Blatant Homerism - Unobjective Analysis of Oklahoma Sooners Football
Oklahoma Sooners head coach Bob Stoops stuck with the tried and true in hiring a new linebackers coach.
OU announced Tuesday that Tim Kish has been hired to join the Sooners staff, following Brent Venables' departure for Clemson last week.
Kish, who served as Mike Stoops' defensive coordinator at Arizona, apparently got the nod over Tyrone Nix. It represents a safe hire, as Kish has experience in the Stoopsian Way and shouldn't have any problem meshing with OU's staff.
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It's been too long. Who's up for some links?
Although conventional wisdom holds that OU is out of the running for DGB's signature next week, I guess the fact that Stoops is doing an in-home visit him means there's at least a chance he'll pick OU, no matter how small.
Right?
*If it's any consolation, OU does have a strong group of pass catchers coming in this fall. Trey Metoyer, who spent a year in prep school getting his grades in order, will see playing time immediately. The same goes for Durron Neal, who should turn into a slick slot receiver. The Sooners also have commitments from touted prospects Derrick Woods and Sterling Shepard.
It would be disingenuous to call a player of DGB's caliber a luxury, but OU is fortunate that receiver isn't a huge position of need.
The Temptation of Brent Venables should reach its conclusion today, as the Oklahoma Sooners' longtime defensive coordinator is expected to decide on a lucrative offer to run the Clemson Tigers' D.
Dave Sittler of the Tulsa World tweeted out last night that Venables' agent expects him to leave Norman. If so, who should take his place?
Bob Stoops has shown a willingness to shift coaches' responsibilities around if it suits him. For example, when Willie Martinez joined the staff in 2010, Stoops moved Bobby Jack Wright from secondary coach to defensive ends.
Let's assume for the purpose of this exercise that OU would pursue a linebackers coach. Homerism considers these candidates worthy of consideration.
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Mike Stoops returning to the sidelines isn't the only news about the Oklahoma Sooners coaching staff that is popping. Defensive coordinator Brent Venables is considering some outside offers, too, according to media reports that surfaced today.
Dave Sittler of the Tulsa World reported this morning that West Virginia coach Dana Holgorsen has offered Venables a job as his coordinator. Supposedly, Venables may be in the mix at Clemson as well on the heels of Dabo Swinney's dismissal of Kevin Steele.
Venables' name is undoubtedly coming up in light of Stoops' return. This raises an important question: Is Venables shopping around, or are suitors sensing blood in the water?
If Venables is looking for a new gig, it would suggest he isn't content with the new power-sharing arrangement. That would portend trouble for the staff going forward if Venables passes on these opportunities.
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In my last installment of "Fixing the Sooners," I covered the evolution of the Big 12 during the course of Bob Stoops' 13-year tenure.
The league-wide predominance of the spread offense essentially means that traditional metrics and methods of evaluating offensive and defensive effectiveness – scoring, total defense – have little utility. They're playing a different brand of football in the Big 12 relative to other major conferences like the SEC and Big Ten.
Luckily, we have some handy metrics at our disposal to help us achieve a more "apples-to-apples" comparison between teams from different conferences: our friend Bill Connelly's S&P+ Ratings. (Rather than me explaining how the S&P+ numbers are derived, see the definitions provided in the link.)
Despite speculation that he could be first-round pick in this April's NFL draft, Oklahoma quarterback Landry Jones is coming back for the 2012 season. That kind of news would lead to widespread celebration in college towns everywhere.
Not when you're the quarterback for the Oklahoma Sooners.
A decent number of Sooner fans, frustrated by his inconsistency, were hoping that the 'Stache would head off to the big leagues.
The Belldozer made a big splash in the second half of the season. Why not make the future now?
Count me in with ESPN.com Big 12 blogger David Ubben:
If you're an OU fan and unhappy that Landry Jones returned, I suggest you take a lesson in perspective.
— David Ubben (@davidubben) January 5, 2012
Our buddy John Ourand at Sports Business Journal has some nice new for Sooner fans, reporting that the University of Oklahoma is closing in on a deal with Fox Sports to launch its own cable network.
The network would hold "third-tier" broadcast rights, which in the parlance of the biz means the least-appealing football game on the schedule in a given year, a handful of hoops for both sexes and the Olympics – er, Olympic sports.
Once the terms of the deal are set, don't expect anyone in the OU athletic department to be popping any bubbly, unless it's reasonably priced. As would be expected, Ourand says Fox will pay the Sooners far less than the mega-deal that the University of Texas received from ESPN for $300 million over 20 years.
Also, unlike the Longhorn Network, there will be no OU-branded channel in and of itself. Instead, Fox's regional networks will air at least 1,000 hours of programming from OU's network annually, according to Ourand.
Yes, I know – I suck. With the holidays and all, I slacked big time in covering the Inisght Bowl.
Frankly, I think my coverage adequately reflected Sooner fans' overall level of interest in OU's 31-14 win over the Iowa Hawkeyes. About as soon as we reached the fourth quarter of the Bedlam game, Sooner Nation had already turned its attention to overhauling the coaching staff and spring practices.
Despite my dereliction, we should at least acknowledge that the game did take place. A few observations:
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It's tough to gauge this game because it's all about attitude. For sure, playing in this bowl is a huge disappointment for everyone involved with the Sooners. Just dealing with failing to win the Big 12 and meeting preseason expectations is hard enough, but there seems to be more percolating this year.
Depending on how you interpret the stories on the interwebs, you could conclude that the Sooner psyche in in total disarray with all the player angst and defections that have happened or may take place. It's not a fun time when there's not a positive vibe in the locker room. The effect is huge and it short circuits any game plan or athletic ability a team may have. It always starts when there's a bit of adversity (the Texas Tech loss). It's apparent that the Sooners themselves were lacking in composure. The causes for this are innumerable, but it's undeniable that OU had deficiencies in this area. It festered a bit too long and contributed to the 9-3 regular season the Sooners had to settle for.
Or, if you're a glass-half-full type of person, then you believe head coach Bob Stoops when he says he's just trimming the fat off the Sooners and there's not a difference in how he runs the team. This holds some water considering all the players that have not traveled with the team to Scottsdale weren't big-time contributors. If there really are players who are not living up to their end of the bargain, cutting classes and missing meetings and workouts, then a purge is needed. The Sooners are in a serious need of an attitude adjustment, and getting rid of people that contribute to that is necessary.
The Sooners have the players to beat Iowa, easily, but that doesn't mean that they will. For all the reasons above and more, the Sooners are capable of laying a big egg in the desert.
As their date with the Iowa Hawkeyes approaches, the Oklahoma Sooners have started arriving in Phoenix for the Insight Bowl. Here are five key story lines to follow leading up to Friday night's game.
1. Does OU Care?
As Vegas Runner discussed in our recent podcast, motivation is everything when it comes to the bowl games. The Sooners didn't plan on playing in the Insight Bowl, the equivalent of the Fiesta Bowl JV game, back before the season started.
Occasionally a team will come out with something to prove in such a situation. More often than not, though, the letdown leads to some sloppy football.
2. Depth at Running Back
Freshman Brandon Williams' departure leaves the Sooners with just two available halfbacks, Roy Finch and Brennan Clay. Clay has been struggling to come back from a neck injury, so expect his time to be limited. If worse comes to worst, fullback Trey Millard can carry the water, but that's not a sceanrio anyone wants to contemplate.
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