A DECADE AGO, just after a 40-6 loss to Clemson in the Russell Athletic Bowl, Oklahomacoach Bob Stoops called longtime assistant Cale Gundy. Stoops asked Gundy if he could meet him at Bison Witches in downtown Norman. There, Stoops told Gundy he was going to fire his offensive coordinator, Josh Heupel.
The Sooners had just suffered through their worst season under Stoops. TCU and Kansas State upset them. Baylor blew them out. And Oklahoma State, propelled by Tyreek Hill’s punt return, rallied to win a Bedlam overtime thriller.
Then, in the bowl game, Brent Venables’ Clemson defense shut down the Sooners in a humiliating defeat.
“Bob had to make a change,” Gundy recalled. “I don’t know, it was tough. … it wasn’t just struggles on the offensive side. But Bob had to make that decision. An unbelievably tough call.”
Heupel was — and remains — OU royalty. In 2000, he quarterbacked the Sooners to their seventh national championship; OU hasn’t won a title since.
Heupel later proved to be a valued assistant during the Sooners’ prolific run through the 2000s. He mentored Heisman Trophy-winning quarterbacks Jason White and Sam Bradford. In 2011, Heupel became offensive coordinator, and over the next four seasons, OU averaged 475 yards per game, 10th best in college football during that span.
But in 2014, Stoops realized that his Sooners needed a spark. And so, shortly after meeting Gundy, Stoops fired Heupel, later calling it the “worst day” in his 18 years as OU’s coach.
“I have this deep appreciation for Josh, certainly first and foremost as a player,” said Venables, OU’s coach now and its co-defensive coordinator when Heupel starred for the Sooners. “I’ve always looked back and said, ‘Man, we couldn’t have done it without Heupel.’ His leadership, what he was able to do from a transformation standpoint to our locker room, the guts and the toughness that he played through. … I’ve always held him up here on this pedestal, from a player’s standpoint.”
Saturday, for the first time since the firing, Heupel returns to the stadium where he became a Sooners legend. In his fourth season at Tennessee, Heupel brings the surging sixth-ranked Volunteers to Norman for OU’s long-anticipated first conference game as a member of the SEC.
Heupel has downplayed the significance of the reunion. He has also avoided opening up about the firing. Heupel said Monday that he was “tremendously grateful” for the opportunity OU gave him, both as a quarterback and a coach.
“I wouldn’t be here,” he said, “if I didn’t have all those experiences.”
Those close to Heupel, however, know the firing hurt.
“I hope enough time [has gone by] that he still understands how much he means to this state, how much he means to the program,” Bradford said. “I hope that he gets a warm reception. I hope that he’s able to appreciate that and take that in before the game gets going.”
