Tennessee coach Josh Heupel comes home to Oklahoma - ESPN

A DECADE AGO, just after a 40-6 loss to Clemson in the Russell Athletic Bowl, Oklahoma coach Bob Stoops called longtime assistant Cale Gundy. Stoops asked Gundy if he could meet him at Bison Witches in downtown Norman. There, Stoops told Gundy he was going to fire his offensive coordinator, Josh Heupel.

The Sooners had just suffered through their worst season under Stoops. TCU and Kansas State upset them. Baylor blew them out. And Oklahoma State, propelled by Tyreek Hill's punt return, rallied to win a Bedlam overtime thriller.

Then, in the bowl game, Brent Venables' Clemson defense shut down the Sooners in a humiliating defeat.

«Bob had to make a change,» Gundy recalled. «I don't know, it was tough.… it wasn't just struggles on the offensive side. But Bob had to make that decision. An unbelievably tough call.»

Heupel was — and remains — OU royalty. In 2000, he quarterbacked the Sooners to their seventh national championship; OU hasn't won a title since.

Heupel later proved to be a valued assistant during the Sooners' prolific run through the 2000s. He mentored Heisman Trophy-winning quarterbacks Jason White and Sam Bradford. In 2011, Heupel became offensive coordinator, and over the next four seasons, OU averaged 475 yards per game, 10th best in college football during that span.

But in 2014, Stoops realized that his Sooners needed a spark. And so, shortly after meeting Gundy, Stoops fired Heupel, later calling it the «worst day» in his 18 years as OU's coach.

«I have this deep appreciation for Josh, certainly first and foremost as a player,» said Venables, OU's coach now and its co-defensive coordinator when Heupel starred for the Sooners. «I've always looked back and said, 'Man, we couldn't have done it without