Josh Heupel
The numbers
$9,000,000
annualized (current, Base Pay + Supplemental Pay)
Sum of printed components; the contract does not print a single total.
USA TODAY reports $9.00M (FY2025).
What the document says
“Supplemental Pay ... in the amount of Eight Million Seven Hundred Twenty-Five Thousand Dollars ($8,725,000) [Amendment 2, page 1] + Base Pay ... in the amount of Two Hundred Seventy-Five Thousand Dollars ($275,000) [2021 agreement, Section 2.1, page 1]”Section 2.1 (2021 original) + Section 2.2.1 (Amendment 2) · Tennessee — Josh Heupel head coach contract (portal harvest 2026) · Page 1
75% of remaining Base Pay + Supplemental Pay through January 31, 2030
December 15, 2025 through December 14, 2027
The document states a formula, not a dollar figure.
USA TODAY reports a buyout of $37.50M (FY2025) — a single figure as of that year rather than the formula this contract carries.
What the document says
“(ii) seventy-five percent (75%) of the Base Pay and Supplemental Pay which would have been payable from the date of termination through January 31, 2030, if such termination occurs on or after December 15, 2025, but before December 15, 2027”Amendment 3 (2025), Section 3.1.2 University Separation Payment · Tennessee — Josh Heupel head coach contract (portal harvest 2026) · Page 1
Through January 31, 2030
full term (as extended 2025)
Running from January 27, 2021.
The document gives two end dates. Both are in the quote below; the date shown is the one the operative amendment substitutes into the agreement.
What the document says
“The University and Coach agree to extend the Term of the Employment Agreement until June 30, 2030. Accordingly, Article I, Section 1.2 is amended by deleting the date of "January 31, 2029" and substituting the date of "January 31, 2030".”Amendment 3 (2025), amending Section 1.2 · Tennessee — Josh Heupel head coach contract (portal harvest 2026) · Page 1
The recital says the Term is extended 'until June 30, 2030' while the operative sentence substitutes 'January 31, 2030' into Section 1.2. Both are quoted; period_end follows the operative amendment (January 31, 2030), which is also the date the separation-payment sections in the same amendment run to.
Figures on these cards are read off the cited document at the cited page. USA TODAY's row is reported alongside as a cross-check, not merged into them: a contract states scheduled pay for a contract year, USA TODAY reports one fiscal year of pay to whoever held the job, and the two are expected to differ. USA TODAY also lists a maximum bonus of $1.70M. Source ↗
The fine print
Ten occupied legs or thirty occupied hours a year, whichever runs out first — family and guests included.
“The University shall provide Coach with the use of noncommercial (private or charter) aircraft for Coach's personal, non-business travel, and/or that of his guests and/or family, for up to either ten (10) occupied legs or thirty (30) occupied hours of flight time, whichever occurs first, within the continental United States per Contract Year.”Tennessee — Josh Heupel head coach contract (portal harvest 2026) · Page 1View the document →
The 2021 original allowed three personal round trips a year — replaced in 2025 by the legs/hours cap.
“The University shall provide Coach with the use of noncommercial (private or charter) aircraft for Coach's personal, non-business travel, and/or that of his guests and/or family, for up to three (3) round-trip flights within the continental United States per Contract Year.”Tennessee — Josh Heupel head coach contract (portal harvest 2026) · Page 4View the document →
Tennessee's exit payment steps down from 100% to 75% to 50% of what remains, by date — and the school may offset anything he earns elsewhere.
“If the University terminates Coach's employment without Cause, then the University shall pay Coach a separation payment ("University Separation Payment") in the amount of: (i) one hundred percent (100%) of the Base Pay and Supplemental Pay which would have been payable from the date of termination through January 31, 2030, if such termination occurs before December 15, 2025; (ii) seventy-five percent (75%) ... if such termination occurs on or after December 15, 2025, but before December 15, 2027; or (iii) fifty percent (50%) ... if such termination occurs on or after December 15, 2027.”Tennessee — Josh Heupel head coach contract (portal harvest 2026) · Page 1View the document →
He must report outside income quarterly and Tennessee can deduct it — while the same paragraph says he has no duty to mitigate.
“For each month from the termination date through the end of the Term, the University shall have the right to deduct or offset any and all such non-passive income of Coach from any employment (whether as an employee or independent contractor) from the monthly University Separation Payment installment. University hereby acknowledges and agrees that Coach shall have no obligation to mitigate any of University's obligations under this Paragraph 3.1.2.”Tennessee — Josh Heupel head coach contract (portal harvest 2026) · Page 2View the document →
If he walks, he owes Tennessee $8M before Dec. 15, 2025, sliding to nothing after Dec. 15, 2029.
“If Coach terminates Coach's employment without cause at any time during the Term, then Coach (or a third party on Coach's behalf) shall pay the University a separation payment ("Coach Separation Payment") in the amount of: (i) $8,000,000 in the event termination occurs before December 15, 2025; (ii) $6,000,000 in the event termination occurs on or after December 15, 2025, but before December 15, 2026; (iii) $4,000,000 in the event termination occurs on or after December 15, 2026, but before December 15, 2027; (iv) $3,000,000 in the event termination occurs on or after December 15, 2027, but before December 15, 2028; (v) $2,000,000 in the event termination occurs on or after December 15, 2028, but before December 15, 2029 (with no payment being due in the event such termination occurs on or after December 15, 2029).”Tennessee — Josh Heupel head coach contract (portal harvest 2026) · Page 2View the document →
Every clause here is quoted from the document it cites. A clause that cannot be re-checked against the scan is not published.
Read the contract
The flights
Contract grants 30 personal flight hours a year → Published reporting on Tennessee Volunteers aircraft during this tenure:
A jet clause is eligibility; a tracked flight is evidence; the join is presented as contract-next-to-reporting, never as proof the coach was aboard.
How this page is sourced
Where a contract for this coach is in the corpus, the headline figures are read off that document at the page each card cites, and USA TODAY's figure runs alongside as a cross-check. Where no contract is held, the figures are school-reported contract terms from USA TODAY's coaches salary database for the most recent fiscal year on file. Neither is W-2 compensation, and neither is comparable to Form 990 totals for private schools.
Clause text is transcribed verbatim from the cited document at the cited page. Where a term is attributed to published reporting rather than a document we hold, the card says so explicitly.
Flight reports linked here are attributed to the program and the date, not to a passenger. Nothing on this page claims a coach exercised a clause or was aboard an aircraft.