Danny White recalls the hiring process that landed on Josh Heupel as 'painfully hard'
Danny White certainly had a unique journey to land Josh Heupel as Tennessee’s new coach.
The Tennessee athletics director recalled the hiring process as he brought Heupel with him from Central Florida, and kept in mind what a move like that would do to the UCF program. White recalled the hiring during a conversation with Duke men’s basketball coach Mike Krzyzewski on Sirius XM.
“You know, it was actually painfully hard once I realized that was the right decision because I knew I was creating more transition for the team back at UCF,” White said. “That part was really hard. I didn’t take this job planning to do that.”
White shared his process of identifying leadership on the football team to learn what kind of coach the program needs. Turns out, Heupel fit the bill.
“It just became — one of the things I always do in a coaching search is I talk to the players. I want to know from their perspective what is going on,” White said. “I learned a lot doing that, from them. I don’t talk to the whole team. I have the team vote on representatives, and I met with nine kids off the football team here. I use that as I’m going through the interview process and vetting. They’re not all interviews. A lot of it is just casual conversations just trying to figure out the market and what the opportunities are. I learned from each of those conversations too.”
Multiple reports at the time suggested several well-known coaches were in the mix for White and Tennessee, including Penn State’s James Franklin, Cincinnati’s Luke Fickell, SMU’s Sonny Dykes, Minnesota’s PJ Fleck and Clemson offensive coordinator Tony Elliott.
“Towards the end of it, in my mind, Josh wasn’t even on the list. Emotionally and psychologically, I couldn’t even get myself to think about doing that, but then I’m comparing the candidates and the options,” White said. “None of them were as good a fit for what this place needs right now as Josh Heupel. A light bulb went off, and it was a light bulb that was exciting for a minute but then, ‘Oh no, how do I do this?’”
ICYMI: @DukeMBB‘s Coach K and @Vol_Sports @AD_DannyWhite discussed the decision to bring @coachjoshheupel to Rocky Top. pic.twitter.com/OTOMCr4QmE
— College Sports on SiriusXM (@SXMCollege) February 26, 2021
Remarkable. He would have hired one of the many coaches who turned him down but now says he got the best hire for 10rc. He sure dodged that hire a name coach bullet just in time. lol.
Sorry, but he did NOT take his time. Heupel might be the LAZIEST RECRUITER in the entire SEC!!! Instead of pounding the telephone buttons with tons of other elite recruits. Who might actually like playing at Tennessee. He has called ONE GUY!!!! He has little to no chance. OLE MISS is about to sign him. They will get his commitment tomorrow!!! Still his great hire Josh Heupel only has eyes for this QB. He sees him as a way to possibly winning in year one!!!
Heupel is a lazy recruiter and will be gone in 3 or 4 years and leave Tennessee as a bigger dumpster fire than they are now!!! Can’t happen? Guess again!!! Tennessee won 2 games last season. Under Heupel. They might go winless!!!! Honestly Derek Dooley would have been a better coach. And he is already fired from Tennessee!!!!
They should have went after one of two guys. Well let’s make it 3 guys. Either Gus M, or Les Miles. Then also why not Mark Richt??? Either of these guys would coach circles around Josh Heupel!!! They would have made too much sense!!! And this is Tennessee we are talking about.
Mark Richt would have been THE PERFECT HIRE FOR TENNESSEE!!!! He is a better coach than Heupel. And he would have cleaned up all those McDonald’s bags laying around everywhere!!! With Richt, I nearly guarantee the 5 star QB picks Tennessee. With Richt anything the NCAA might do would be lightened. Because they know he is an honest man!!! Players love him. Tennessee probably keeps their big recruiting class and all the players that left!!!!!
PS. Les Miles only had 1 national championship and came within an eyelash of winning a second at LSU. But Alabama got the rematch that year and avenged their loss to LSU during the regular season!!! In my opinion. LSU AND LES MILES WERE ROBBED THAT YEAR!!! They beat Alabama fair and square and won the SEC! Then the NCAA gives Alabama a second chance like always. Alabama won the second match but lost the first. Still somehow Alabama was called the national champions! NOT FAIR AT ALL!!! At worst they should have SHARED THE TITLE, since they both had a win!!!
