'He doesn't bring it up': Josh Heupel isn't making Tennessee-Oklahoma about him
If Saturday night’s game means something more to Josh Heupel, his players haven’t heard about it. The Tennessee head coach’s homecoming in Norman may be in the spotlight in the media, but it hasn’t been a talking point inside the locker room.
“I haven’t heard anyone say, ‘Let’s go get this for coach,” Tennessee senior defensive tackle Omari Thomas said on Tuesday. “Because Coach Heupel, the way he approaches it, he doesn’t bring it up to make it about him. So no one is really thinking about it, like let’s go win this for Coach Heup, things like that.”
Heupel starred at Oklahoma as a transfer quarterback in 1999 and 2000, taking a Sooner program that had won just 12 games over the three previous seasons to a 7-5 record in his first year, then to a BCS national championship in 2000 after a perfect 13-0 season.
He coached for Bob Stoops at Oklahoma for nine years, too, going from a graduate assistant to co-offensive coordinator, before being fired after the 2014 season.
No. 6 Tennessee at No. 15 Oklahoma, Saturday, 7:30 p.m. ET, ABC
Now he leads No. 6 Tennessee (3-0) back to Oklahoma Memorial Stadium, where the Vols will face No. 15 Oklahoma (3-0) as the Sooners make their debut as an SEC team.
Heupel had no problem fielding the Oklahoma questions on Monday, the ones he knew he’d get during his weekly press conference.
“It will be unique,” Heupel said. “I have teammates and friends back there. They hit me up a little bit early. They were starting last week already. It will be unique going back into that stadium.
“It’s going to be a (different) viewpoint. I am not sure I spent a day on the opposing sideline inside the stadium — not even for scrimmage. It will be different. But it is one that I am really looking forward to.”
‘He’s just always continuing to push us to be part of Tennessee, push Tennessee, push the Power T’
He even had jokes when asked about the hostile environment his team could be walking into.
“Should be a great crowd,” Heupel said. “It’s a passionate fan base. I am expecting them to be extremely quiet for us out of respect for me and to the program, too.”
The program is what Heupel is preaching on his players, just like any other game week.
“He’s just always continuing to push us to be part of Tennessee, push Tennessee, push the Power T,” Thomas said. “That’s what we’re playing for. We’re playing for the Power T.
“We know the Power T is going to be around long after us. We’re building a legacy for long after we’re gone. So people can say what these guys, the ’24 team, did.”
