Tennessee Vols head coach Josh Heupel and former Oklahoma Sooners head coach Bob Stoops have quite a history together.

Heupel, who was Oklahoma’s quarterback from 1999 to 2000, won the championship with Stoops and the Sooners in the 2000 season.

After a brief NFL career, Heupel returned to Oklahoma as an assistant in 2004. In 2006, Heupel took over as the Sooners’ quarterbacks coach. In 2011, he was named Oklahoma’s co-offensive coordinator, a position Heupel held until he was fired by Stoops after the 2014 season.

The relationship between Stoops and Heupel was described as icy – ​​even a decade after Heupel was essentially fired by Stoops.

Bob Stoops pays Josh Heupel a big compliment

Despite the allegedly frosty relationship, Stoops still values ​​Heupel very much.

During a recent appearance on the podcast “The Family Business,” Stoops paid Heupel quite a compliment.

“Oh, no question,” Stoops said when asked if he thought Heupel was one of the most important players to ever play for Oklahoma. “I said it in my book, Training to become a head coachthat we’ve had so many Heisman-winning quarterbacks, national award winners, NFL players in the years that I’ve been here. I just mean, we may have had more talented guys, but I don’t think – to me, he’s the most valuable player of all. Because he was one of the true leaders that started it.

“Him and guys like Rocky Calmus and so on. Certain guys got it rolling. And they had the mindset to win. The way he (Heupel) played – I don’t think there’s a more important position than quarterback. Leading us to an undefeated season is definitely – he was a big part of getting it rolling.”