Tennessee head coach Josh Heupel returning to his alma mater has been an off-season question to Heupel from media around the country. 

Now that Oklahoma week is here, the topic is ramped up even more. Heupel’s former boss, Bob Stoops, who fired him announced on Monday via social media (with Heupel’s name misspelled) that he would not be doing interviews surrounding Heupel’s return to Norman.

At his weekly game week press conference, Tennessee’s head coach who led Oklahoma to a national title and finished second in the Heisman Trophy was very comfortable with the topic and made it very clear what his time with the Sooners both as a player and coach meant to him.

“It will be unique going back into that stadium. It’s going to be a different viewpoint. I am not sure I spent a day on the opposing sideline inside the stadium — not even for scrimmage. It will be different,” Heupel said. “But it is one that I am really looking forward to. There are so many people have been a huge part of my journey that I get a chance to go back and, hopefully, get a chance to say hi to a bunch of them. It starts with teammates. It is coaches that I had. It is a lot of coaches that I coached with. There’s lot of personnel that are still there. Guys that I coached. Guy that was in my wedding. There’s a lot of people back there that I’m familiar with and have a lot of respect for.”

As a follow up, Tennessee’s head man was asked just how comfortable he was with all the Oklahoma talk and questions. Heupel again reiterated his respect for his alma mater even acknowledging the Stoops family.

“I thought I handled the first one (question) really really well,” Heupel said. “I am good with any question about Oklahoma. The opportunity that I got from Bob and from Mike (Stoops) to come there and play, what we were able to build there in a short amount of time as a player. But then my coaching career, from the guys that I played for to all the coaches that were there during my career, all made a huge impact on me. I wouldn’t be here today at Tennessee if I didn’t have all those experiences. Tremendously grateful for all those people. Brent (Venables) is somebody that I learned and grew from as a young coach so much. A ton of respect for him.”

Tennessee and Oklahoma kickoff Saturday night at 7:30pm on ABC as the headline game of the week in college football.

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