Georgia and Florida have enjoyed success against Tennessee football. But their success is a recent development.
Alabama’s is longstanding.
Nobody has beaten Tennessee as much as the Tide have. It’s not even close.
Florida is 32-23 all-time. Georgia is 30-23-2.
Alabama will come to Neyland Stadium on Oct. 17 with a 61-40-7 record against Tennessee. There’s nothing mysterious about its success.
Alabama had two of the greatest coaches in college football history. Bear Bryant and Nick Saban each led the Tide to six national championships.
And they are most responsible for Alabama’s advantage in the Tennessee series. The two of them combined to go 32-8-2 against the Vols.
Take out Bryant and Saban, and the Vols would lead the series 32-29-5.
Conversely,
Tennessee achieved most of its success against Alabama when its two winningest coaches, Robert Neyland and Phillip Fulmer, were calling the shots.
Neyland was 12-5-2 against Alabama. Fulmer went 10-5-1.
That’s how coaches have impacted the series, which raises the question: What program has the best coach now?
Both Tennessee’s Josh Heupel and Alabama’s Kalen DeBoer have been successful. And both have succeeded in challenging situations.
DeBoer followed Saban, a popular choice as the greatest college coach of all-time. Anything short of a championship is a comedown for Alabama fans.
Heupel faced a different challenge at Tennessee. The Vols had posted eight losing records in 13 seasons when he succeeded Jeremy Pruitt. Moreover, UT lost 10 starters to the transfer portal and were in line for NCAA sanctions after losing seven of 10 games in 2020.
DeBoer has more head-coaching experience than Heupel, but six of his 13 seasons were at NAIA Sioux Falls, where he won 67 of 70 games. Nonetheless, he has continued to win a high percentage of his games in FBS play.
DeBoer was 12-6 in a season and a half at Fresno State, 25-3 in two seasons at Washington and is 25-9 in two-plus seasons at Alabama.
Like DeBoer, Heupel has never had a losing season. He’s 78-29 overall.
In head-to-head competition, each coach has won once. Alabama won last season in Tuscaloosa, 37-20. The Vols won two years ago at Neyland, 24-17.
Although both coaches have won consistently, I couldn't find any preseason rankings that favored Heupel over DeBoer. In CBS' preseason rankings of SEC coaches, it had DeBoer third and Heupel sixth. USA TODAY sports columnist Blake Toppmeyer ranked DeBoer third and Heupel fifth.
For comparative purposes, I took my own poll. I asked six literary contributors and six media-types: “If you were an AD at Anywhere Tech and had to hire a football coach, would you pick DeBoer or Heupel?”
Only one of the media-types favored Heupel, and he wasn’t convincing: “Heupel, I guess.” None of the five who picked DeBoer left any doubt, and one was puzzled that I would even ask.
“Are you kidding?” he responded. “DeBoer.”
My literary contributors also favored DeBoer by a 5-1 vote.
After hearing from the human sector, I decided to broaden my survey. I asked AI, which gave a more nuanced answer.
“If you’re asking who has accomplished more, it’s DeBoer,” it responded. “If you're asking "who has meant more to his current program?" a Tennessee fan could reasonably argue it’s Josh Heupel.”
How’s that for straddling the fence?
I agree with my fellow humans that DeBoer would be a better coaching choice than Heupel. But that doesn’t mean Alabama is on the verge of dominating the Third Saturday in October again.
Times have changed. NIL deals have changed them.
Coaching still matters, of course. But a program can overcome a coaching disadvantage with a more bountiful NIL bankroll. If the Vols can't outcoach Alabama, they can outspend it. And there's evidence that's possible.
Do you think Saban would have retired if Alabama had an NIL advantage over most programs?
John Adams is a senior columnist. He may be reached at 865-342-6284 or john.adams@knoxnews.com.
This article originally appeared on Knoxville News Sentinel: Tennessee football can overcome coaching disadvantage in Alabama series | Adams
