On Monday, USA TODAY released its list of top 25 college football coaches in the country.

Tennessee football coach Josh Heupel was not inside the top 15.

That begs the question, are there really that many more coaches with better resumes than Heupel heading into the 2025 season?

TALK ABOUT IT IN THE ROCKY TOP FORUM

In the poll voted on by five writers, Heupel comes in as the No. 17 coach in the country.

This mark is good for sixth best in the SEC. Ahead of him in the conference are Kirby Smart at Georgia (No. 1), Steve Sarkisian at Texas (No. 4), Kalen DeBoer at Alabama (No. 8), Lane Kiffin at Ole Miss (No. 9) and Brian Kelly at LSU (No. 10).

The only other SEC coach in the rankings is Eli Drinkwitz of Missouri at No. 24. No other in-conference coach received votes, as well.

Behind Smart in second place is Ryan Day of Ohio State, fresh off a national title. He is one of three active head coaches to have won a championship. The other, Clemson's Dabo Swiney, comes in at No. 3.

Rounding out the top five behind Sarkisian is Penn State's James Franklin. Oregon's Dan Lanning (No. 6) and Notre Dame's Marcus Freeman (No. 7) are the other non-SEC coaches within the top 10.

In the article listing the rankings, USA TODAY gave a short explanation on its decision.

Here's what it said about Heupel:

"If Tennessee didn't hit rock bottom after firing Jeremy Pruitt amid an NCAA investigation, it at least could reach down and touch the bottom. Then Josh Heupel arrived and pulled the Vols out of peril. He’s beaten Alabama twice. He jolted Tennessee’s offense to life with his warp-speed system. In a sign of coaching growth, he made the playoff by building a good defense. He’s a coach with a high floor, even if he might be nearing his ceiling."

Should Heupel be ranked higher than No. 17 in a coaches ranking? You could certainly make the case, but he's in the ballpark of where he should probably be ranked.

Directly ahead of him sit Jeff Brohm at Louisville, Chris Klieman at Kansas State and Kirk Ferentz at Iowa. While each of those coaches is successful in their own right, it wouldn't be out of the question at all for Heupel to be slotted above that trio. This would propel him into the top 15.

The next step is another group of comparable coaches. At No. 13, Indiana's Curt Cignetti comes off a really impressive year. No. 12 homes Utah's Kyle Whittingham who has had a sustained tenure for two decades. The final piece outside the top 10 is Iowa State's Matt Campbell.

That trio feel like they're on the same tier as Heupel, but are tougher to make arguments against when comparing to Tennessee's coach than the previous three coaches.

– TALK ABOUT IT IN THE ROCKY TOP FORUM.

– ENJOY VOLREPORT WITH A PREMIUM SUBSCRIPTION.

– SUBSCRIBE TO THE VOLREPORT YOUTUBE CHANNEL.

– FOLLOW VOLREPORT ON TWITTER: @TennesseeRivals, @ByNoahTaylor, @RyanTSylvia, @Dale_Dowden, @ShayneP_Media.