Bob Stoops Believes Josh Heupel Deserves a ‘Standing Ovation’ Upon Returning to Oklahoma
Former Oklahoma head coach Bob Stoops deserves a ’round of ovation’ during his return to Oklahoma this season.
Most college football head coaches have to make several stops before landing a head coaching job, and Tennessee head coach Josh Heupel is no exception. Before ultimately ending up in Knoxville, Heupel coached at five different programs, including Oklahoma. Heupel will make his first return to Norman since leaving the Sooners during the 2024 college football season.
Heupel had multiple stints with the Sooners. He started as a graduate assistant in 2004, returned in 2006 as the quarterbacks coach after one season at Arizona, and remained there until 2014, eventually earning the title of offensive coordinator. However, things didn’t end on great terms. After the 2014 season, then-head coach Bob Stoops announced Heupel would not return as the play caller after the offense averaged 36.4 points per game and the team finished 8-5.
Heupel has a long history with Oklahoma, having played college football there. Bob Stoops was the head coach when Heupel earned the starting quarterback job and led the Sooners to a national title during an undefeated season, finishing as the Heisman Trophy runner-up.
Heupel has mentioned that he doesn’t hold any hard feelings against Oklahoma or Coach Stoops for his release, but the history between the two has created a highly anticipated matchup this fall. Stoops discussed the upcoming game on his YouTube show, stating that Heupel deserves a warm welcome back from fans when he returns to Norman.
“I’m happy for them; they’ve done a great job at Tennessee. [Heupel] has done well everywhere he’s been. When you look at Central Florida and here now at Tennessee. And the staff that’s with him — Joey Halzle [was] also a quarterback [at Oklahoma] and a graduate assistant. So they’ve done a really good job. Obviously, it’ll be neat with the first SEC game (for OU). And I’m sure our fans — they should and I’m sure they will give Josh a huge welcome. Meaning a round of ovation, he deserves that.”
The Tennessee Volunteers are set to play the Oklahoma Sooners in Norman on Sept. 21 during the fourth week of the 2024 college football season. A kickoff time has not yet been announced, but fans across the sport will be tuning in to see how the two teams fare against each other.
