Josh Heupel is from bob stoop's coaching tree having played, won a natty in 2000, and coached all at oklahoma...2000-era oklahoma was when that program was in its prime and bob stoops was one of the few coaches that won every major bowl name: fiesta, cotton, rose, sugar, orange, BCS natty, all except the recent playoffs. having coached at oklahoma for 18 years, i'm not sure if oklahoma under bob stoops had some hidden ncaa infraction that they have still to dig up but bob is just coaching the XFL for now
the last time oklahoma beat alabama in 2013, alabama haven't upgraded their offense yet and stoops beat saban when bama was ranked #3 and oklahoma was ranked #11. saban gave the excuse that alabama lost to oklahoma because mock drafts and draft projections came out too early and players opted out of the bowl game because it wasn't the championship on the line when the actual reason was because alabama still ran the traditional SEC offense, so that's why lane kiffin became bama's OC in 2014. lane needed to go to saban's coaching rehabilitation clinic after the USC tarmac firing despite the "ass chewings" of how they described their relationship
when lincoln riley faced off against alabama in 2018, oklahoma lost in the playoffs and riley knew then that he doesn't have what it takes to lead oklahoma into the SEC so i guess he's going to lead USC into the big 10 with those windy/rainy/snowy/cold weather away games that SoCal players aren't used to playing in.
oklahoma degraded a bit (having lost their bowl games specifically to the SEC) when lincoln riley was head coach after bob stoops "retired" (but still coached in the XFL) and the offense totally sucks now that they have an ex-DC as the head coach having been blown out by texas and they barely have any defense either facing off in that big 12 type of high offense football. 'brand name' hires mean nothing but I guess coaching tree ideology matters somewhat
similar to how Lane Kiffin left Tennessee to go coach at USC, Josh Heupel has more loyalty to Oklahoma's program having played and coached there, so Tennessee better clamp down and make a large offer or they might lose their head coach like they did Lane Kiffin