Tennessee's Josh Heupel made a choice that's either brilliant or it's a missed opportunity, and we aren't sure which one it is yet

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Tennessee Volunteers head coach Josh Heupel doesn’t typically mix it up with other coaches in the SEC. Heupel prefers to keep to himself, which makes him a bit of an outsider at times.

Tennessee Vols head coach Josh Heupel has made an effort to be more vocal this offseason as he attempts to control some of the narratives surrounding UT football.

Heupel, however, is still relatively silent when it comes to the drama between SEC coaches.

And I’m not sure if that’s a good idea or not.

Should Josh Heupel mix it up more with the heavyweights in college football?

Georgia Bulldogs head coach Kirby Smart described Heupel last fall as a coach who likes to keep to himself.

"I like Josh," said Smart on his radio show before playing Tennessee last September. "I think he's opened up some more over the years. The first couple of times I've been on the field with him, or been in meetings with him, he doesn't say a whole lot. He keeps to himself. But I think he's getting more comfortable in our league in speaking up in meetings.

"I mean, our relationship is we're not real close. We've never been on the same staff. We don't really have any connections. But I have a lot of respect for him and the way he runs his program.”

Heupel is a bit of an anomaly in the SEC in that sense.

The rest of the conference’s coaches (or at least a good number of them), have seemingly leaned into the WWE style banter/promos.

LSU’s Lane Kiffin is the king of being showman.

Texas head coach Steve Sarkisian jumped into the mix this week when he poked fun at the admission standards at Ole Miss.

Even new Florida Gators head coach Jon Sumrall threw a jab (though I’m not sure who it was directed at).

South Carolina’s Shane Beamer, Texas A&M’s Mike Elko, and Missouri’s Eli Drinkwitz are among the other coaches in the SEC that lean into the showman aspect of the job.

Hell, even former Vols offensive coordinator Alex Golesh, now the head coach at Auburn, has been fairly vocal this offseason.

Heupel just seems to have no interest in mixing it up with other coaches and talking trash via the media.

And I can’t figure out if that’s a good thing or not. Recruits seem to enjoy the big personalities that some coaches have. And some of those recruits have helped programs win national championships.

Ultimately, I think the most important thing is for Heupel to be true to himself. But at the same time, we know Heupel has a petty side to him, so I don’t think mixing it up with other coaches would be foreign to him. But for whatever reason, he seems more comfortable being in the background.

I don’t know if it’s brilliant or if it’s a missed opportunity, but it’s the choice that Heupel’s made, at least for now.

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