<body><div><img src="https://img.particlenews.com/image.php?type=thumbnail_580x000&amp;url=2H4mn9_0vYWlLNg00" alt="https://img.particlenews.com/image.php?url=2H4mn9_0vYWlLNg00" width="620" height="320" ><a href="https://247sports.com/Coach/josh-heupel-173/">Josh Heupel</a> doesn't often talk about his time at <a href="https://247sports.com/college/oklahoma/">Oklahoma</a>, first as a player on the Sooners' most recent national championship team, then as an assistant coach for nine seasons from 2006-14.This week, however, the topic was unavoidable.The OU football legend-turned-Tennessee head coach will make his much-anticipated return to Norman this weekend, when <a href="https://247sports.com/college/oklahoma/League/NCAA-FB/AP_Rankings/">No. 15 Oklahoma</a> (3-0) hosts No. 6 <a href="https://247sports.com/college/tennessee/">Tennessee</a> (3-0) in the teams' SEC opener at Owen Field. <a href="https://247sports.com/college/oklahoma/article/kickoff-time-tv-network-set-for-oklahoma-footballs-sec-opener-against-tennessee-235993250/">Kickoff is set for 6:30 p.m., with the game airing on ABC</a>, while <a href="https://247sports.com/college/oklahoma/article/espns-college-gameday-coming-to-oklahoma-for-sec-opener-vs-tennessee-236287058/">ESPN's College GameDay will be on location from the South Oval on Saturday morning.</a>"It'll be unique," Heupel said Monday during his weekly press conference in Knoxville, Tennessee.That has been Heupel's go-to term when asked about his return to Oklahoma. <a href="https://www.google.com/url?sa=t&amp;source=web&amp;rct=j&amp;opi=89978449&amp;url=https://247sports.com/college/oklahoma/article/josh-heupel-previews-return-to-oklahoma-as-tennessee-coach-232281707/&amp;ved=2ahUKEwi_tOT-nsiIAxVpEUQIHVQxELwQFnoECBsQAQ&amp;usg=AOvVaw0FxZ523ZFIriQJYFW1zG8e">He used it when he was asked at SEC spring meetings</a> in Destin, Florida, at the end of May. <a href="https://247sports.com/college/oklahoma/article/itll-be-a-unique-saturday-vols-coach-josh-heupel-discusses-highly-anticipated-return-to-norman-233918483/">He invoked it again at SEC Media Days in Dallas back in July</a>, as well. Now that game week has arrived, though, Heupel expounded on his thoughts about coming back to Norman, where he won a national championship and finished as Heisman runner-up in 2000 before spending eight years on Bob Stoop's coaching staff, including the final four of them as the Sooners' offensive coordinator.<a href="https://247sports.com/college/oklahoma/join/?promo=QUICKLINKS">***JOIN SOONERS ILLUSTRATED NOW AND GET 30% OFF AN ANNUAL MEMBERSHIP</a><a href="https://247sports.com/college/oklahoma/join/?promo=QUICKLINKS">***</a>Two of the assistants from Heupel's time coaching at Oklahoma are still on staff today: offensive line coach <a href="https://247sports.com/Coach/bill-bedenbaugh-158/">Bill Bedenbaugh</a> and strength coach <a href="https://247sports.com/Coach/jerry-schmidt-4024/">Jerry Schmidt</a>. Another, former running backs coach <a href="https://247sports.com/Coach/cale-gundy-171/">Cale Gundy</a>, is still around Norman. As are several of Heupel's former teammates and friends from his time in Norman, including current Oklahoma offensive coordinator <a href="https://247sports.com/Coach/seth-littrell-161/">Seth Littrell</a>, who was a co-captain alongside Heupel on that national championship team; <a href="https://247sports.com/Player/josh-norman-76368/">Josh Norman</a>, who currently serves as the director of Oklahoma's SOUL Mission; and Teddy Lehman.There's also, of course, OU football coach <a href="https://247sports.com/Coach/brent-venables-168/">Brent Venables</a>, who was the Sooners' co-defensive coordinator during Heupel's playing career and the defensive coordinator the first six years that Heupel spent on staff at his alma mater."I had teammates and friends back there, they hit me up a little bit earlier; they were starting last week already," Heupel said. "It'll be unique going back into that stadium. It's going to be a viewpoint — I don't think I've ever spent a day on the opposing sideline inside of that stadium, not even for a scrimmage. It'll be different, but it's one that I'm really looking forward to."There's so many people that have been a huge part of my journey, that I get a chance to go back and hopefully get a chance to