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Josh Heupel's arrival in Logan comes far too late to save his original college coach's job, but he certainly adds a major dimension to Utah State's football program.
Even if his tenure as Oklahoma's co-offensive coordinator did not end well, Heupel has credentials and experience that make him valuable at the Mountain West level. USU coach Matt Wells named Heupel his offensive coordinator and Kevin Clune his defensive coordinator on Friday, filling two vital staff positions.
Heupel's hiring is particularly intriguing, mainly because of what it suggests about Wells' view of his own job. After losing former offensive coordinator Kevin McGiven to Gary Andersen's Oregon State staff, Wells faced a decision about his level of involvement in the offense. He could take over the play-calling himself and hire a coordinator who would assist him, somewhat like the working relationship between Bronco Mendenhall and Nick Howell with BYU's defense. Or could he bring in an experienced coordinator and step back, after being highly involved in the offense in his first two years as head coach.
Heupel's availability and willingness to come to Logan pretty much answered that question for Wells.
Funny, how life works. Heupel once was ticketed for USU as a quarterback. A native of South Dakota, he was discovered by former Weber State coach Dave Arslanian and started four games for the Wildcats as a freshman in 1997. Arslanian then became USU's coach and sent Heupel to Snow College, with the intention that he would come to Logan in 1999.
Oklahoma intervened. Bob Stoops was hired as the Sooners' coach and brought in Mike Leach as his offensive coordinator. They desperately needed a quarterback who could operate Leach's passing offense, and they found Heupel at Snow.
Arslanian was disappointed — and would be fired by USU after his second season — but anyone would have to say that Heupel made a good career move. The Sooners won the national championship in his senior year , when he was the Heisman Trophy runner-up, and he later joined the coaching staff.
His time at Oklahoma ended with a staff shakeup after the Sooners lost 40-6 to Clemson in the Russell Athletic Bowl, completing an 8-5 season. But by going to OU in the first place, Heupel had become acquainted with Luke Wells, Matt's brother, who worked with the Sooner quarterbacks as a student assistant coach. The relationship with the Wells family explains Heupel's being attracted to USU.
The semantics are interesting; USU undoubtedly is the only program in the country with an "offensive coordinator" and a "co-offensive coordinator." Heupel also will have the title of "assistant head coach."
A further twist is that USU's second game of the 2015 season is at Utah, where former Oklahoma quarterback Kendal Thompson will be competing for the starting job.
Clune's return to Logan after one season as Hawaii's defensive coordinator, meanwhile, gives USU some continuity on that side of the ball. As the Aggies' linebackers coach, he worked under former coordinators Dave Aranda and Todd Orlando (who moved to Houston) in a successful scheme that he will maintain.
So the Aggies have responded well in filling the staff vacancies, with 12 days left in recruiting.
Twitter: @tribkurt