary fork-in-the-road season. Heupel’s future might come down to a single home game under the Neyland lights — against the team he used to quarterback himself.

Josh Heupel lands Top-10 spot despite QB shake-up

When Athlon Sports ranked the top 16 CFB coaches heading into 2025, Josh Heupel earned himself a solid spot at No. 6. Thanks to more than just wins on Saturdays. Sure, the record matters, but Athlon factored in the full resume: career bio, recruiting success, and the coach’s knack for developing talent. And Heupel checks all the boxes.

Known for a “strong rushing attack and standout defense,” Heupel guided Tennessee to its first-ever CFP appearance last season. The Vols wrapped up the year 10-3, falling to Ohio State in the opening round, but still making serious noise on the national stage. Since arriving in Knoxville in 2021, Heupel has gone from a 7-6 debut season to stacking up three straight campaigns with at least nine wins. His SEC record? A solid 16-8 during that span.

But 2025 is where things get real. With quarterback Nico Iamaleava unexpectedly transferring to UCLA post-spring, Heupel’s “ability to adapt and win in different ways will be tested in ‘25.” Add in his earlier stint at UCF, and Heupel holds an impressive 65-23 record at the FBS level.