say hi to a bunch of them. It starts with teammates. It's coaches that I had. It's a lot of coaches that I coached with. There's a lot of personnel that is still there—guys that I coached, guy that was in my wedding. There's a lot of people back there that I'm familiar with and have a lot of respect for."Saturday will mark Heupel's first game back in Norman since he was fired by Stoops following the 2014 season. <a href="https://www.cbssports.com/college-football/news/once-fired-coaches-like-josh-heupel-never-fully-lose-the-chips-on-their-shoulders/">How things ended for Heupel at Oklahoma has been sensitive topic over the last decade, with Stoops writing in his memoir "No Excuses" that firing Heupel was his "worst day" as Sooners coach</a>. The relationship between the two — once bountiful, producing Stoops' only national championship with the program as well as a Heisman Trophy winner in Sam Bradford in 2008, when OU finished as national runner-up — has been reportedly frosty in the time since.Stoops this week released a statement that he would be declining interview requests ahead of the OU-Tennessee game in hopes of keeping focus on the current teams and their coaches, Heupel and Venables, whom Stoops said he has "great respect" for. He added that Heupel was "the MVP of all my recruits because he was the catalyst" that jumpstarted the program's rise in 1999.Heupel, it should be noted, mentioned Stoops by name during his press conference Monday when asked a follow up about his "comfortability" with the Oklahoma questions this week."I thought I handled the first one really well," Heupel said with a grin. "I'm good with any question about Oklahoma. You know, the opportunity that I got from Bob (Stoops) and from Mike (Leach) to come there and play, what we were able to build there in a short amount of time as a player, but then my coaching career, from the guys that I played for to all the coaches that were there during my career all made a huge impact on me."I wouldn't be here today at Tennessee if I didn't have all those experiences. So, I'm tremendously grateful for all those people. Brent is somebody that I learned and grew from as a young coach so much, and a ton of respect for him."Since his firing at Oklahoma, Heupel has bounced back impressively after once being regarded as one of the top young assistant coaches in the country when he was offensive coordinator for the Sooners. He spent a year at <a href="https://247sports.com/college/utah-state/">Utah State</a> as offensive coordinator in 2015 before earning an SEC coordinator opportunity at <a href="https://247sports.com/college/missouri/">Missouri</a>, where he coached for two seasons.That springboarded him to his first head-coaching gig at <a href="https://247sports.com/college/central-florida/">UCF</a>, where he spent three seasons and led the Knights to a 28-8 record, including a 12-win season in 2018 that earned the program a Fiesta Bowl berth and a 10-win campaign the following year. He ultimately earned himself the Tennessee job after the 2020 season and now has the program ascending for the first time, really, since Phillip Fulmer's tenure. The Vols are 30-12 since Heupel took over, including 3-0 to start this season, with the nation's highest-scoring offense and a defense ranked 10th in ESPN's SP+.Now he'll bring his resurgent Vols into Norman, where it all started and ultimately soured for the quarterback-turned-coach."It should be a great crowd; it's a passionate fanbase," Heupel said, before providing a moment of levity amid the tension of OU questions. "I'm expecting them to be extremely quiet for us out of respect to me and our program, too."</div></body>

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Josh Heupel discusses return to Oklahoma: 'I wouldn't be' at Tennessee if not for time with Sooners

Josh Heupel doesn't often talk about his time at Oklahoma, first as a player on the Sooners' most recent national championship team, then as an assistant coach for nine seasons from 2006-14. This week, however, the topic was unavoidable. The OU football legend-turned-Tennessee head coach will make his much-anticipated return...

Josh Heupel discusses return to Oklahoma: 'I wouldn't be' at Tennessee if not for time with Sooners

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