Could the prodigal quarterback return to Oklahoma?
As Brent Venables enters the 2025 college football season on the hot seat as the Sooners' head coach, there's speculation swirling about Venables' future at OU and what could be next for the Sooners if they're forced to move on.
Longtime local sports columnist Berry Tramel, now with Tulsa World, was recently on Saturday Down South, a podcast that covers the SEC. During his segment, Tramel elaborated on the newness of the SEC, Dillon Gabriel, and even the Sooners possibly reuniting with a former OU quarterback and coach.
When Tennessee coach and former OU quarterback Josh Heupel was brought up by host Connor O'Gara, Tramel proclaimed Heupel could be the Sooners' first call if they need to replace Venables next offseason.
Berry Tramel believes Heupel would be OU's first call if Brent Venables leaves
Heupel has been extremely successful leading the Volunteers, and even beat the Sooners last season in his return to Gaylord Family - Oklahoma Memorial Stadium. He's 37-15 in four seasons at Tennessee and last season led the Volunteers to the College Football Playoff.
"Restoring the tradition and success at Tennessee makes for a pretty good life," Tramel said. "It's a pretty good place to coach football -- Rocky Top. And when you've won like Heupel has -- beaten Alabama, making the College Football Playoff, doing all those things -- he's a hero in a place that's a pretty good place to be a hero in. And life's turned out pretty good for him. His career's going really well."
In other words, there are really no reasons for Heupel to ever leave Tennessee unless forced out. However, there are also plenty of connections to lure Heupel back to Oklahoma.
Heupel won a national championship as the Sooners' quarterback in 2000 under Bob Stoops. It's the last time OU won a national title in football, and the school has already tried once to replicate that success in hiring Venables, who was OU's co-defensive coordinator in 2000.
There's also still family in the state for Heupel, whose sister married the son of late OU president David Boren. Heupel's brother-in-law, Dan Boren, is a former U.S. Representative for Oklahoma.
But for every road to lead Heupel back to Oklahoma, there's also a detour. Heupel was on OU's staff under Stoops as quarterbacks coach and/or co-offensive coordinator for eight years until his former coach fired him in 2014. That created a lot of friction between Heupel and OU, although Sooner Nation showed Heupel a lot of love during his return last season and Tramel believes that's water under the bridge now.
OU would also have to pay Heupel's reported $5 million buyout after he signed an extension in 2023. That extension raised Heupel's annual salary to $9 million, meaning the Sooners would also have to outdo that. For comparison, Venables' salary for 2024 was $8.5 million, so OU would need to fork over more money for Heupel.
"He'd be the first call, I assume," Tramel said. "I have no idea if Josh would entertain the notion or accept. I have no idea. I do know this: He still has a lot of ties -- family still lives here. ...
"They got a lot of Oklahoma ties still, so I don't think he would dismiss it. I also think it would be a very popular choice. I don't know that he would do it. Like I said, Tennessee's a pretty good place to coach football."
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