Their positive relationship is a huge plus for us right now. He retained Vitello against the odds we can do it again(1) Lincoln Riley is clearly afraid of competing with the big boys. Has a perfect bed made for himself at Oklahoma...except they're shifting to the SEC in the next couple of years. So he jumps ship. It will probably emerge that it wasn't even for much more money.
(2) We've nothing to worry about. First, it's a year or two too soon for Heupel to be THAT hot a commodity. Once we're winning the East with him, THEN he'll be the guy places like Oklahoma salivate over. But not yet.
(3) Reason #2 for us having nothing to worry about. Heupel doesn't feel drawn to Oklahoma. It's not his dream job. He's from South Dakota. I don't know who he cheered for as a kid, but it wasn't the Sooners. By the time he got to Oklahoma, in his junior year, he was a seasoned surfer of the college transfer. Oklahoma was just another step up. I'm sure he's fond of it, but there's no "Kiffin to USC" mojo at work here.
(4) Reason #3 for us not having any reason to worry: Dan White. A little while ago, Dan probably called Josh. "Hey, you see the news?" "Yeah, a little surprising." "Agreed. You need anything?" "No, man, I'm good." "Okay, see you tomorrow." They have a relationship that transcends location. As they've already proven.
It's a fun situation to watch, playing out in Oklahoma and California right now, but has nothing to do with us.
Go Vols!
It’s not a better job when the pendulum can flip in a matter of a season. That’s what happened to us after Lane. Went from being a legendary job to a train wreck. We’ve really improved the infrastructure of the program. Everything is in place. OU could be about to implode
OU is a linear jump for Hueple at best. Remember OU is joining the SEC and with their never had a defense mentality would be lucky to finish above 500 in SEC play. That is the issue at OU and the reason Riley left to the easier Pac 19
I think you’d be surprised. Lots of these athletic departments are just rich guys in suites, they can eff up a sports decision real quickOU implodes if they let emotion obstruct their judgement. That’s exactly what Tennessee did. I doubt OU is going implode because I don’t think they can top Tennessee’s stupidity from the 2010’s
I am curious because the Mullen to VaTech idea makes a lot of sense to me. AD here is low key and boosters are pretty easy to keep happy. If Mullen could rein in the goofiness, I could see him having a good run here.One of the most stunning and unexpected things I’ve seen, and I expect more explanations will leak out at some point, but from what I’ve heard so far, his relationship with Grantham and Hevesy became really toxic and that spilled over to dysfunction within the team. And his relationship with AD Stricklin went bad too, mostly over Mullen not really wanting to hear from the AD about things like recruiting and coaching staff changes.
But I generally agree, he’s a helluva good coach and still has some good tread on his tires. He’ll get another shot somewhere.
Where would you rather live? Sunny LA or Norman, Oklahoma. He may be competing against the SEC but he still lives in Norman. I don’t blame him one bit, I’ve been to OU and well it’s in Oklahoma.(1) Lincoln Riley is clearly afraid of competing with the big boys. Has a perfect bed made for himself at Oklahoma...except they're shifting to the SEC in the next couple of years. So he jumps ship. It will probably emerge that it wasn't even for much more money.
(2) We've nothing to worry about. First, it's a year or two too soon for Heupel to be THAT hot a commodity. Once we're winning the East with him, THEN he'll be the guy places like Oklahoma salivate over. But not yet.
(3) Reason #2 for us having nothing to worry about. Heupel doesn't feel drawn to Oklahoma. It's not his dream job. He's from South Dakota. I don't know who he cheered for as a kid, but it wasn't the Sooners. By the time he got to Oklahoma, in his junior year, he was a seasoned surfer of the college transfer. Oklahoma was just another step up. I'm sure he's fond of it, but there's no "Kiffin to USC" mojo at work here.
(4) Reason #3 for us not having any reason to worry: Dan White. A little while ago, Dan probably called Josh. "Hey, you see the news?" "Yeah, a little surprising." "Agreed. You need anything?" "No, man, I'm good." "Okay, see you tomorrow." They have a relationship that transcends location. As they've already proven.
Bottom line: it's a fun situation to watch, playing out in Oklahoma and California right now, but has nothing to do with us.
Go Vols!
OU is a linear jump for Hueple at best. Remember OU is joining the SEC and with their never had a defense mentality would be lucky to finish above 500 in SEC play. That is the issue at OU and the reason Riley left to the easier Pac 19
Not really understanding the Riley leaving OU for USC. Seems like a lateral move to me. I thought Riley would get a NFL job at some point. Another thing to consider is the fact that Stoops had the cupboard stocked pretty good before Riley took over but that’s not the case at USC. He could struggle a bit at first