A speculative coaching carousel chatter ahead of the season is in the air. This concerns a prominent SEC head coach leaving the conference for calmer waters in the Big 12.
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College football insider Bruce Feldman of The Athletic suggested on September 3 that Baylor could target the Tennessee Volunteers head coach if his current team struggles during the 2026 season. Feldman noted that if Heupel has an “8-5 type of season,” he might look for a “reset” outside of the highly competitive SEC.
“Another possible scenario we’ve heard is if Baylor comes open, would the Bears make a move to bring Tennessee’s Josh Heupel back to the Southwest?” wrote Feldman. “Heupel did a really good job dragging the Vols out of a big ditch and into the playoff in 2024, but if the former Oklahoma quarterback has another 8-5 type of year, does he look for a reset in a Power 4 conference that isn’t as loaded as the SEC?”
After taking Tennessee to a CFP appearance in 2024, Heupel’s team faced a step back in the 2025 season. They finished with an 8-5 record. That included home losses to Georgia, Oklahoma, and Vanderbilt, as well as a bowl game loss to Illinois. If Heupel experiences another 8-5-type year in 2026, he could actively look for a reset, according to Feldman.
For Baylor specifically, executing this move would mean paying for two coaching salaries simultaneously. They would have to absorb Dave Aranda’s estimated $12 million to $20 million buyout to clear the position. It will come on top of paying Heupel’s $6 million exit fee and subsequent massive salary.
The suggestion from Feldman comes in the context of Dave Aranda facing a make-or-break 2026 season as the Baylor head coach. Entering his seventh season with the program, Aranda’s overall record stands at 36-37.
That includes a historic 12-win season, a Big 12 Championship, and a Sugar Bowl title in 2021. However, since then, Baylor has repeatedly fallen short of expectations. In 2022, the program finished 6-7, followed by a a 3-9 finish in 2023. The 2024 season was better by comparison, as Baylor finished 8-5 and reached a bowl game. Last year, it was again a disappointing campaign (5-7).
The fan frustration with Aranda has reached its peak. There were rumors that he would be fired in November 2025. However, after a comprehensive review, the program chose to stick with him. At the time, university president Linda Livingstone acknowledged and shared the fan base’s frustrations.
“Baylor Football has experienced both historic highs and challenging seasons under Coach Aranda. While we celebrate the Big 12 Championship and Sugar Bowl victory in 2021, we know this season has not met our shared expectations,” Livingstone said in a statement.
If Baylor parts ways with head coach Dave Aranda, the Bears could make a strong push to target Heupel. If Josh Heupel chooses to leave the Tennessee Volunteers on his own accord for another coaching job, the primary financial hurdle is an exact $6 million buyout that he would owe to Tennessee. He is under contract through January 2030 at $9 million per year. A potential move would trigger a complex, multimillion-dollar financial puzzle.
Feldman added that if Heupel were to leave Knoxville, former Tennessee great Jason Witten would be a prime candidate to look at as a replacement for the Vols. Witten is a Vols legend who joined Brent Venables’ staff at the University of Oklahoma as the tight ends coach. He presents an intriguing option for Knoxville. Witten is currently in his first year coaching at the collegiate level. Several factors make him a notable figure in future coaching searches.
Despite his stellar resume as a player and high school coach, Witten only moved up to the college ranks. Jumping directly from a position coach to a high-pressure head coaching job in the SEC would be an exceptionally rare and bold leap for Tennessee athletic director Danny White.
Josh Heupel is locked in for the 2026 season
Despite outside noise and media-hypothesized scenarios about a potential future coaching carousel, Heupel’s daily focus is entirely centered on preparing Tennessee for its immediate campaign.
Ahead of the highly anticipated season opener against Furman, Heupel has emphasized a blank-slate mentality. He explicitly told the media that he views the 2026 season as a “12-round fight” where the team’s true character and growth will have to be proven on the field from scratch.
Rather than taking a safe route, Heupel has shown full trust in his quarterback development pipeline. He named elite true freshman Faizon Brandon the Week 1 starting quarterback. This marks a monumental milestone as Brandon is Heupel’s first primary homegrown true freshman starter at Tennessee.
Heupel voiced high confidence in the team’s continuous ceiling, saying, “I think we have a chance to be a good team. Ultimately, our preparation has got to be right this week; compete extremely hard. This game is never perfect. But we want to play with great assignment soundness.”