How Oklahoma has turned around the relationship with Josh Heupel with Tennessee matchup looming

As former Oklahoma quarterback and offensive coordinator Josh Heupel returns to Norman in 2024 leading the Tennessee program, it brings back an old wound, one formed when Heupel was fired from his alma mater. But enough time may have passed for that sore spot to have recovered.

It’s been no secret in college football that Heupel was left spurned by the decision from then-Sooners head coach Bob Stoops to fire him after the 2014 season. But nearly 10 years after the fact, as Heupel leads his own program to a place he won a national championship, On3’s Andy Staples and Sooner Scoop’s Eddie Radosevich and George Stoia thinks all might be well come the Sept. 21 matchup.

“Hopefully, everybody to a certain extent respects what that is and the relationship with Josh. That bridge, it might’ve been looked at as maybe burned over the last couple years, but I think there is some movement to maybe get that thing, at least, seemingly, talked about. Because the memory of what Josh Heupel is to people in Norman is incredibly important and certainly the start of Bob’s era and everything that came with that,” Radosevich said.

Heupel’s place in Sooner lore is notable and irreplaceable in many regards. He was the quarterback on the 2000 national championship team, and many will argue to this day that he was snubbed for the Heisman trophy. He helped usher in the Stoops era in Norman, too.

But it was also Stoops that cut Heupel loose in 2014. With hindsight, Staples is hoping all parties involved can see things might’ve worked out OK.

In any regard, there’s no reason Heupel should’ve be a beloved figure by the Oklahoma faithful, as Staples sees things.

“I don’t blame Josh for feeling the way that he feels, because of the way that it ended,” Staples said. “They were rolling offensively and then they bogged down. I think Bob had to make the move. I don’t think you can argue that it was the right move at the time, but I understand why that would piss Josh off. But I hope they can patch it up, because — not because I think that Josh needs to be the Oklahoma coach some day, I think Josh is doing a great job just sort of planting his own flag. But, he should be a beloved former player, which he is, but should feel that love as well and not feel bitter about the whole place.”

The good news might be that without any sort of active move to open arms for Heupel, time has helped assuage any hard feelings.

Stoia expects it to be lots of love for Heupel, who may even get honored during the game by Oklahoma in some way.

“And I think a lot of that animosity has gone away. I know talking to some people just this last year in the administration that I think they plan to celebrate him in some fashion and honor him during the game. And I think he’ll get a standing ovation, I really do. I think the fanbase as somewhat moved on from that whole ordeal, because there was a lot of fans that wanted Josh Heupel fired,” Stoia said.

And as Staples intimated, things have ultimately gone alright for both parties. The Sooners continued to compete at a national level and Heupel retooled his career and rose to ink a long-term extension at one of the premier SEC schools.

“You look in the mirror, you make the changes that you need to make,” Radosevich said. “And obviously what he’s been able to do at Central Florida and now Tennessee, the rest is kind of history and if he needs a reminder, I don’t know what bank he uses in Knoxville, but I’m sure when he logs into his bank account and he looks at it, he’s doing just fine.”

A word of caution, though: The feud dying down for Heupel shouldn’t necessarily be taken as an indication of what’s to come concerning one Lincoln Riley.

“If you think people love hate-watching sports, just get around a television at a bar in Oklahoma City at about 9:30 on a Saturday night when USC is playing,” Radosevich said.