KNOXVILLE, Tenn. -- Josh Heupel's first year at Tennessee produced a 7-6 record against a rugged schedule that featured five of the top 22 teams in the College Football Playoff committee's final rankings -- just the second winning season in the past five years for the Volunteers -- and came amid the shadow of an NCAA investigation stemming from recruiting issues under former coach Jeremy Pruitt that remains open.
Heupel, who came to Knoxville after three years as head coach at UCF, shared the Football Writers Association of America's Steve Spurrier First-Year Coach Award last season with South Carolina's Shane Beamer.