Tennessee Volunteers hire Josh Heupel as next head coach

Heupel coached at UCF for the last three seasons and will be joining his former athletic director Danny White, who served as UCF's AD prior to joining the Vols.

"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 firsthand, and you can see it in his coaching record," White said.

According to Pete Thamel of Yahoo Sports, Heupel will earn $4 million per year, with his buyout from UCF around $3.45 million. 

The 42-year-old went 28-8 as head coach of the Knights, with his best season coming in 2018, when he led UCF to a 12-1 record. That one loss came to Joe Burrow and LSU in the Fiesta Bowl. 

Heupel's hiring comes after Tennessee fired head coach Jeremy Pruitt, who had multiple recruiting violations that could lead to further punishment from the NCAA.