Josh Heupel just got a big reminder of why being the head coach at Oklahoma would never be a good idea for him

It's quickly becoming apparent that Oklahoma Sooners head coach Brent Venables' job security in Norman is in question.

Venables, who is in his third season as the head coach at Oklahoma, is off to a 4-3 start this season and the Sooners are coming off back-to-back blowout losses (with the loss this past weekend coming at home against the South Carolina Gamecocks).

The standard at Oklahoma is to compete for a spot in the College Football Playoff. This Sooners team, however, is just fighting to become bowl eligible.

If Oklahoma doesn't get to six wins this season, there's a real chance that Venables isn't back in Norman in 2025. And if that happens, you have to imagine that folks at Oklahoma will be throwing around Tennessee Vols head coach Josh Heupel's name as an option to replace Venables.

Heupel, of course, won a national championship as a player at Oklahoma before serving as an assistant coach in Norman for a decade. His time with the Sooners came to an end when he was unceremoniously dismissed as the program's offensive coordinator by then head coach Bob Stoops after the 2014 season.

Whether or not Heupel would be interested in returning to Oklahoma is debatable. I don't know if Heupel even knows what he would do in that situation. I tend to think, though, that Heupel wouldn't want to go down that road again with his alma mater.

Oklahoma, after all, has no problem firing former players. And Heupel got a reminder of that this week.

On Sunday, a day after the Sooners' blowout loss to the Gamecocks, Oklahoma fired offensive coordinator Seth Littrell.

Heupel and Littrell are close friends ( Heupel was in Littrell's wedding in 2007). And they were both captains on the 2000 Oklahoma national championship team. They're both Oklahoma royalty. And they have both been fired by the Sooners after serving as the program's offensive coordinator.

I don't know what will happen with Heupel and Oklahoma in the future. Maybe Venables turns things around. Or maybe the Sooners never give Heupel a call. Or maybe Oklahoma does everything in its power to bring Heupel back to Norman.

Whatever happens, one thing is certain -- if Heupel returns to OU and things got off to a shaky start, Oklahoma won't hesitate to fire him again, his legacy with the program be damned. Heupel got a reminder of that on Sunday with the Sooners' decision to fire one of his best friends. And I'm betting that's something that Heupel won't forget if Oklahoma ever comes calling.

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