owenfieldreams
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I thought it would help those who frequent this board to understand why Sooner fans are taking a wait & see attitude about this year's edition of OKLAHOMA FOOTBALL.
COACHING: Changes in the makeup of the staff started well before this year. Right after Mike Stoops was fired @ Arizona, he was rehired as co-D-coordinator with Brent Venables. While never publically revealed, apparently BV decided he did not want to continue within that structure so he took the D-coordinator job @ Clemson. Bob then replaced O-line coach James Patton with Bill Bedenbaugh and D-line coach Jackie Shipp with Jerry Montgomery. After the 2014 debacle, WR coach Jay Norvell & O-coordinator and QB coach Josh Heupel were let go. Then Montgomery got hired away by the GB Packers. At the same time DB coach Bobby Jack Wright retired. The new staff is not only made up of new hires but has been completely reshuffled in terms of coaching assignments. Cale Gundy has been moved from RB coach to Inside WR coach and Dennis Simmons has been brought in from Washington State as Outside WR coach. Lincoln Riley is now the O-coordinator and QB coach and Jay Boulware has moved from ST & TE coach to RB/FB coach. When Mike came back from AZ he brought with him LB coach Tim Kish. Now,Kish only coaches the inside LB's. Diron Reynolds came in from Stanford and now coaches the D-line and Kerry Cooks came in from ND and now coaches the entire D-backfield. Mike Stoops no longer coaches safeties and has been moved to the press box on game day.
Scheme: Bob Stoops took over the OU program in 1999 and immediately installed a Hal Mumme spread O coached by Mike Leach. The shock to the senses of die-hard OU fans, used to a traditional power running team that evolved from the Split-T, to the I formation to the Wishbone and produced 3 HT winners and 6 NC's was palpable. This shock soon turned to euphoria when the Sooners won the 2000 NC. Over the years the O gradually morphed into a spread scheme with certain pro tendencies culminating with the 2008 O that was literally an unstoppable machine, led by Sam Bradford, DeMarco Murray, & Jermaine Gresham. The O-coordinator of that unit was Kevin Wilson, now the HC @ Indiana. After Landry Jones graduated in 2012 the decision was made to switch to a Nevada "Pistol" zone-read O but as 2013 & 2014 evolved, Sooner fans will tell you that we seemed to lose our identity on O. Much of the blame was put on O-coordinator Josh Heupel and after the disastrous 2014 season, Bob decided to go back to his roots and thus all the coaching changes mentioned earlier. The same can be said about our D. Stoops is a 4-3 guy from his playing days @ Iowa to his coaching days under Bill Snyder and Steve Spurrier, he has always been a 4-3 guy. For whatever reason we decided to switch to a 3-4 scheme. The irony is that OU invented the 3-4 ( or 5-2 "Okie D") under Bud Wilkinson. We never seemed to be able to make this scheme work, especially in the wide-open Big 12. Most OU fans would put the onus on the coaching, not the talent on the field. Going into the 2015 season we have gone back to the 4-3 but interspersed it with elements of the 3-4 & the WVU 3-3-5. The assumption is that this versatility in scheme gives us the best chance of handling the conference O's. The other contributing factor is the depth of versatile talent we now have that allows us to substitute into these various sets depending on the opponent and the down and distance.
Finally, the other unknown is just what the residual effect will be on this team after the way the 2014 season unfolded. We lost 3 games by a total of 8 points and the way we lost them was excruciating. Baylor blew us out and the embarrassment that was the Clemson game was the straw that broke the camel's back. The optimism lies within the new staff and the knowledge that there is a lot of talent on this team. We have had the most injury free fall camp in memory but we will walk into Neyland with a new QB who has now walked on at two programs.
So, with all this in mind, it is easy to see why longstanding die-hard Sooners like myself are not ready to put us in the NC playoff. We are cautiously optimistic but the reality of what has transpired over the past 3-4 years is sobering to say the least.
COACHING: Changes in the makeup of the staff started well before this year. Right after Mike Stoops was fired @ Arizona, he was rehired as co-D-coordinator with Brent Venables. While never publically revealed, apparently BV decided he did not want to continue within that structure so he took the D-coordinator job @ Clemson. Bob then replaced O-line coach James Patton with Bill Bedenbaugh and D-line coach Jackie Shipp with Jerry Montgomery. After the 2014 debacle, WR coach Jay Norvell & O-coordinator and QB coach Josh Heupel were let go. Then Montgomery got hired away by the GB Packers. At the same time DB coach Bobby Jack Wright retired. The new staff is not only made up of new hires but has been completely reshuffled in terms of coaching assignments. Cale Gundy has been moved from RB coach to Inside WR coach and Dennis Simmons has been brought in from Washington State as Outside WR coach. Lincoln Riley is now the O-coordinator and QB coach and Jay Boulware has moved from ST & TE coach to RB/FB coach. When Mike came back from AZ he brought with him LB coach Tim Kish. Now,Kish only coaches the inside LB's. Diron Reynolds came in from Stanford and now coaches the D-line and Kerry Cooks came in from ND and now coaches the entire D-backfield. Mike Stoops no longer coaches safeties and has been moved to the press box on game day.
Scheme: Bob Stoops took over the OU program in 1999 and immediately installed a Hal Mumme spread O coached by Mike Leach. The shock to the senses of die-hard OU fans, used to a traditional power running team that evolved from the Split-T, to the I formation to the Wishbone and produced 3 HT winners and 6 NC's was palpable. This shock soon turned to euphoria when the Sooners won the 2000 NC. Over the years the O gradually morphed into a spread scheme with certain pro tendencies culminating with the 2008 O that was literally an unstoppable machine, led by Sam Bradford, DeMarco Murray, & Jermaine Gresham. The O-coordinator of that unit was Kevin Wilson, now the HC @ Indiana. After Landry Jones graduated in 2012 the decision was made to switch to a Nevada "Pistol" zone-read O but as 2013 & 2014 evolved, Sooner fans will tell you that we seemed to lose our identity on O. Much of the blame was put on O-coordinator Josh Heupel and after the disastrous 2014 season, Bob decided to go back to his roots and thus all the coaching changes mentioned earlier. The same can be said about our D. Stoops is a 4-3 guy from his playing days @ Iowa to his coaching days under Bill Snyder and Steve Spurrier, he has always been a 4-3 guy. For whatever reason we decided to switch to a 3-4 scheme. The irony is that OU invented the 3-4 ( or 5-2 "Okie D") under Bud Wilkinson. We never seemed to be able to make this scheme work, especially in the wide-open Big 12. Most OU fans would put the onus on the coaching, not the talent on the field. Going into the 2015 season we have gone back to the 4-3 but interspersed it with elements of the 3-4 & the WVU 3-3-5. The assumption is that this versatility in scheme gives us the best chance of handling the conference O's. The other contributing factor is the depth of versatile talent we now have that allows us to substitute into these various sets depending on the opponent and the down and distance.
Finally, the other unknown is just what the residual effect will be on this team after the way the 2014 season unfolded. We lost 3 games by a total of 8 points and the way we lost them was excruciating. Baylor blew us out and the embarrassment that was the Clemson game was the straw that broke the camel's back. The optimism lies within the new staff and the knowledge that there is a lot of talent on this team. We have had the most injury free fall camp in memory but we will walk into Neyland with a new QB who has now walked on at two programs.
So, with all this in mind, it is easy to see why longstanding die-hard Sooners like myself are not ready to put us in the NC playoff. We are cautiously optimistic but the reality of what has transpired over the past 3-4 years is sobering to say the least.
