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O’Gara: Why I can’t help but wonder where the Josh Heupel-Oklahoma relationship stands

Connor O'Gara

By Connor O'Gara

Published:

It’s been nearly a decade since Josh Heupel got the news that changed the trajectory of his career.

For the first time as a coach, he got fired at the end of the 2014 season. Or rather, Heupel didn’t get his contract renewed by Oklahoma. As in, his alma mater. Like, the program that he led to a BCS national title as a quarterback in 2000. It was where Heupel spent 10 of his first 11 seasons as a coach, the last 4 of which were as the Sooners’ offensive coordinator.

Heupel was on the wrong end of a 40-6 beatdown from Clemson in the Russell Athletic Bowl in Orlando. Trevor Knight was ineffective all night with 2.8 yards/pass attempt and 3 interceptions against Brent Venables’ Clemson defense.

That dropped the Oklahoma offense out of the top 20 in scoring for the second consecutive season, which hadn’t happened since 1997-98. The irony is that Heupel started that streak when he took over the QB1 job and led Bob Stoops’ first Oklahoma team to a top-10 offense in 1999. Heupel then kept that streak alive as OU’s QBs coach (2006-10) and as OU’s OC (2011-14).

But all that goodwill didn’t save Heupel’s job. He was the scapegoat for a 5-loss season. It had to make it that much more awkward to part ways with Heupel.

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Of course, we know what happened after that. Lincoln Riley took over OC duties, Baker Mayfield took over QB1 duties and Oklahoma got back to being Oklahoma. Heupel, on the other hand, refocused his efforts and had successful OC stints at Utah State and Mizzou before ultimately doing the same as a head coach at UCF and now Tennessee.

Nearly a decade later, I can’t help but wonder what that relationship looks like now as Oklahoma joins the SEC. It’s only fitting that the Sooners’ SEC debut will be against … Heupel’s Tennessee squad.

That was news to Heupel (sort of):

When Sept. 21 rolls around, even casual college football fans will be unable to avoid the Heupel-Oklahoma reunion. My guess is that Oklahoma will host College GameDay for that matchup. My other guess is that Heupel will continue to say all the right things about his alma mater. Stirring the pot for the sake of stirring the pot hasn’t been Heupel’s game.

At SEC Media Days last year, he said that it’ll be “special” to return to Norman:

Heupel has been back to Oklahoma a handful of times, so this won’t be the first time since his firing. At the end of the 2022 season, Heupel was at former safety Roy Williams’ Hall of Fame induction, arm in arm with Venables, who was on the staff that won Stoops’ lone national title:

OK, so then what are we talking about here? Heupel clearly doesn’t show animosity toward Oklahoma, at least not publicly.

But if you gave Heupel truth serum, what would he say? Would he say that Stoops’ decision to fire him lit a fire that’s still burning? Would he say that he wanted Oklahoma to give him the full-court press to fill Riley’s vacancy after the 2021 season? Would he say that Oklahoma is the game on the schedule that motivates him more than any other? Would he say that all is forgiven with Stoops and that there’s no animosity?

I’d love to know the unfiltered truth, as I’m sure plenty of college football fans would. Now isn’t the time for that. Shoot, maybe that time will never come with how rare Heupel makes headlines for any sort of public jab.

Heupel did tell the Orlando Sentinel this back in 2018:

I don’t doubt that Heupel still has that perspective. He got back to his roots offensively and became a master of the up-tempo, spread offense that’s become a mainstay in the sport. The guy who got fired after failing to have a top-20 scoring offense in consecutive seasons rattled off 5 top-8 offenses in his first 5 seasons as a head coach (that streak ended last year with Tennessee’s No. 35 scoring offense).

You could argue that the Heupel-Oklahoma breakup was indeed best for both parties. Riley’s promotion to OC and eventually to Stoops’ successor ushered in an unmatched era of offensive football in Norman before he bolted for USC while Heupel provided stability to Tennessee that it hadn’t had in the post-Phillip Fulmer era.

It’s possible that both sides were better for that awkward decision. It’s also possible that Tennessee will go into Norman, beat Oklahoma and Heupel will smile ear to ear the entire flight back to Knoxville with headphones in his ears, blasting the song of the late OU super fan/country star Toby Keith.

“HOW DO YOU LIKE ME NOW?!?!?!”

(Tennessee staffers: If you don’t have that song downloaded and ready to roll in the postgame locker room for that showdown in Norman, you’re doing it wrong.)

What Heupel, Oklahoma fans and Tennessee aren’t focused on is a scenario in which there’s another vacancy in Norman. Hypothetically speaking, what if Venables struggles the next 2 seasons and he’s gone after 2025? If you’re Oklahoma, the first call would have to be to Heupel … right? That doesn’t mean Heupel has to spend any time considering it. As he said after the 2021 season, he loves Tennessee and believes in what they’re building. Heupel turning down that opportunity wouldn’t necessarily indicate that there’s lingering animosity.

Of course, Heupel shocking the world and accepting that completely hypothetical job offer would be the ultimate sign that all is forgiven with Oklahoma. To be determined on that.

For now, we can all look forward to that well-documented reunion in a few months. On3’s George Stoia reported that there could even be plans to honor Heupel during the game. It’s not often you see a montage of an opposing coach in the middle of a headliner matchup. Then again, it’s not often you see a former national championship-winning quarterback return to his alma mater after he was fired from there a decade earlier.

The Heupel-Oklahoma relationship — whatever it is now — is 1-of-1. We’ll get plenty of reminders of that before and after Sept. 21.

Connor O'Gara

Connor O'Gara is the senior national columnist for Saturday Down South. He's a member of the Football Writers Association of America. After spending his entire life living in B1G country, he moved to the South in 2015.

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