Josh Heupel explains what kind of influence Mike Leach had on his coaching career
Tennessee Vols head coach Josh Heupel was asked on Thursday in Miami about the late Mike Leach. Heupel played for Leach at Oklahoma in 1999. Leach, who was the Sooners' offensive coordinator at the time, famously brought Heupel to Norman from Snow College in Utah. Heupel was an unknown quarterback who ended up leading Oklahoma […]
Tennessee Vols head coach Josh Heupel was asked on Thursday in Miami about the late Mike Leach.
Heupel played for Leach at Oklahoma in 1999.
Leach, who was the Sooners' offensive coordinator at the time, famously brought Heupel to Norman from Snow College in Utah. Heupel was an unknown quarterback who ended up leading Oklahoma to a national championship in 2000.
Without Leach discovering Heupel, there's a solid chance that Heupel isn't in the position he's in today.
Heupel acknowledged on Thursday that Leach was extremely important to his success as a player and as a coach.
"Mike was instrumental in my opportunity to play at a high level, to coach at a high level," said Heupel during a joint press conference with Clemson head coach Dabo Swinney. "He's the guy that gave me my start. He meant so much to so many people around the country inside of college football and outside of it."
"I think he's really unique in that way that you truly got a chance to see how his mind worked and operated," added Heupel. "He had so many passions outside of the game, as well. We lost somebody that made college football extremely interesting and changed the landscape of it. At that time, college football was played in a box around a lot of the country, and his vision of playing out in space is how college football is played today.”
Heupel doesn't run Leach's exact offense — Tennessee runs the ball way more than Leach did with his air raid system — but you can certainly see Leach's influence with the way the Vols spread the field and get their playmakers in space.
You can tell that Leach meant a lot to Heupel's career. And it's not a surprise that he had plenty of great things to say about his former offensive coordinator.
Featured image via Calvin Mattheis/News Sentinel / USA TODAY NETWORK
