Where should Tennessee football's Josh Heupel rank in list of SEC coaches? Ahead of Lane Kiffin?

An 11-win season sure did a lot to change the perception – not to mention the compensation – of Tennessee coach Josh Heupel. This time a year ago, some offseason lists had Heupel pegged in the bottom half of their ranking of SEC coaches. There was an explanation for that. Heupel had just one season of Power Five coaching experience – the Vols finished 7-6 in 2021 – and it remained unclear at that time how he stacked up with some of the conference's top dogs. No more. Heupel and his Vols earned victories last season over Alabama's Nick Saban, Clemson's Dabo Swinney and LSU's Brian Kelly. That's a who's who list of college football coaches. That earned Heupel a contract extension and a pay bump. Tennessee nearly doubled his salary to $9 million for 2023. And he's also soaring up those rankings of SEC coaches. On this edition of "The Volunteer State," Blake Toppmeyer of the USA TODAY Network and the News Sentinel's Adam Sparks and John Adams debate where they'd slot Heupel in a ranking of SEC coaches. All three hosts agree that Heupel should be considered a top-five SEC coach at this juncture. In fact, they each have the same five coaches in their top five, although they quibble over whether Heupel should be at No. 4 or No. 5. TOPPMEYER:Why Tennessee football needs more from Joe Milton than Peyton Manning's approval ADAMS:Tennessee football fans' No. 1 pick for second favorite team is a shocker Here's the top five ranking for each. Adam Sparks' ranking of SEC coaches: 1. Nick Saban, 2. Kirby Smart, 3. Brian Kelly, 4. Josh Heupel, 5. Lane Kiffin John Adams' ranking of SEC coaches: 1. Kirby Smart, 2. Nick Saban, 3. Brian Kelly, 4. Josh Heupel, 5. Lane Kiffin Blake Toppmeyer's ranking of SEC coaches: 1. Kirby Smart, 2. Nick Saban, 3. Brian Kelly, 4. Lane Kiffin, 5. Josh Heupel Yes, entering the 2023 season, Tennessee can make a strong case for having a top-five coach in the nation's best conference. When was the last time Vols fans could rationally make that claim? Not anytime recently.