Nothing in college football is ever fair. Not when it comes to Alabama and Nick Saban. If college football was truly fair. LSU wouldn’t have had to play Alabama a second time. AND SABAN WOULD HAVE 2 LESS NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIPS!!! Alabama didn’t deserve to even play for the national championship in 2017. They took 2nd place in the SEC WEST!!!! Regardless of the 1 loss. That is why we play the games!!!! SO UGA WAS ROBBED TWICE OVER THAT YEAR!!!!!
PS. Hell would probably freeze over. Before UGA took 2nd in the SEC EAST and yet still got in the playoffs!!! Even with ONE LOSS!!! We might see someday. But not for a while. Because UGA will be too busy beating up on Florida!!!
Bobby the brain Negan
Bobby you are a complete moron. Is this just another corch alias.
King Fuzzy, the real brain.
Moron bobby lol. Here we go. For one, UGA had never had the offense that Heupel has had. Your staff has no clue hon how to develop talent any higher as a team than a top 15 ranking, maybe 10 due to the media worship of your choke school. You never end up ranked at the end of the season where you started. Why? Cause your overrated and have no clue how to develop an offense, or a QB! lol.
There was never a UGA reign of dominance. Not one record broken or stands today in UGA’s name. TN yes, UGA no. You were good in the 80’s for a blink of an eyes for two or three season, but not as good as the 80 team. Since than, with fall of UF and TN you squeaked in by avoiding to play Bama in the SEC championships and lost in a natty game you got lucky enough to play Auburn in the sec title game to get to the natty. You haven’t beaten Bama for about as long as TN has. Throwing teams are blowing you out..
NO one robbed UGA of anything. The only way you got in that game was because you had beaten an Auburn team that even UCF eventually ended up beating. Than when Kirby had no clue how to beat Bama in the natty game, only a desperation heaves kept you in it. You were beat by a better team and that is the closest you will get to winning a natty with Kirby. TN and UF have embraced a more dynamic passing scheme. This is why you will struggle to win the east unless something changes at UGA.
Lastly, the McD’s cash bags were FAKE NEWS. Not one more peep about it, it was he said she said. To date, no one has any proof that ever happened. If it were, the NCAA sure would delay starting their investigation! Mark is not a better coach than Heupel. Sorry but his offenses never were top 5. Never. Heupel’s were better than Saban’s. Where do you think he got the idea? From UCF. The thumping he took from Clemson convinced him his brand of ole boy SEC ball was outdated. Lots of connections of Saban to UCF’s coaches and offensive schemes. Before UCF, Bama played the run power game. It all started after the Clemson loss.
Your not beating UF’s and TN’s offense moving forward with a transfer QB with a bad knee from the west coast and a D with a lot of new faces. Your replacing three quarters of the front line. Oh but maybe the 5th star will actually mean something when UGA plays this year..lol Your secondary against good passing teams is like watching a baby seal clubbing in the Arctic.
As if any of you really knew whom he offered the position to? You know Jack S****. lol. We do know that coaches you thought would never come here said no for only one reason. Investigation had to be cleared first. Your also fooling yourself if you think Bama is going to simply cake walk a replacement in for Saban lol. The first 10 or 11 win season and that coach is on the hot seat..
Even though Tennessee’s new AD, Danny White, said he did an “extensive search”…I still believe he had the Heupel hire sealed before he flew to Knoxville. After going through the motions of a real search…he announced the hire. Let’s face it White’s salary & Heupel’s salary are much above their UCF salaries. Both moves were about $$$ not the love for Tennessee nor the Vol football program.
Why would they intentionally tarnish their reputations as a good AD and a good coach by ruining their career’s at Tennessee? THey wouldnt have agreed to go to UT if they didnt think they could rebuild the program?