Oklahoma's Josh Heupel hired at Tennessee

Bob Stoops' first quarterback and the last QB to lead OU to a national title will take over the reins in Knoxville

John E. Hoover | Jan 27, 2021

Josh Heupel, the last Oklahoma quarterback to lead his team to a national championship and one of the primary architects of the Sooners’ current dynasty, just hit the big time as a coach.

After three years as head coach at Central Florida, Huepel was hired Tuesday by Tennessee.

Welcome to Rocky Top, @coachjoshheupel!
— Tennessee Football (@Vol_Football) January 27, 2021

Heupel, 42, replaces Jeremy Pruitt, who was fired Jan. 18 after an internal investigation uncovered recruiting improprieties.

“I am thrilled to be coming to Tennessee,” Heupel said in a University of Tennessee press release. “I understand that Volunteer fans are hungry for a return to the top that they so richly deserve, and it is my goal and commitment to bring a championship back to Rocky Top.”

The Aberdeen, SD, native and former junior college quarterback went 28-8 in his three seasons in Orlando, including a 12-0 start to his head coaching career in 2018 before the Knights lost in the Fiesta Bowl.

Heupel’s hiring seemed almost imminent after Tennessee hired UCF athletic director Danny White to replace Phil Fulmer back on Jan. 21. White hired Heupel for his first head coaching job after two years as offensive coordinator at Missouri.

Josh Heupel and Josh Norman celebrate / Robert Deutsch -USA TODAY Network

Heupel became the Sooners’ quarterback in 1999, shortly after Bob Stoops hired Mike Leach. Leach found the left-hander at Snow (UT) Junior College.

After leading OU to its first winning record in more than five years by going 7-5 in his first season, Heupel’s pinpoint passing powered the Sooners to a perfect 13-0 mark and the program’s seventh national championship in 2000.

He rewrote virtually every passer record at a school known for option quarterbacks, throwing for 7,066 yards and 50 touchdowns.

An arm injury derailed Heupel’s NFL hopes, but he soon got into coaching and in 2004 was a graduate assistant at his alma mater.

Josh Heupel at UCF / Maria Lysaker-USA TODAY Sports

He worked as tight ends coach under Mike Stoops at Arizona in 2005, then returned to Norman ahead of the ’05 Holiday Bowl after Kevin Wilson was promoted to offensive coordinator.

Heupel coached OU quarterbacks in 2006, and when Wilson took over the Indiana program in 2011, Bob Stoops promoted Heupel to offensive coordinator.

Heupel was fired after the 2014 season, however — what Stoops has called the hardest decision of his coaching career — and replaced by Lincoln Riley. Heupel hasn’t maintained close ties to Stoops or the OU program. He has repeatedly turned down interview requests from Oklahoma media.

After leaving OU, Heupel coached at Utah State for a year and then for Missouri in 2016-17.

Last year, Heupel was on the College Football Hall of Fame ballot but did not get voted in.

OU is scheduled to play at Tennessee on Sept. 7, 2024.

Published Jan 27, 2021

JOHN E. HOOVER

John is an award-winning journalist whose work spans five decades in Oklahoma, with multiple state, regional and national awards as a sportswriter at various newspapers. During his newspaper career, John covered the Dallas Cowboys, the Kansas City Chiefs, the Oklahoma Sooners, the Oklahoma State Cowboys, the Arkansas Razorbacks and much more. In 2016, John changed careers, migrating into radio and launching a YouTube channel, and has built a successful independent media company, DanCam Media. From there, John has written under the banners of Sporting News, Sports Illustrated, Fan Nation and a handful of local and national magazines while hosting daily sports talk radio shows in Oklahoma City, Tulsa and statewide. John has also spoken on Capitol Hill in Oklahoma City in a successful effort to put more certified athletic trainers in Oklahoma public high schools. Among the dozens of awards he has won, John most cherishes his national "Beat Writer of the Year" from the Associated Press Sports Editors, Oklahoma's "Best Sports Column" from the Society of Professional Journalists, and Two "Excellence in Sports Medicine Reporting" Awards from the National Athletic Trainers Association. John holds a bachelor's degree in Mass Communications from East Central University in Ada, OK. Born and raised in North Pole, Alaska, John played football and wrote for the school paper at Ada High School in Ada, OK. He enjoys books, movies and travel, and lives in Broken Arrow, OK, with his wife and two kids.