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Tennessee football: Josh Heupel implies he’s a better coach than Bob Stoops

By Caleb Calhoun

Jan 21, 2017; Norman, OK, USA; Oklahoma Sooners head football coach Bob Stoops watches college basketball action between the Iowa State Cyclones and the Oklahoma Sooners during the first half at Lloyd Noble Center. Mandatory Credit: Mark D. Smith-USA TODAY Sports
Jan 21, 2017; Norman, OK, USA; Oklahoma Sooners head football coach Bob Stoops watches college basketball action between the Iowa State Cyclones and the Oklahoma Sooners during the first half at Lloyd Noble Center. Mandatory Credit: Mark D. Smith-USA TODAY Sports /
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Josh Heupel won Bob Stoops his only national championship with the Oklahoma Sooners. The Tennessee football head coach was then fired by Stoops in 2014 as the school’s co-offensive coordinator, only to rebuild his career into his own head coaching position.

During the SEC Media Days interviews Thursday, Heupel seemed to shade Stoops and his offensive coordinators with OU. Heupel was speaking with Nashville’s 104.5 The Zone, and Ron Slay asked him if he or Hendon Hooker, the Vols current quarterback, could be trusted with a 90-yard drive in two minutes.

Although Heupel won a national championship, he noted that he would take Tennessee football’s quarterback. The reason? Well, according to him, Hooker would have better coaching. You can see the full exchange here, and it starts at the 32:50 mark.

Heupel didn’t just throw shade at Bob Stoops with this comment. He also threw shade at Mark Mangino, who was his offensive coordinator when OU won the national championship in 2000. However, it doesn’t just end with those two coaches.

In 1999, Mike Leach, was Heupel’s offensive coordinator, and he’s now head coach of the Mississippi State Bulldogs. Add in Mark Stoops, Bob Stoops’ brother, coaching the Kentucky Wildcats, and Heupel threw shade indirectly at two fellow SEC coaches.

Now, you can say he was joking, but there’s a good argument that he’s no longer a fan of Stoops after losing his job in 2014, even if everything that’s happened since then has worked in his favor. There’s actually a good argument that his firing helped him.

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Still, the shade he threw was funny, and it came the same day he took shots at fake injuries and the golf ball and mustard incidents referencing the Vols’ matchup with the Ole Miss Rebels last year. Tennessee football has a head coach who knows how to keep the comedy alive, and they need that type of splash going forward.

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