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Josh Heupel hires Indiana's Derek Owings as Tennessee football strength coach
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- Josh Heupel hires Indiana's Derek Owings as Tennessee football strength coach
Josh Heupel hired Indiana's Derek Owings as his new Tennessee football strength and conditioning coach after the Hoosiers won the national title.
Indiana beat Miami 27-21 in the College Football Playoff national title game on Jan. 19. UT announced Owings' hire on Jan. 20, giving him the official title of director of football sports performance.
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Owings spent the past two seasons as director of athletic performance at Indiana, where he helped coach Curt Cignetti transform the Hoosiers into a powerhouse. Indiana was 3-9 before they arrived in Bloomington. It went to the College Football Playoff in 2024 and won the CFP national championship.
"Tennessee is one of the most iconic brands in college football," Owings said in a UT release. "I'm thankful to Coach Heupel for believing in me, and I can't wait to serve this program, this staff and most importantly, these players on Rocky Top."
Owings worked for Cignetti at James Madison as strength coach from 2020-23. He also worked at Utah State (2016-18), UCF (2018) and Texas Tech (2019-20).
What Josh Heupel said about hiring Derek Owings
Owings was the assistant strength coach at UCF in Heupel's first season as head coach there in 2018. He played at Eastern Michigan (2012-13) and Mercer (2014-15).
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"Physical and mental toughness is paramount in everything we do year-round as a program. No one understands this better at a championship level than Derek," Heupel said. "He will elevate our strength and conditioning program with a relentless mindset and forge strong relationships with our players. He has a proven track record of utilizing modern training methods to maximize speed and strength, while specializing in injury prevention.
"He also understands what it takes to build an elite nutrition program to ensure our players are set up for on-field success and durability. We are thrilled to welcome Derek and his wife, Riley, to Rocky Top!"
It's a significant hire for Heupel, whose team was outplayed from a physicality standpoint in the 2025 season. The Vols lost all five games against FBS teams with a winning record.
Owings arrived at Tennessee on Jan. 20, when UT classes began for the spring semester. Offseason workouts under Owings will start on Jan. 21.
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Owings replaces Kurt Schmidt , who was not retained under an expiring contract. Schmidt had worked with Heupel for the past nine years at three different schools. He was at Missouri in 2017 when Heupel was the offensive coordinator there. He was Heupel's head strength coach at UCF in 2018-20 and at Tennessee in 2021-25.
Schmidt and Owings worked together at UCF in 2018. Schmidt was the head strength coach, and Owings was an assistant. They parted ways after one season.
Adam Sparks is the Tennessee football beat reporter. Email adam.sparks@knoxnews.com . X, formerly known as Twitter @AdamSparks . Support strong local journalism by subscribing at knoxnews.com/subscribe .
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This article originally appeared on Knoxville News Sentinel: Tennessee football hires Indiana's Derek Owings as strength coach
