Heupel already trying to fire up Tennessee for Kiffin's invasion

Tennessee Volunteers head coach Josh Heupel. IMAGN IMAGES via Reuters Connect

Josh Heupel already trying to fire up Tennessee for Lane Kiffin's late-season invasion

By Andrew Kulha | Last updated Jul 20, 2026 8:00 PM ET

The Tennessee Volunteers will play host to former head coach Lane Kiffin on Nov. 21.

Kiffin will be coming in as head coach of the LSU Tigers.

Tennessee knows a thing or two about what it feels like to be on the wrong end of a Kiffin coaching transaction. That doesn't mean there will be any less heat the next time the Vols square up with the Ole Miss Rebels on the gridiron.

The two spurned programs could form a support group, though.

Kiffin was the head coach at Rocky Top for just one season before he skipped town with little to no warning and took his "dream job" with the USC Trojans just weeks before National Signing Day (which used to be a big deal). Just this past season, Kiffin spurned Ole Miss and left for the head-coaching job at LSU just weeks before the College Football Playoff. He had led Ole Miss to an 11-1 record before abandoning the Rebels.

It's a familiar story when it comes to Kiffin, and current Tennessee head coach Josh Heupel had fun fanning those old flames of passion (and some would say hatred) at SEC Media Days on Monday.

“I certainly hope our fan base hasn’t cooled off,” Heupel said when asked about Kiffin's return to Knoxville on November 21 (h/t On3). “So you know, whether it’s the grocery stores being fully stocked with mustard or you know our sports stores making sure that they got reinforcements on the golf balls, hopefully, Knoxville’s ready for his arrival.”

Finally some fire from SEC Media Days on Day 1!

"I certainly hope that our fans haven't cooled off, whether it's the grocery stores stocked up on mustard, or the sportis stores that they've got reinforcements on the golf balls, hopefully Knoxville is ready for his arrival"… pic.twitter.com/DQiqYEKpCc
— Michael Cauble (@Cauble) July 20, 2026

Lane Kiffin seemingly feeds off the hate from Tennessee

Heupel later confirmed that there's no beef between him and Kiffin, but he absolutely knew what he was saying with those comments.

Kiffin returned to Tennessee for the first time as a head coach back in 2021, which was his first season as head coach at Ole Miss. The fans weren't all that happy, to say the least.

As the game, a 36-21 Ole Miss win, was winding down, Tennessee fans at Neyland Stadium started throwing trash at Kiffin and the Rebels. We're talking anything they could find, including a mustard bottle and a yellow golf ball.

That's where the inspiration for Heupel's comments came from, but don't expect Kiffin to let that, or anything, get under his skin.

Kiffin is seemingly impervious to that kind of heat. In fact, he may relish in it.

“They were chanting like ‘F--- Lane Kiffin.’ That actually felt kind of intense and cool," Kiffin told podcaster Theo Vonn in 2025. "100,000 people chanting that … And then the student section was like ‘Hey, last night, we were with your wife.’ And I’m like, ‘That’s pretty funny to come up with this stuff.’ So it was intense and it kept building.”

Andrew Kulha

Andrew Kulha is probably the only sports writer you know who also doubles as a mortician. Spooky! @KulhaSports

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