Bob Stoops Says Josh Heupel Deserves 'Ovation' at Return to Oklahoma

Former Oklahoma head coach Bob Stoops deserves a 'round of ovation' during his return to Oklahoma this season.

Tennessee head coach Josh Heupel during a football game between Tennessee and Georgia at Neyland Stadium in Knoxville, Tenn., on Saturday, Nov. 18, 2023. / Brianna Paciorka/News Sentinel / USA

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 a round of stops before they ever land a head coaching gig and Tennessee head coach Josh Heupel is no exception to that. The now-Tennessee head coach coached at five different programs before he ultimately ended up in Knoxville. One of those programs was Oklahoma and Heupel will be making his first return to Norman since leaving the Sooners during the 2024 college football season.

Heupel had multiple stints with the Sooners. He started out as a graduate assistant with the program back in 2004, returned in 2006 as the quarterbacks coach after one season at Arizona and remained there until 2014 where he eventually earned the title of offensive coordinator. However, things didn't exactly end on great terms. Following the 2014 season, then-head coach Bob Stoops announced Heupel would not be returning as the playcaller after the offense averaged 36.4 points per game and the team finished 8-5.

Heupel has a long history with Oklahoma as he also played college football there. Bob Stoops was the head coach when Heupel earned the starting job at quarterback and eventually led the Sooners to a national title during an undefeated season in which Heupel finished as the Heisman Trophy runner-up.

The Tennessee head coach has mentioned before that he doesn't hold any hard feelings against Oklahoma or Coach Stoops for his release from the program, but the history between the two has created a highly anticipated match-up this fall. Stoops discussed the upcoming matchup on his YouTube show and said 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 for the game, but fans all over the sport will be tuning in to see how the two teams fare against one another.

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