Heupel’s success is no surprise to those who have followed his career

ABERDEEN, S.D. and KNOXVILLE, TN (Dakota News Now) -Aberdeen native Josh Heupel was hired to be the new head football coach at Tennessee Wednesday.

The former Golden Eagle quarterback grew up in a football house with his father Ken coached at Aberdeen Central and Northern State. So his progression from helping Oklahoma win a national title as the Sooners QB to offensive coordinator at his alma mater and Missouri before becoming the head coach at Central Florida 3 years ago when he was hired by Danny White should come as no surprise to anyone who knows him well. He has been a success at every level and that’s why he was hired yesterday to turn the program around at a Power 5 school.

Gene Brownell, Aberdeen Central Athletic Director says, ”It’s very exciting to have watched his career. It has been a very interesting career not just as an athlete but as a coach and obviously he’s been highly successful. And he’s worked at it.”

Steve Svendsen, Josh’s HS coach at Aberdeen Central says, ”He had a clear vision as to where he was going and what he wanted to do and he’s kept his priorities in front of him and he’s done a great job of doing all those things and that was him as a player too.”

Danny White, Tennessee Athletic Director who also hired him at Central Flordia says, ”Our sense is that our fans are looking for and more importantly what our student-athletes are really craving, what they shared with me. I kind of realized that the best option is the guy that I’ve been working with for the last 3 years.”

Josh’s teams at Central Florida went 28-8 in 3 years after he replaced Scott Frost. And Danny White was his Athletic Director there. It’s no wonder after interviewing a bundle of big-time coaches that he felt most comfortable with this hire... Just because of the person that Josh is in addition to being a football coach and former player who knows how to win.

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