Riley to USC…the inevitable Josh Heupel to OU freak out thread

What has Heupel ever done as a head coach to warrant Oklahoma thinking he is their man? Success at UCF? A good solid 7-5 year at Tennessee? IMHO, he's done nothing to give them any degree of certainty that he can keep their elite level going. If Saban left Bama, would they look at Heupel? Or Clemson if Dabo left? Or Ohio State if their coach left? Or Michigan? Is LSU looking at Heupel? If they aren't, why would Oklahoma?
 
Lol. No. The poster you responded to is right. Heupel isn’t leaving but IF he did, yes we would be incredibly screwed. How has that next man up worked the past 10-12 years?
We wouldn't be screwed if we actually did for a change like other top-10-in-D-I-history football programs do when they have an opening and swing for the fence, rather than bunting as we have done every time for the last fourteen years. USC didn't say to themselves, "No chance we could hire Riley away from OU - they're rolling and we suck and haven't been good for fifteen years." They simply didn't take no for an answer. You think he would have gone there for 4 mil a year, the most we have paid any football coach? Guaranteed Riley will be getting Saban-type money - don't be surprised if when his salary is announced it makes him the highest-paid coach in D-I history.

ESPN is reporting that OU is targeting Cliff Kingsbury of the Arizona Cardinals to replace Riley. There's none of this, "He'd never leave the NFL, downward or lateral move, less pay, has to recruit, etc." His team is in first place in the NFC and has home-field advantage throughout the playoffs as of today - and OU isn't blinking an eye. He'll get paid on the level that Riley is, or they'll hire someone else equally accomplished, i.e. someone we wouldn't even try for, and they'll pay 2.5 to 3 times what we're paying our coach.

The people on here wailing and gnashing their teeth over losing Heupel are slightly, as in drastically, out of touch with reality. Programs that are serious about winning don't go out and hire coaches fresh off a 7-5 season in the SEC.
 
Stoops and their current AD fired him. He would be leaving Danny White who you know he trusts since he’s taken two jobs at separate schools to go back to an AD and program that fired him.
And Stoops will coach their bowl game this year....which tells me that Heupel is not involved. I think there is a better chance Mark Stoops goes there than Heupel.
 
I see I am about 500 posts in 2 hours too late. I can’t believe the speed at which this thread is flying lol.

Anyway, you all are all nuts. How is it that we do this same thing EVERY year? Vol Nation crowned Butch Jones after his first bowl win. We claimed Pruitt was Alabama’s head coach in waiting after a 7-5 season in Year 2. Now we’re claiming Oklahoma is going to want Heupel based off one 7-5 season.

Listen, I get it. BVS is real. And, I’m sure we’ll see some agent driven stuff in the media where his name might float around. Hell, these journalists know TN fans drive huge clicks during coaching search season so I wouldn’t be surprised if some journalist just makes some crap up to get us to click on an article.

Heupel isn’t going anywhere though. We’re fine. We’re not always in danger of losing our coach. I’m not entirely sure why anyone would want a TN coach based on the past 15 years. We have to win something of merit before people coming sniffing around Knoxville.
 
I don't see CJH jumping ship at this point. I wouldn't mind giving him a nice raise for him and his staff, maybe raise his budget for analysts and other non-coaching personnel, and some additional performance bonuses, but I don't think we should extend his contract. He already has a massive buyout if we fire him so no need to go higher at this point.
 
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Nobody is talking about rebuilding OK, people are talking about rebuilding USC. It's not a step up right now.

And yet they have pulled like 4 top 5 recruiting classes over the last like 6-7 years, despite consistently losing 2-3 more games per year than OU.

It's an elite school overall, sports be damned. They have a hotbed for recruiting in their back yard. Kids lineup to play for them. They are absolutely a step above OU. And clearly Riley thought so too.
 
And yet they have pulled like 4 top 5 recruiting classes over the last like 6-7 years, despite consistently losing 2-3 more games per year than OU.

It's an elite school overall, sports be damned. They have a hotbed for recruiting in their back yard. Kids lineup to play for them. They are absolutely a step above OU. And clearly Riley thought so too.
They do have recruiting but have those classes really been top 4-5? With that kind of talent they should trip and slip to 10 wins every year. PAC is a joke conference.
 
They’d be very lucky to have CJH, love that guy, but I hope like he’ll they hire stoops away from Kentucky
(But I don’t know why?! We’ve beat his best teams, even at “Kroger” field Ha!)
 

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