Josh Heupel is a few months away from an important milestone at Tennessee that hasn't been accomplished in nearly 30 years

Tennessee Vols head coach Josh Heupel is just a few months away from an important milestone that hasn't been accomplished by a head football coach at UT in nearly 30 years.

It's hard to believe, but Heupel is in his fifth season as the head coach at Tennessee.

The former Oklahoma Sooners quarterback is 38-15 as the Vols' head coach after leading Tennessee to a 45-26 win against Syracuse in the season-opener this past weekend.

If Heupel finishes the season as Tennessee’s head coach -- and I don’t see any scenario where that won’t happen -- he’ll be the first Vols head coach since Phillip Fulmer to complete five full seasons leading the program.

Recent Tennessee Vols head coaches have failed to find staying power on Rocky Top

From 1977 to 2008, the Vols had two head coaches -- Johnny Majors and Phillip Fulmer.

From 2009 to 2020, the Vols had four head coaches (Lane Kiffin, Derek Dooley, Butch Jones, and Jeremy Pruitt) and four interim head coaches (Kippy Brown, Jim Chaney, Brady Hoke, and Kevin Steele).

31 years of stability and 11 years of chaos. That's the last 40 plus years of pre-Josh Heupel Tennessee football in a nutshell.

Kiffin, of course, lasted just one season at Tennessee before leaving for his "dream job" at USC.

Dooley, meanwhile, was a hasty hire that had to be made due to the timing of Kiffin's departure (Kiffin left in January, 2010 -- just a month before National Signing Day). After three straight losing seasons -- which included the Vols' first loss to Kentucky since 1984 -- Dooley was sent packing.

Jones came the closest to completing a fifth season at Tennessee. He led the Vols to back-to-back underachieving nine-win seasons in years three and four before everything fell apart in 2017 (Jones was fired after a 4–6 start).

Pruitt may have been the worst of them all. The former Alabama defensive coordinator is an X's and O's wizard, but he came up a bit short in the CEO aspect of the head coaching role at Tennessee. As a result, Pruitt went 16-19 during his three seasons at Tennessee and ended up getting fired due to the biggest recruiting scandal in program history.

What Heupel has accomplished after taking over for Pruitt in early 2021 has been nothing short of incredible -- a win in the Orange Bowl against Clemson, two wins against Alabama, two wins against Florida, a win in Baton Rouge against LSU, some of the most prolific offenses in program history, multiple 10-win seasons, and the Vols' first ever trip to the College Football Playoff.

And perhaps most importantly -- stability.

Hopefully Vols fans aren't taking this era for granted. Heupel hasn't reached his ultimate goal of a national championship at Tennessee yet, but the Vols are as close as they've been to a natty since the early 2000s.

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