Josh Heupel talks 'unique' feeling of Tennessee playing at Oklahoma in SEC opener
There’s nothing foreign about Oklahoma joining the SEC to Tennessee coach Josh Heupel. Not for the former Sooner quarterback who led his team to a national championship in 2000, finishing runner-up for the Heisman Trophy.
He spent nine years on the sideline at Oklahoma, too, coaching quarterbacks and spending four years as co-offensive coordinator under head coach Bob Stoops.
So when he looks at Oklahoma and Texas joining the SEC, he sees nothing that he hasn’t seen up close, day in and day out.
“Two great brands that continue to build the depth of this league,” Heupel said Wednesday at SEC Spring Meetings in Florida. “And historical programs that have had a ton of success.”
Oklahoma fired Josh Heupel as offensive coordinator in 2014
It just so happens that Heupel and Tennessee will welcome Oklahoma to the SEC on September 21, when the Sooners make their debut in the league by hosting the Vols in Norman in the conference opener for both teams.
Oklahoma goes to Tennessee in 2025, in what will be the sixth game between the two teams.
The Sooners won 34-10 in Norman in 2014 and won 31-24 in overtime at Neyland Stadium in Knoxville in 2016, overcoming a 17-0 deficit. Tennessee beat Oklahoma 17-0 in the 1939 Orange Bowl, capping an 11-0 season, and Oklahoma won 26-24 in the 1968 Orange Bowl.
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Heupel was the offensive coordinator in 2014, when the Sooners had 454 total yards in the win. But Stoops fired Heupel at the end of the 2014 season, leading Heupel to stops at Utah State and Missouri as quarterbacks coach and offensive coordinator, before he was hired at UCF as head coach in 2018.
‘It’ll be unique to go back and play inside of that stadium’
Heupel on Wednesday was asked about his return to Oklahoma 10 years later, on the other sideline.
“For me, from my coaching career to playing career,” Heupel said, “a lot of great relationships, a lot of great memories, so many people that have been a huge part of helping me as a player grow as a man helping me in this profession as well. So a lot of great memories.
Heupel noted his sister still lives in Oklahoma. So does his dad.
A lot of people that I still stay in touch with. Sister lives back there, dad lives back there as well.
“It’ll be unique to go back and play inside of that stadium,” Heupel said, “being on the other sideline.”
