Exactly one week ago today I tweeted out a link to this ESPN story discussing possible candiates for the SMU head coaching job June Junes had just recently resigned from. Among the names included were former OU defensive coordinator Brent Venables and, perhaps more importantly, current Sooners offensive coordinator Josh Heupel. At the time I didn’t put much weight into it as these type of lists are common place when a job comes open and often wildly inaccurate.
However, this morning Alex (our new contributor) RT’d this rather interesting little blurb from an editor at Dave Campbell’s Texas Football.
Per a source, Oklahoma OC Josh Heupel is a legit candidate to be the next head coach at #SMU
— "EJ Holland" (@EJHollandOn3) September 18, 2014
Now I can’t tell you how legitimate this is or isn’t, if anything ever comes of it or if this is the last we’ll ever hear of it. I think it’s reasonable to assume this guy could have some connections/sources and it’s not unfathomable to me that Heupel could have some interest in this job.
Your thoughts?
10 Comments
Interesting. Josh has been a winner and been a part of a winning program and he’s at an age that he could throw in his hat. However, Josh would have to bring in a stellar coaching group. He would have a good recruiting base so it could happen. SMU has some major donors if the right guy comes along.
The negatives are a small fan base, facilities, & conference. He would have to start from the ground up and it would be a tough road.
I think if OU makes into the 4 team playoff this year Heupel will have better options than SMU.
This!
I guess it depends how badly he (Josh) wants to be a HC, but I’d hold out for another job. About the only good thing I can say about SMU in terms of their football program, is that they are located in talent rich Texas. But with teams like TCU and Baylor performing at a high level, and the SEC plucking guys from there, even that isn’t the advantage it once was. I’d hate to see Josh go there and fail. I know some don’t think he is the best of OC’s, and that may be true, but I love having him around to coach our QB’s.
Let’s say he does go…. Who replaced Heupel?
That’s pretty much impossible to say at the moment. Could they move Norvell into the job? Yes. Could they go out and try find a young up-and-comer? Sure. Could Bob rely on one of this friends/former assistants as he’s tended to do in the past? Certainly.
We don’t even know at this point if there any legs to this at all or if Heupel is even remotely interested in the job.
Would it have to be somebody that could coach QB’s, or nah? And if nah, why?
I think they would want a QB coach on staff, so if Heupel were to leave I believe they’d look for someone w/ that type of a background, yes.
I think being OC at a school like OU with championship aspirations is a much higher rung on the ladder than Head coach at SMU.
Seeing that Applewhite has put his name in hat, not sure how much weight he holds.