Josh Heupel: Returning Conqueror
I saw this photo on Zach Ragan's X account. Josh Heupel looks really cool in it
By Jon Reed
Saturday night is about Josh Heupel.
Despite his best wishes, he’s the story of the game. He has been all week.
Pretty much anyone who covers college football has written or talked about the journey from a castoff at Weber State to damaged goods at Snow College before getting his big break as a player and being discovered by the Mad Scientist Mike Leach, who was Oklahoma’s Offensive Coordinator at the time, a position Josh would be groomed for and take over in 2011.
In his first season as the Oklahoma quarterback, he ended the Sooners five year streak of non-winning seasons (which is a big deal when you realize they had winning seasons every year from 1966 until 1994). He followed it up the year after by leading them to the only national championship that the Sooners have since the 80s.
Josh Heupel is carred off after winning the National Championship over Florida State, something that the Volunteers also did.
The catalyst.
That’s what Bob Stoops and Brent Venables call him due to all of the success Oklahoma had in the following years.
“The single greatest influence in my football career.”
That’s what the Heisman trophy winner and first pick in the 2010 NFL Draft, Sam Bradford, called Josh Heupel. Jason White said he set the standard, and Landry Jones said Oklahoma is “QBU” because of him.
It seems like his former coaches, teammates and pupils equally have respect and admiration for Heupel. Many in Oklahoma circles called him the heir to the throne. Unfortunately, he also earned another moniker.
The scapegoat.
That’s what noted good Big Brother Bob made him when Oklahoma decided something had to change after the 2014 season. The team went 8-5 and got embarrassed by Clemson; one of the coordinators had to be fired. Josh Heupel ran the offense. Little Brother Mike Stoops ran the defense. Blood proved to be thicker than a national championship as he fired the guy leading the offense that averaged 36.7 points per game that season.
You know the rest of the story. Heupel went to Utah State, a school that had recruited him out of Snow College, and reinvented himself before two years as the OC at Missouri. Danny White hired him to be the head coach of a loaded UCF team, and he won enough there to get the job at Tennessee when Danny was tasked with finding someone to save the Volunteer football program.
Josh Heupel has done just that.
Here's Josh coaching Oklahoma and somehow making visors look cool
Now, the winding road leads back home to Oklahoma on Saturday night. He’s bringing the most talented quarterback he’s ever coached and, ironically enough word to Alanis, a defense that is poised to dominate the Sooners.
This is a Superstar Making Game. A Vols win will catapult Nico to the top of the Heisman odds. Dylan Sampson will be a household name with another great performance on national television. Rodney Garner’s boys will be thought of as the best in the country after caving in Oklahoma’s front.
And Josh Heupel will be labeled as a top-level coach.
The top of the college football coaching rankings is devoid of proven elite talent outside of Kirby Smart. After being the center of attention all week and on Saturday night, people will bend the knee and proclaim that one of the game’s best offensive minds is more than just that. He’s the total package and the ideal coach to lead you into the new era of college football.
And just like a traffic jam when you’re already late, the man who was the catalyst of the Oklahoma football Renaissance of the late 90s will now begin the Sooners fall back to irrelevancy by showing them just how far off they are from being ready to compete with the best of their new conference.
On Saturday night, the man that was once crowned the King of Oklahoma before being exiled gets to return home.
This time to conquer.
And to show every Sooner fan what they are missing. One of the most cold-blooded and driven competitors finally gets to get the boulder off of his shoulder by crushing the school he once gave everything to. He can say that the opponent is nameless and faceless in every other week besides this one. This one is personal. And this act of rebellion will be the sweetest.
Because you see, It’s the slow knife. The knife that takes its time. The knife that waits years without forgetting, then slips quietly between the bones… that’s the knife that cuts deepest.