We’ve circled Tennessee football’s road trip to Oklahoma from the moment that the SEC announced that Texas and Oklahoma were joining the conference over three years ago.
It marks Josh Heupel’s return to his alma mater where he was the starting quarterback for the Sooners’ 2000 National Championship team and then coached for 10 years before his former head coach Bob Stoops fired him as offensive coordinator following the 2014 season.
Stoops is apparently a popular man this week with numerous media outlets reaching out to him to talk about Heupel and Venables— the two head coaches in the matchup who both worked for him. The 18-year Oklahoma head coach began game week by releasing a statement saying that he wasn’t doing interviews ahead of Saturday’s game.
“Having a strong history with Brent Venables and Josh Huepel as players/coaches has led to far too many requests or interviews,” Stoops wrote. “I have a great respect for both coaches. I’m forever grateful for their work at OU; Brent as a coach here for 13 years including our national championship in 2000.
Josh as our 2000 national championship QB & coach for 10 years. I’ve often said he is the MVP of all my recruits because he is the catalyst that got us started in ’99.”
Stoops did spell Heupel’s name wrong in his statement but otherwise said nice things about his former quarterback and assistant coach.
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Tennessee’s fourth-year head coach is unlikely to say anything about it this week, but the relationship between Heupel and his former coach and school will be a major storyline this week. Heupel has had nothing to do with Oklahoma since they fired him 10 years ago instead rejuvenating his career with stops as an assistant coach at Utah State and Missouri and now as head coach at UCF and Tennessee.
When Lincoln Riley— who replaced Heupel as offensive coordinator at Oklahoma and eventually succeeded Stoops following his retirement in 2016— left Oklahoma for USC following the 2021 season, Heupel was reportedly not a serious candidate for the Oklahoma job despite his obvious ties to the program and success a UCF and in his first season at Tennessee.
Oklahoma instead hired another Stoops assistant in Brent Venables. Venables spent 13 years as a Stoops assistant, first as co-defensive coordinator and then as full-time defensive coordinator. The veteran defensive coordinator then spent 10 seasons as Clemson’s defensive coordinator where he helped the Tigers win two National Championships.
In two-plus seasons as Oklahoma’s head coach, Venables has a 19-10 record including a 10-8 record in Big 12 play. In three-plus seasons as Tennessee’s head coach, Heupel has a 30-12 record including a 14-10 record in SEC play.
Stoops says that he’s supporting both head coaches at their current stops but that he’s obviously fully backing the Sooners this week.
“I wish them both great success moving forward,” Stoops wrote. “But in the end I’m all Boomer Sooner!”
#OUDNA #Boomer pic.twitter.com/4sQDsBGmiR
— Bob Stoops (@CoachBobStoops) September 16, 2024
