How Mike Leach went to bat for Josh Heupel at Oklahoma ... and how it paid off

Mike Leach went to bat for Josh Heupel, then a relatively unknown junior college quarterback, in 1999. And he never forgot it, not after the way it paid off. 

Leach, who died Monday from complications of heart disease at age 61, was Oklahoma offensive coordinator and quarterbacks coach in 1999 and was in search of a quarterback to run his Air Raid offense.

“The Sooners had gone 5-6 the previous season,” Leach wrote in his 2011 book ‘Swing Your Sword’. “They’d tried to run about four different offenses that year. I felt l needed a junior college quarterback who could come in at midyear and be our starter right away. I recruited Josh Heupel, a left-hander at Snow College in Ephraim, Utah. 

“A few of the O.U. assistants didn’t like Heupel, but I really did. They didn’t like that he couldn’t run well. He also had a weak arm, but could throw the ball 45 yards without it fluttering. More important, he was deadly accurate and made smart decisions.”

Mike Leach: Josh Heupel was ‘instrumental’ in helping rebuild at Oklahoma in 1999

And Heupel’s leadership during the offseason, just after arriving in Oklahoma, was key.

“Most of our new players were excited about the schemes we were bringing in,” Leach wrote of his Air Raid offense. “The toughest thing for them were the catching and route-running drills, which they really had to master on their own since coaches aren’t allowed to work with player in the off-season outside of spring ball.

“Having Heupel there in time for the spring was huge. I don’t think people around Oklahoma fully appreciated how instrumental he was.”

Heupel would throw for 3,460 yards and 30 touchdowns in Leach’s offense in 1999. 

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

In 2000, after Leach left to become the head coach at Texas Tech, 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.

“Heupel got everybody on the same page,” Leach wrote. “That’s a challenge for any quarterback, but Josh had to do it as an outsider in a team going through a coaching transition. He jump-started everything for us.”

A little over 20 years later, Heupel had a similar story of his own. 

He was hired at Tennessee as head coach in January 2021 and inherited a transfer quarterback, Hendon Hooker, who would jumpstart another rebuild.

The former Virginia Tech quartreback found new life in Heupel’s offense, throwing for 2,945 yards and 31 touchdowns, with just three interceptions, last season. He ran for 616 yards on the ground and five more scores.

This season, before tearing his ACL in November at South Carolina, Hooker passed for 3,135 yards and 27 touchdowns, against two interceptions, leading Tennessee to an 8-0 start and a No. 1 ranking in the first College Football Playoff Top 25 of the season.

Hooker set a new Tennessee record for single-season completion percentage in 2021, at 68.0 percent, then reset the record this season after completing 69.6 percent of his passes. Heupel in 1999 at Oklahoma set a new program record for completion percentage at 62.0 percent.

Josh Heupel: Mike Leach ‘saw something in me when no one else did’

He’s 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.

Heupel released a statement on Tuesday, following the news of Leach’s death.

“I am heartbroken on the passing of Coach Leach,” Heupel said. “In 1999, he gave a kid out of Snow College in Utah a shot at major college football. He saw something in me when no one else did. 

“Like so many across our sport, I am grateful for Coach Leach’s impact on my life both personally and professionally. His offensive philosophy and vision were ahead of his time, and they continue to shape the game today.

“Off the field, he was one of a kind — an incredible storyteller, a man full of wisdom and someone who always cared about his former players and coaches. I enjoyed our friendship over the years. My deepest condolences go out to Coach Leach’s family, his wife Sharon, his kids and grandkids and the entire Mississippi State football program.”