Love the hire or hate it, Josh Heupel has been hired by Tennessee and is bringing one of the most exciting offenses in the country with him.

The big question now on Rocky Top surrounds the defense the Volunteers plan to run and the 10 assistant coach hires Heupel plans to make.

Tennessee currently has several coaches currently on staff, but it remains unclear if any of them will be returning in 2021 with Heupel running the program.

During his introductory press conference on Wednesday, Heupel was asked about the timeline for hiring his first Tennessee staff — including whether any assistants from UCF will follow him or not.

“We will consider staff members from Central Florida. We will do that, also, current members of this staff,” Heupel answered. “We’ll have a conversation with them here at Tennessee.

“It’s important we put together a staff at the right time, that we get the right people more than it is the urgency of putting that staff together. But yes, we do want to do it in a timely fashion.”

When asked specifically if Kevin Steele would be retained, Heupel left the door open for that but would not commit one way or another.

“I will have a conversation with everyone on the staff,” the new Tennessee coach said.