Much has been made this week about Tennessee Vols head coach Josh Heupel and his relationship with the Oklahoma Sooners ahead of a huge showdown between the two programs on Saturday night in Norman.
And rightfully so. Heupel won a national championship as a player at Oklahoma before spending 10 seasons on the Sooners’ sideline as an assistant coach. His time in Norman came to an end when he was fired by then OU head coach Bob Stoops after the 2014 season (technically, Heupel’s contract wasn’t renewed)
Heupel isn’t the only current Tennessee coach that was forced out at Oklahoma by Stoops.
Vols defensive backs coach Willie Martinez, who is in his second stint as an assistant at Tennessee (he was also on staff at UT from 2013 to 2016), was forced to resign as OU’s defensive backs coach after the 2011 season when Stoops hired his brother, Mike, to coach defensive backs and serve as the program’s co-defensive coordinator. Martinez was essentially fired. Stoops, however, gave him a chance to find another job before announcing that his brother was returning to Oklahoma (Martinez spent the 2012 season at Auburn before joining Butch Jones at Tennessee in 2013).
Here’s how the Oklahoman described the situation between Martinez and the Sooners in early 2012.
I don’t know if Martinez has any beef with Stoops and Oklahoma because of how things went down in early 2012. But facts are facts: Martinez was forced out by Stoops so the longtime OU head coach could hire his brother.
I have a feeling everyone on the Vols sideline is going to have a little extra juice on Saturday night in Norman because of what this game represents.
