Coach Heupel could be great fit for UCF.
The most obvious thing about UCF’s new football coach is his resemblance to the old one, except for one thing.
A Russian preschooler could pronounce “Scott Frost.” As for “Josh Heupel,” even professional American wordsmiths can’t totally agree.
Various stories noted his name is pronounced “High-pel,” “Highpull,” and “Hype-ul.”
They all sound pretty much the same, so it’s nothing to get tongue-tied about. But the pronunciation mystery is fitting in a UCF kind of way.
The school could have played it safe with this hire. Gone are the days when the Knights had no shot at getting an established coach whose name everybody knows. Like say, Kevin Sumlin. He was at or near the top of UCF’s wish list after Frost announced he was going to Nebraska. Negotiations stalled when the Oregon job appeared to be opening.
Strangely, the reason that happened was because Willie Taggart was considering replacing Jimbo Fisher, who had left FSU to replace Sumlin at Texas A&M.
The dominoes will come full
“From the time I’ve been little, I’ve always wanted to be a football coach.” Josh Heupel, UCF coach
circle if the Ducks hire Sumlin. All those Power 5 schools will profess joy, but no school should be happier than the Knights.
“He’s a great fit,” UCF President John Hitt said of High-pel/High-pull/ Hype-ul.
It’s not that a guy like Sumlin wouldn’t have fit, but he’s a known commodity. After stints at Houston and Texas A&M, it’s safe to presume he would have maintained UCF’s winning ways.
But Sumlin’s established his coaching ceiling. Nobody considers him one of the great members of his profession.
I’m by no means saying Heupel will be. But I’d rather roll the dice on an unknown commodity that may turn out great.
That was UCF’s approach last time, and the results speak for themselves. So are we on the verge of Frost 2.0?
Check back in a couple of years. All we know now is that Heupel and Frost apparently were separated at birth and have been in lockstep since.
Both are sons of coaches. Both were stud Big 12 quarterbacks. Both bounced briefly around the NFL.
Both soon returned to college as lowly assistants. Both were mentored by offensive geniuses and their careers took off.
And both could have posed for a Norman Rockwell painting of football in America.
“From the time I’ve been little, I’ve always wanted to be a football coach,” Heupel said.
He charmed the audience at Tuesday’s introductory press conference with his childhood tales. His father, Ken, was the head coach at Northern State U. in Aberdeen, S.D.
Five-year-old Josh would hop in the car at 5:30 a.m. and ride to work with his father. He’d sit in meetings, break down film and apparently draw up no-huddle plays with his crayons.
When Heupel went on a recruiting visit to Oklahoma, he couldn’t pull himself away from offensive coordinator Mike Leach.
Yes, that Mike Leach, who became one college football’s leading gunslinger coaches.
“Usually recruits want to see girls and buildings and things like that,” Leach recalled in a 1999 interview. “But we sat in the office hours on end, going through the whole offense.”
Like Frost, Heupel seems genetically engineered to coach. His latest stop was as offensive coordinator at Missouri, which was last seen putting 45 points on the Gators.
The Tigers finished the season with six straight wins and averaged 51.3 points in those games. That got him on UCF’s radar and onto the stage Tuesday.
“I meant what I said,” Heupel told the crowd. “I didn’t want to just be a head coach anywhere.”
He felt drawn to a program that is growing up fast. Fast enough to go after established names like Sumlin.
The guy UCF initially went after would have been a good fit.
The guy they eventually could be a great fit, however his name is pronounced.