Josh Heupel was introduced as Tennessee’s 27th all-time football head coach on Wednesday.
Heupel outlined taking the Vols’ head coaching position and his vision for the program.
Below is a transcript of Heupel’s opening statement. The transcript is provided by the University of Tennessee.
UT press release:
“What an awesome day for myself and our family. We’re so appreciative of the warm welcome we’ve received. I’m just excited to be a part of the Vol Nation and the Vol family. I want to thank Chancellor (Donde) Plowman and President (Randy) Boyd for your vision of what you want and foresee in athletics—the importance it has on a college campus and entrusting us to mentoring and teaching these young men the game of life, not just the game of football. To Danny, obviously those same sentiments, but having been around each other for three years, believing in the process we take our kids through and understanding what we’re trying to accomplish on the football field. We want to go and chase championships and we want to be our absolute best. At the same time, we want to develop them in life too. We really appreciate you all entrusting us with the care of this program and these young men and individuals.
“When I was chatting with Chancellor Plowman last night, one of the things that really registered with me and made this job opportunity so exciting was the aligned vision among leadership with everyone sitting here today. We talked about the importance of having a shared common vision, being able to work at our purpose to accomplish those things every single day and everybody pulling the rope in the same direction. When you have that in leadership, that’s going to transcend through your entire campus and hopefully through our entire state here in Tennessee. When you do those things, great things are capable of happening, and obviously, I’m here because we have the opportunity to go chase championships on the football field.”
NEXT: Josh Heupel’s opening statement continued