Being dismissed is one thing, but being abandoned by your alma mater is quite another.

It is rare to see Josh Heupel’s inspiration in the open. The enormous chip on his shoulder, resembling Mount Rushmore, is only glimpsed in passing.

However, upon closer inspection, they appear just as ostentatious as the dazzling ring he won for guiding Oklahoma to the 2000 national title.

Heupel’s new job as a vengeance tour was hinted at when he was hired by Tennessee five weeks prior.

Heupel was let go of his position as co-offensive coordinator at his alma mater six years ago. Heupel was regarded as one of OU’s best assistants at the time, in early 2015, and, at 36 years old, a potential replacement for Bob Stoops.

Heupel was the first and only quarterback to win a national championship for Stoops. He guided Sam Bradford to the 2008 Heisman Trophy by applying that knowledge. Seeing the two together on a film shoot that year was captivating.

Heupel was the most valuable player Stoops had during his 18 years at OU, according to his memoir, No Excuses.

It destroyed me, especially with Josh, Stoops wrote. My worst day as the head coach at OU was firing Josh.

Stoops declined to comment further. During his first press conference, Tennessee’s coach has mostly sidestepped the subject of whether his dismissal served as an incentive.

In some respects, [being fired] provided me an opportunity to start over and reevaluate what I wanted to do on the football offensive side, Heupel stated. As a coordinator, your constant goal will be to implement the strategy of your head coach.

In 2018, after taking over as UCF’s coach for the first time, Heupel spoke with the Orlando Sentinel about his firing.Thank heavens, it did! For me, it has been a huge success, he remarked. I wouldn’t be here if I had stayed there.

Heupel and Stoops’s relationship has been described as frosty, per an article in The Athletic.

In the end, everything worked out for everyone. Heupel is in charge of an SEC initiative. Lincoln Riley took his spot at OU in 2015. Riley took over as coach two years after Stoops did, and in his first three seasons, he led the Sooners to three spots in the College Football Playoffs.

All of it keeps illustrating how proving someone else wrong might be the foundation of the entire game and even our entire lives. It’s a fundamental component of the human experience in general and the backstage of sports in particular.

For this reason, there are more endzone dances than DNA strands, players engage in trash talk, and home run hitters strike out while posing at the plate.

People at the bottom of the competitive food chain allow real or imagined contempt to control them.

Playing against Heupel at Missouri, defensive coordinator Barry Odom of the Arkansas Razorbacks stated, Think of it: fired from your alma mater. It’s natural for you to bring some of those things with you if you’re a competitor.

Odom ought to be aware. In 2016, he appointed Heupel to Missouri as his offensive coordinator. Odom was let go by his alma mater three years later.

This 2021 offseason is full of motivation. Over the past hiring cycle, eleven FBS institutions terminated their coaches. Among the 15 new coaches starting in 2021, one-third had previously been fired from head coaching positions.