Tennessee HC Josh Heupel has a wild connection to the Iowa team that beat the Vols in the 1982 Peach Bowl
The Tennessee Vols will take on the Iowa Hawkeyes in the Citrus Bowl to put a bow on Josh Heupel's third season as UT's head coach. This will be the fourth meeting between Tennessee and Iowa and the third meeting between the two programs in a bowl game. The first time the Vols and the […]
The Tennessee Vols will take on the Iowa Hawkeyes in the Citrus Bowl to put a bow on Josh Heupel's third season as UT's head coach.
This will be the fourth meeting between Tennessee and Iowa and the third meeting between the two programs in a bowl game.
The first time the Vols and the Hawkeyes played was in the 1982 Peach Bowl. And Heupel, oddly enough, has several unique connections to that Iowa team.
For starters, former Oklahoma Sooners head coach Bob Stoops, Heupel's college coach and former boss, was a defensive back and a team captain on that Iowa team.
Jay Norvell, who was a co-offensive coordinator at Oklahoma with Heupel from 2011 to 2014, was a true freshman at Iowa in 1982.
Additionally, Heupel's quarterbacks coach at Oklahoma in 2000 was Chuck Long.
Long was Iowa's quarterback against Tennessee in 1982 and he was named the offensive player of the game after the Hawkeyes' win against the Vols in the Peach Bowl.
Former Oklahoma defensive coordinator Mike Stoops, who was on staff with Heupel at OU, also played for Iowa in 1982.
"Spent a lot of time, as you mentioned, with the Stoops brothers, Jay Norvell," said Heupel on Sunday when asked about those connections. "We had a lot of other guys, Chuck Long, Jonathan Hayes. Those are all guys that were a part of my playing days and a part of my coaching career that have a long history that and played their football at Iowa."
It seems like every week we get a reminder of how incredibly small the world of college football can be.
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