The hiring will reunite Heupel with his former athletic director Danny White, who the Vols announced as their new AD last week.
UCF's Josh Heupel is finalizing a deal to become Tennessee's next head coach, according to Yahoo Sports' Pete Thamel.
The hiring will reunite Heupel with his former athletic director Danny White, who the Volunteers announced as their new AD last week.
Sources confirmed to Sports Illustrated's Pat Forde that "Heupel is the choice after White took some swings and misses elsewhere."
Other Vols head coaching candidates included Clemson offensive coordinator Tony Elliott, Penn State coach James Franklin and Buffalo's Lance Leipold.
The fast athletic director and head coach searches were important for the Volunteers given the turmoil around the program. AD Phillip Fulmer announced his plans to retire on Jan. 18, the same day head football coach Jeremy Pruitt was fired for cause amid allegations of recruiting violations. The newly-hired White was tasked with finding a head coach while being uncertain how severe the program's NCAA sanctions could be.
Heupel amassed a 28–8 record in three seasons as UCF's head coach and led the program to a 12–1 record and New Year's Six bowl game in his first season in 2018. Prior to joining the Knights, he coached at Oklahoma and gained SEC experience as offensive coordinator at Missouri.
Thamel reports Heupel is expected to earn an annual salary of $4 million at Tennessee. His buyout is around $3.45 million, and the Vols paid an estimated $2.5 million buyout for White's buyout, giving UCF nearly $6 million to aid its AD and head coach searches.
According to ESPN's Chris Low, Tennessee called a team meeting for 8:30 a.m. ET on Wednesday morning.