Josh Heupel finished as the runner-up in the 2000 Heisman Trophy race when he was the quarterback at Oklahoma.

Now that the Sooners are (eventually) going to join the SEC, Heupel has a unique perspective on what his former school brings to the table.

On Tuesday, Heupel said bringing Texas and Oklahoma to the league strengthens the SEC as a whole (via KnoxNews.com):

“You want to coach and play in this league because you get a chance to compete against the best every single day and every single week,” Heupel said Tuesday. “This league continues to strengthen itself inside the landscape of college football.”

He added that it is impossible to predict what realignment is going to look like in the future, but he’s excited for the direction the SEC is heading:

“I think if you look back 20 years ago, I am not sure any of us would have guessed what the landscape would look like now before the original shift of realignment,” Heupel said. “Once that happened, people thought that at different moments in time, there was the possibility of realignment. I’m excited about what our league continues to do.”

How much success can Heupel have in his SEC coaching career? Will he get a chance to play his alma mater? We’ll find out over the next few years!