Oklahoma coach Brent Venables has seen Tennessee coach Josh Heupel give everything for the teams he cares about.
The duo were key figures in Oklahoma’s national title run in 2000 — when Venables was in his second year as the co-defensive coordinator for the Sooners and Heupel was the star, Heisman Trophy-finalist quarterback. In the midst of that undefeated season, Heupel injured the elbow on his throwing arm.
Really injured it. Venables said during the SEC coaches teleconference Wednesday there were times during the last five or six games of the season where Heupel’s elbow would swell up to the size of a watermelon.
“The way he managed that, his toughness, really incredible.” Venables said.
Despite that, Heupel never missed a game. He led Oklahoma’s offense every step of the way, capped by a win against Florida State in the Orange Bowl that gave the Sooners their first national championship since 1985. The 13-0 campaign cemented coach Bob Stoops, Venables and Heupel as program legends.
It’s been almost 25 years since that fateful season, but as Heupel embarks on his fourth season at Tennessee, the effects of that season — and the injury — still linger.
“Well, (the elbow) still doesn’t look right if you look at it closely,” Heupel said. “There were a couple of other nicks and bruises too that caused me some problems at the end of the year. That team, in general, the ability in guys to be resilient, play through whatever they were going through, was a huge part of why we were able to go win a championship.”
There are plenty of storylines to dissect ahead of No. 6 Tennessee’s trip to No. 15 Oklahoma on Saturday. It is the first-ever SEC conference game for the Sooners, the conference opener for both teams and Heupel’s first professional trip back to his alma mater since he departed the coaching staff in 2014.
Not to be lost among all of those stories is the history between the two men leading their teams into battle. It’s a relationship stretches back to 1999, when Venables was just a few months into his Oklahoma tenure and Heupel — a little-known junior college prospect from Snow College in Ephraim, Utah — came to Norman, Oklahoma for a recruiting visit.
Venables wasn’t overly impressed by that first meeting. During his Tuesday press conference he recalled thinking Heupel was a skinny, frail, pasty quarterback who threw a wobbly ball.
“I probably was a little pasty,” Heupel said. “I was hiding in hibernation in the early part of my life. But when we got there, I certainly had to continue to grow as a player. I might have always had a little wobble on my ball.”
But the legendary Mike Leach — Oklahoma’s offensive coordinator at the time — saw enough to pursue Heupel, whose accuracy and poise made him a perfect fit for Leach’s system. That faith certainly paid off: Heupel threw for almost 7,000 yards and had 62 total touchdowns in his two-year career with the Sooners.
He never did win that Heisman, but he finished as runner-up in 2000 and took home the Walter Camp Award, Big 12 Offensive Player of the Year and All-American honors.
Needless to say, he won Venables over along the way.
“Probably just his best quality was his poise, his control, belief in the players around him and he was just as consistent of a player that I’ve been around.” Venables said.
Coaching side by side
Heupel moved on to a brief stint in the NFL after going off the board in the sixth round of the 2001 draft, but Venables remained. He assumed more responsibility in 2004 when he was named associate head coach and, subsequently, given sole control of the defense.
That coincided with Heupel’s return to Norman as a graduate assistant. Heupel was re-hired in 2006 as the quarterbacks coach after one season as an assistant at Arizona, and in 2011 he was elevated to co-offensive coordinator.
Throughout it all, Venables was a mentor for the nascent coach.
“There’s so many things that I learned from Brent,” Heupel said. “But as a player, you saw his energy and his passion, his focus everyday. Super consistent inside of the building and the meeting room and his preparation. The detail that he had in his preparation and how he poured into his players.
“I saw those same things as a coach, working with him there as well. Brent’s made a huge impact on my career.”
Venables and Heupel only spent one season heading up opposite sides of the ball. In January 2012, Stoops brought his younger brother, Mike, back to help with the defense. Rather than revert to his old co-defensive coordinator position, Venables left for Clemson.
A bitter split
Ironically, it was a 40-6 loss to Venables and Clemson in the Russell Athletic Bowl that marked the end of Heupel’s time in Oklahoma. The former hero quarterback and longtime assistant was ousted as the team’s offensive coordinator shortly after the game. The hurt from that decision is well-publicized. Heupel, now 10 years removed, sees the entire saga as a blessing in disguise.
“Fortunate and blessed to be here. Absolutely love it on Rocky Top and have had an opportunity to meet so many great people along the way that have impacted me, but also Oklahoma impacted me that way too,” Heupel said. “From a player, the relationships I got with teammates, fellow coaches as a coach, but my coaches as a player too.
“It was a great journey and I wouldn’t be here without everything that happened at Oklahoma.”
Venables came to Oklahoma in December 2021, following former Sooners coach Lincoln Riley — who replaced Heupel as offensive coordinator in 2014 — and his flight to USC just one day after the regular season ended. Riley took eventual Heisman Trophy-winning quarterback Caleb Williams, and several other prolific players, with him.
Heupel, who coached at UCF for three years, inherited a gutted Tennessee team in 2021 fresh off its worst season in program history and in the midst of an NCAA investigation into recruiting violations under the former regime; one that resulted in punitive measures that still impinge Tennessee’s ability to field a full scholarship roster.
And yet both persist. Oklahoma is fresh off a 10-win season, while Tennessee won 11 games in 2022 and might currently have its best roster since Phillip Fulmer was roaming the sidelines.
A full-circle moment
Now, a wave of conference realignment has washed Oklahoma and brought Venables and Heupel closer than they have been in a long time — even if it’s on opposite sidelines.
Saturday will be a tremendous test for both teams. Oklahoma certainly wants to make an impression in its first conference game as an SEC program, and a difficult schedule means that the Sooners need to set a tone for how the next couple months will progress. Tennessee has legitimate College Football Playoff hopes, but this is one of a handful of games that could make or break the Vols’ season.
The result will reverberate well beyond the stands of Gaylord Family – Oklahoma Memorial Stadium. For just over three hours before the final whistle sounds, though, all eyes will be fixed on two opposing coaches that were both forged by their shared experience at Oklahoma.
“It’ll be unique going back into that stadium,” Heupel said Monday. “It’s going to be a viewpoint I’m not sure I’ve ever spent a day on the opposing sideline inside of that stadium, not even for a scrimmage, so it’ll be different, but it’s one that I’m really looking forward to.”
