Josh Heupel explains how Mike Leach's impact made him want to get into coaching

The video was dated December 8, 1999. A teary-eyed Mike Leach, wearing an Oklahoma hat and sweatshirt, is talking with then-Oklahoma quarterback Josh Heupel. The next day, Leach would be introduced as the new head coach at Texas Tech. 

Leach, the Oklahoma offensive coordinator and quarterbacks coach who plucked Heupel out of junior college football and helped turn him into a Heisman Trophy candidate and future national champion, was telling his quarterback that he was leaving after only one season together in Norman.

“That clip, man it was a long ago and at the same time it feels like that seems like yesterday,” Heupel said on Saturday. “I remember that moment really clearly. That was the last practice that he was at Oklahoma, it hadn’t become public that he was taking the job at Texas Tech yet.” 

From the @kfor archives, Mike Leach at his last OU practice with Josh Heupel on Dec. 8, 1999. You can see the emotions as he talks with Heupel. Leach was introduced as the Texas Tech head coach the next day. pic.twitter.com/xm65rAhAes

— KFORsports (@KFORsports) December 14, 2022

Josh Heupel threw for 3,460 yards, 30 touchdowns playing quarterback for Mike Leach

Leach, who died on Monday of complications for heart disease at age 61, recruited Heupel out of Snow College in Utah in 1998. Heupel would throw for 3,460 yards and 30 touchdowns in Leach’s offense in 1999. 

“That opportunity to talk to him, (I was) excited for him,” Heupel said, still going back to the video showing Leach sharing his job news. “Obviously, he and I, in that year being able to flip what was going on offensively, what had been done there before and with Bob (Stoops) and the entire staff flipped the trajectory of Oklahoma Football. Really thankful for what he poured into me.”

Heupel threw for 3,606 yards and 20 touchdowns a year later, leading the Sooners to the BCS National Championship, a Big 12 Championship and, for Heupel, a second-place finish in the Heisman Trophy voting.

In a statement released last week, Heupel described himself as “heartbroken” after Leach’s passing. In his 2011 book, ‘Swing Your Sword,’ Leach explained how he went to bat for Heupel out of junior college, despite other Oklahoma assistant coaches not wanting the left-handed quarterback.

In 21 years as a head coach, he went 158-107 during stints at Texas Tech, Washington State and Mississippi State, leading his teams to 19 bowl games and changing the sport with his Air Raid offense

Heupel is considered part of the extensive Leach coaching tree. Leach’s 2000 Texas Tech staff alone included Sonny Dykes, Dana Holgorsen, Ruffin McNeill, Art Briles and Dave Aranda, with Kliff Kingsbury as the team’s starting quarterback.

“There’s a million conversations,” Heupel said of his time with Leach, “that had nothing to do with football – they might have started out as football, but they quickly transitioned into life—that you remember with him. Had an opportunity to talk to him with maybe (with) two weeks left to go in the regular season, late-night conversation and I remember my wife wasn’t listening to the entire conversation, but she heard it start with football, go way off the beaten path, and somehow navigate back to football at the very end of it. 

Up Next: No. 6 Tennessee vs. No. 7 Clemson, Orange Bowl, December 30, 8 p.m. ET, ESPN

Heupel has done his part and more to carry on Leach’s offensive legacy during his time at Tennessee. This season the Vols led the country in scoring offense at 47.3 points per game. They were third in passing, averaging 332.3 yards per game an 18th in rushing, averaging 205.7 yards, as the only offense averaging 200 or more rush yards and 300 or more pass yards per game. 

“You know, from Mike, just being with him every day in the meeting room, schematically how he thought at that time, there were very few people that were that wide open and thought differently,” Heupel said. “The way the game is played in space in today’s game is a direct reflection of him and his thought pattern. 

“For sure, how he thought about the game, how he allowed his quarterbacks to be a part of the game and have control out there on gameday, those are all things that played a major role in me ultimately wanting to get into football and coaching.”