Heupel the winner?
On KREF radio yesterday, Toby Rowland asked former OU quarterback Paul Thompson who on the Sooner staff would be the best head coach. Thompson said Josh Heupel.
Interesting answer. Heupel, by seniority, is on the bottom of the OU pecking order. By title, he is far down. But expect Heupel to quickly move up. Bob Stoops’ loss of Kevin Sumlin, to Houston U., opens a spot for advancement. Expect Heupel, OU’s quarterback coach, to move up to co-offensive coordinator.
I thought if Kevin Wilson got a head-coaching job this year, Heupel would be the choice, even above Sumlin, to be OU’s next offensive coordinator. Stoops hired Mike Leach as his offensive coordinator in 1998 and has subsequently had to hire three more o-coordinators. All came from in-house.
Mark Mangino had been offensive line coach under Leach and remained so even after becoming offensive coordinator. When Mangino left, Chuck Long became the coordinator, after serving as quarterback coach under Mangino for two years. When Long left at the end of 2005, Wilson moved up to coordinator after three years as offensive line coach.
Stoops promotes from within. That leads to continuity and good morale on the staff. Heupel is a rising star in the coaching ranks. You could tell when Heupel played that he had the mind of a coach. He will be OU’s next offensive coordinator.
Berry Tramel can be heard Monday through Friday from 4:40-5:20 p.m. on The Sports Animal radio network, including AM-640 and FM-98.1. You can e-mail him here and follow him on Twitter @BerryTramel.
If you enjoyed this post, please consider to leave a comment or subscribe to the feed and get future articles delivered to your feed reader.
Comments
Berry,
Here is a thought: Kevin Wilson in Michigan. Not sure why they wouldn’t look his way. Run oriented guy with ties to the Big Eleven (Northwestern). Makes a great deal of sense to me. not that I want to lose coaches at OU.
What a mess Michigan seems to be. They (Lloyd Carr, Bill Martin) clearly didn’t want Miles up there. Michigan is funny that way. Letting the former coach dictate who the next coach will be. They really can’t rest on their accomplishments any longer though. Clearly, coaches don’t want to go to Michigan simply because it is Michigan. I do have to say though, it is a pretty great town and environment. I do find it hard to imagine that New Jersey is a better place to be. But hey…..you have to be comfortable.
It is interesting……It is one of the more intriuging openings because of the history and tradition.
Have a great weekend all. Anyone who wants to help me shovel Sunday is welcome to free accomodations, some great Vermont beer (also free) and plenty of food…..we will fire up the grill regardless of the weather. You do have to be an OU fan though.
Jeff
First of all, I hope everyone affected by the storm gets back to normal soon. Now, I have been extremely busy over the last 2 weeks and have not been able to post for awhile. I take it that Wilson did not get the Southern Miss job – I never heard the follow up. I have always felt that Heupel was born to coach. I am very excited about the prospect of him becoming our offensive coordinator. Unfortunately for us, I think that only accelerates his ascension to the head coaching ranks. He will be a head coach within the next five years. This is further testimony of Stoops ability to coach – he always surrounds himself with top shelf talent.
So, might Cale Gundy move up to QB coach? Why has he not advanced before? Who’s most likely to become the offensive coordinator at OSU?