When Shane Beamer left Oklahoma as the Sooners’ tight ends coach to become South Carolina’s head coach following the 2020 season, Lincoln Riley hired Joe Jon Finley as his replacement.
Finley was a tight end for the Sooners when Tennessee head coach Josh Heupel was Oklahoma’s quarterbacks coach. Finley graduated in 2008 and went on to play in the NFL for San Francisco, Detroit and Carolina between 2008-12.
Following his professional playing career, Finley delved into coaching, beginning as an offensive line coach at Los Fresnos High School in Texas.
He served as a graduate assistant for the Sooners between 2012-13.
After returning to Los Fresnos for one season in 2014, he was a quality control coach at Baylor in 2015 under head coach Art Briles.
Heupel was hired as Missouri’s offensive coordinator and quarterbacks coach in 2016. He brought in Finley to serve as the Tigers’ tight ends coach under him.
With Finley on staff, Heupel began to install Briles’ veer and shoot offense and started steering away from the Air Raid offense he played in at Oklahoma from 1999-2000.
Heupel has since operated his revamped veer and shoot offensive system as a first-time head coach at UCF (2018-20) and now with Tennessee.
Finley coached in the Southeastern Conference between 2016-2020.
In addition to coaching at Missouri (2016-20), Finley has served as tight ends coach at Texas A&M (2019) and Ole Miss as a passing game coordinator and tight ends coach in the SEC.
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