Tennessee’s Josh Heupel will get 1-year extension by way of Jan. 2030

KNOXVILLE, Tenn. — Tennessee coach Josh Heupel has a one-year contract extension taking him by way of January 2030 forward of the No. 24 Volunteers’ season opener.

Athletic director Danny White introduced the extension signed Tuesday as a reward for Heupel posting a 37-15 document by way of his first 4 seasons.

White credited Heupel with reviving the soccer program, which went 3-7 in 2020 earlier than he was employed in January 2021.

“Josh has brought Tennessee Football back to its rightful place among the nation’s elite programs, and he and his staff have fostered a positive culture within the team,” White mentioned in an announcement. “Our commitment to supporting Josh and his staff remains strong and unwavering.”

Tennessee gave Heupel a giant elevate to $9 million a 12 months in January 2023, an extension by way of the 2028 soccer season that put him among the many highest-paid coaches in school soccer after an 11-2 document in 2022. The Twenty fourth-ranked Volunteers open the season Saturday in Atlanta towards Syracuse.

This extension retains Heupel’s pay the identical. The huge change is doubling his use of a college non-public aircraft or a constitution flight from 5 to 10 for 30 hours of flight time per 12 months.

Heupel has 11 wins over Top 25 groups, which ranks sixth nationally amongst FBS coaches in that span and fifth in Tennessee historical past. He led the Vols to their first College Football Playoff berth final December.

He took over throughout an NCAA investigation into the prior coach, Jeremy Pruitt. Heupel has a 71.2 profitable proportion, which is the second-highest by a Tennessee coach within the final 5 many years. Only Bill Battle (39 between 1970 and 1973) and Phillip Fulmer (38 between 1993 and 1996) had extra in that span.

“We quickly built a resilient, player-driven culture and have enjoyed great success on and off the field, but there is still much left to do,” Heupel mentioned.

The Vols have 16 SEC victories underneath Heupel for the reason that begin of 2022, this system’s greatest three-year stretch since 18 between 2002 and 2004. With double-digit wins in two of three seasons, he joined Fulmer and Gen. Robert Neyland (5 every) with a number of 10-win common seasons.