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Why Bob Stoops isn't talking about Josh Heupel before Tennessee vs Oklahoma game
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- Why Bob Stoops isn't talking about Josh Heupel before Tennessee vs Oklahoma game
Former Oklahoma football coach Bob Stoops called Josh Heupel the "MVP of all my recruits" before shutting down his media appearances heading into Tennessee 's game against the Sooners on Saturday.
Notably, Stoops misspelled Heupel's name in a social media post announcing that he would decline interview requests. Stoops identified Heupel, who played and coached for him for a combined 13 years, as "Huepel."
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Heupel led Stoops' Oklahoma team to the 2000 national title as a Heisman runner-up quarterback. But Stoops fired Heupel as offensive coordinator following the 2014 season.
Since then, their relationship reportedly has been icy and distant. So it's not shocking that Stoops isn't going to talk about it this week.
"Having a strong history with both (Oklahoma coach) Brent Venables and Josh Huepel as players/ coaches has led to far too many requests for interviews — so I'm respectfully declining them all," Stoops said in a social media post.
"All attention needs to be on those two coaches & their programs."
Josh Heupel was 'MVP of all my recruits'
No. 7 Tennessee (3-0) plays No. 13 Oklahoma (3-0) on Saturday (7:30 p.m. ET, ABC) in Norman. It will be the Sooners ' first SEC game and Heupel's return to his alma mater, albeit on the opposing sideline.
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It's a clash of two success stories from Stoops' coaching tree.
Venables is a revered defensive coach. He was the defensive coordinator for three national title teams at Oklahoma (2000) and Clemson (2016 and 2018).
Heupel is one of the best offensive minds in college football. He developed Heisman Trophy winning quarterbacks at Oklahoma and record-breaking offenses at Missouri and Tennessee.
Stoops said he isn't taking sides between Heupel and Venables. But his rooting interests are clearly with Oklahoma, where he coached 18 seasons en route to the College Football Hall of Fame.
"I have great respect for both coaches," Stoops said in the social media post. "I'm grateful for their great work here at OU; Brent as a coach here for 13 years including our national championship in 2000. Josh as our 2000 national championship QB & coach for 10 years.
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"I've often said he is the MVP of all my recruits because he was the catalyst that (got) us started in '99. I wish them both great success moving forward! But in the end I'm all- Boomer Sooner!"
Adam Sparks is the Tennessee football beat reporter. Email adam.sparks@knoxnews.com . X, formerly known as Twitter @AdamSparks . Support strong local journalism by subscribing at knoxnews.com/subscribe .
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This article originally appeared on Knoxville News Sentinel: Bob Stoops isn't talking about Josh Heupel before Tennessee vs Oklahoma game
