“I saw it very close watching the Washington-Baylor bowl game that was in the 60s. I just was kind of enamored with it for awhile and started to study some of it and use some it at Alabama. I just said, ‘Alright, if I get a head job again, this is what I want to do’. It really is amazing — the system — and credit to Art Briles.”–Lane Kiffin
“When we were at Missouri, we set a Power Five record for the fewest amount of zero negative yard plays and then reset the record the following year. When we took over at Missouri, they were 125th in the country in total offense. We ended up leading the league for two straight years in total offense. We’re very balanced in our approach. You look at our numbers, run and pass, we’re extremely balanced, so our ability for us, it really starts with the run game. It starts with the five guys up front, your tight ends, if they’re playing. They’re located in the core. Then our running backs have to be great with the football in their hands.”–Josh Heupel
John Flynn played at Oklahoma on the offensive line from 2001-04.
He arrived at Oklahoma one year after Josh Heupel guided the Sooners to the 2000 BCS national championship as a starting quarterback.
Heupel returned to Oklahoma in 2003 after a stint playing in the NFL. From 2003-04, Heupel was a graduate assistant at Oklahoma.
Flynn served as a graduate assistant on offense for the Sooners from 2007-11, while Heupel was quarterbacks coach (2006-10) and offensive coordinator (2011).
Flynn joined the show “Football Two-A-Days” ahead of Tennessee (4-2, 2-1 SEC) playing No. 14 Ole Miss (4-1, 1-1 SEC).
The matchup pits Heupel versus Ole Miss and former Tennessee head coach Lane Kiffin. Kiffin will receive a lot of attention as he returns to Tennessee for the first time as a head coach, but the matchup features an extensive coaching tree of an offensive system that is at the forefront of college football.
During Heupel’s tenure as UCF’s head coach, Jeff Lebby served as quarterbacks coach in 2018 and was elevated to offensive coordinator and quarterbacks coach in 2019. Lebby served as a student assistant coach from 2002-06 when Heupel was a graduate assistant and quarterbacks coach at Oklahoma.
Lebby is in his second season calling plays as Ole Miss’ offensive coordinator and quarterbacks coach.
He is the son-in-law of former Baylor head coach Art Briles. From 2008-16, Lebby served in various positions on staff under Briles.
Heupel was hired as Missouri’s offensive coordinator and quarterbacks coach in 2016 and hired Joe Jon Finley on staff as his tight ends coach. Finley came to Missouri after serving as offensive quality control at Baylor under Briles. That is when Heupel began studying and implementing Baylor’s offense into his scheme using wide splits and veer and shoot concepts.
Finley served as passing game coordinator and tight ends coach in 2020 under Kiffin and Lebby at Ole Miss before replacing Shane Beamer as tight ends coach on Lincoln Riley’s Oklahoma staff this season.
“It is kind of funny when you kind of zoom out and look at the big picture, look at all of these people that have had some sort of tie to somebody else,” Flynn said. “I am telling you, it is a gigantic brotherhood. It just goes to show you, that you are constantly connecting and talking ball, coming up with new concepts. Maybe you are on staff with somebody and all of a sudden you go different ways and you end up playing each other later on.
“When you kind of zoom in and look at it behind the scenes, what a lot of fans don’t necessarily realize is that the coaching tree is a pretty good size. What a lot of fans don’t see, is there is going to be a lot fans that look at Tennessee and see it is Tennessee versus Ole Miss. That is just what they see, it is on the surface. It’s Lane Kiffin, it’s Josh Heupel, and Lane Kiffin used to be the head coach here and there is some animosity. What they don’t see, they don’t zoom in even further, and there is a lot more to this game and a lot more background to this game than a lot of people realize.”
John David Baker replaced Finley as Ole Miss’ passing game coordinator and tight ends coach in 2021.
Baker’s first FBS coaching position was serving as offensive quality control at North Texas under head coach and former Oklahoma running back Seth Littrell. Littrell was a teammate of Heupel at Oklahoma from 1999-2000.
Jake Thornton is in his first season as the Rebels’ offensive line coach. He came to Ole Miss after serving as running game coordinator and offensive line coach at Gardner Webb (2020) and Tennessee Tech (2018-19).
At Tennessee Tech from 2018-19, Tre Lamb served as offensive coordinator and quarterbacks coach. Lamb is now serving as Gardner–Webb’s head coach since 2020.
Lamb has tailored his offensive philosophies and concepts from studying the likes of Heupel’s veer-and-shoot style.
In 2019, Kelsey Pope served as Lamb’s wide receivers coach at Tennessee Tech. Lamb hired Pope to serve as his passing game coordinator and wide receivers coach at Gardner-Webb. Pope departed Gardner-Webb as Heupel hired him as an offensive analyst at Tennessee.
Phil Loadholt is serving as an offensive analyst at Ole Miss.
Loadholt played offensive tackle at Oklahoma for Heupel and Flynn from 2007-08 after transferring from Garden City Community College. He was a second round NFL draft selection in 2009.
The entire show with Flynn can be listened to here or below. Flynn discusses both team’s offense and the coaches in the Tennessee-Ole Miss matchup.