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Tennessee football: Analyzing Josh Heupel’s second year in last five roles

By Caleb Calhoun

Tennessee Herd Coach Josh Heupel at the 2021 Music City Bowl NCAA college football game at Nissan Stadium in Nashville, Tenn. on Thursday, Dec. 30, 2021.Kns Tennessee Purdue
Tennessee Herd Coach Josh Heupel at the 2021 Music City Bowl NCAA college football game at Nissan Stadium in Nashville, Tenn. on Thursday, Dec. 30, 2021.Kns Tennessee Purdue /
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EL PASO, TX – SEPTEMBER 1: Offensive coordinator Josh Heupel of the Oklahoma Sooners coaches his players during pregame against the UTEP Miners on September 1, 2012 at The Sunbowl in El Paso, Texas. (Photo by Jackson Laizure/Getty Images)
EL PASO, TX – SEPTEMBER 1: Offensive coordinator Josh Heupel of the Oklahoma Sooners coaches his players during pregame against the UTEP Miners on September 1, 2012 at The Sunbowl in El Paso, Texas. (Photo by Jackson Laizure/Getty Images) /

3. team. 815. . 2012: Co-OC. . Sooners

10-3 (8-1); Big 12 co-Champion; No. 15 AP and Coaches

Bob Stoops finally made Josh Heupel his offensive coordinator in 2011 after four years coaching the Oklahoma Sooners. He was off to a rocky start, though, as OU entered that year ranked No. 1 but ended up going 10-3. To be fair, though, it wasn’t Heupel’s fault, as his offense averaged 39.5 points per game, which was No. 10 nationally.

A year later, the same story occurred. With Landry Jones at quarterback, Heupel led an offense that averaged over 38 points a game, good for No. 16 in the nation. It was his offense that kept OU afloat that year as they finished second in the Big 12 to the Kansas State Wildcats due to losing to them despite both teams being declared co-champions.

Anyway, this was the peak for Heupel’s tenure as offensive coordinator. Over the next two years, there would be a bit of a decline on that side of the ball, and Stoops would move on from him after the 2014 season, opening the door for Lincoln Riley to take over.

Ironically, a year later, Riley and Baker Mayfield engineered a comeback win at Tennessee football, one of many heartbreaks for the Vols under Butch Jones. That stemmed from Heupel being fired after 2014. This year was probably his peak year as OU’s offensive coordinator.

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