In my pre-season OU football preview, I predicted Mike Stoops would be out as Defensive Coordinator following the Baylor game. Well, it looks like I was only off by one week. According to numerous OU homer media reports, Stoops is out as defensive coordinator.
TFB contributor, James Hale (@jhale24) has learned via a source that #Sooners coach, Mike Stoops is out as defensive coordinator.
Please be respectful.https://t.co/slsOb8kPki
— TFB Sooners (@TFB_Sooners) October 8, 2018
Yes, please be as respectful to Mike Stoops as OU defenders were to Texas quarterbacks, running backs and wide receivers. Also, don’t let the door hit you on the way out… respectfully.
James Hale, for those who don’t know, is the ultimate OU media homer. He is to the Stoops brothers a Biff is to the McFlys after Marty and Doc go back in time to save everything. If he’s reporting the story, it basically has to be true.
The report was confirmed by Hale’s rival OU beat homer reporter, Carey Murdock:
Our @CareyAMurdock confirms Mike Stoops is out as #Sooners defensive coordinator.
— SoonerScoop.com (@SoonerScoop) October 8, 2018
According to the rumor mill, Mike Stoops will likely be replaced by current Defensive Special Assistant Bob Diaco. He’s a young guy and was the defensive coordinator for Notre Dame the year they played in the National Championship. During that season, his stalwart defense dominated Heupel and Landry Jones in Norman. Diaco then left to be the head coach at Connecticut and had mixed results. Now he’s next in line to be blamed for most Sooner defeats. What an honor.
Update: Actually, the honor went to Ruffin McNeill. He hired Riley as offensive coordinator at Eastern Carolina. Good for him. Hopefully he can find players who know how to tackle.
Anyway, this is a breaking news story and we’re basically throwing this together for the page views. We should have more coverage of this AMAZING NEWS later this week.
–
So did LR just give him a $920,000/year paid vacation? I mean he did have a contract, right?
Being a huge Notre Dame fan in Sooner land Diaco is just a step above Brian Van Gorder except in the porn mustach dept. Van Gorder is all american
tackling would be good
I’d fire him for wearing that hat.
So much for liberals embracing freedom of expression!
Free to express whatever you want. Not free from others telling you that you are an asshole.
D_rock has it exactly right.
Ah, yes. The tolerant left. Tolerant as long as you think like them.
As much as I hate to see a person lose his job, I think just about everyone breathed a sigh of relief tonight! It’s been a long time coming!
To give up 19 on 3rd and 20 and need a time out to figure out what to do on 4th down was bad enough. But then to turn around and give up 20 on 3rd and 21 and STILL not know what to call on 4th down a series or two later?
So that actually happened. I would say he had to go. No choice really.
When did James Hale get out of prison?
Looks like instead of Diaco it’s McNeill:
https://www.koco.com/article/ou-head-coach-lincoln-riley-announces-new-defensive-coordinator-after-mike-stoops-dismissed/23640474
Only people happier than Sooner fans are the Vegas sports bookies.
The one that ought to be fired is Gollogly. He is a disaster, slowly unfolding. Keep watching.
Willie Sutton said that he robbed banks “because that’s where the money is.”
Gollogly is taking the opposite approach, turning OU finances around beginning with a few padded travel expense reports.
Ah, football – the reason God created America and dementia,….
Having played college football and coached HS football, it’s difficult to convey to fans what really goes on during practice, games, prep for games that is intended to create the performance of the players(even many who played struggle with this).
The hardest part of coaching or managing people in a work environment is getting others to perform or do something in a certain way or at a certain and you can’t do anything other than prepare, advise and “coach”.
So the biggest mystery for me (other than why it took so long for both OU and Mike to understand a change was needed), was what happened to these 3-4-5 star defensive recruits once they enrolled at Norman. You would assume they could play at this level, could tackle some and had some understanding of defensive football? The OU Defense has been missing tackles this year at such an alarming level it was becoming a running joke, only it wasn’t a joke, it was actually happening, and has been happening for at least 2+ years, So how/why did these HS studs become so terrible at tackling?
Mike’s “mad scientist” act grew stale and was failing, his players not only couldn’t perform his schemes, they got to the point they couldn’t even line up-ala John Blake bad at times, and the inability to tackle became a constant.
I don’t wish Mike Ill will, but the past 4-5 years should be clear evidence the value/skill of Venables.
You can’t fire the players, and you can’t play for them, but if they can’t/won’t play for you, then it’s time to separate.
Outstanding post Cap. Thank you.
Just remember, OU fans couldn’t wait to get rid of Venables too. And right now he has the #4 defense in the country with Clemson and is making 2Mm per year.
When you have a tradition of championships, it gets pretty irritating to just keep coming up short. We are not content to be a blue chip program, we are a championship program. It’s way past damn time we bring home the trophy.
3 words. Big Game Bob
Finally!!!!! Jimmy Carter had Billy and Lincoln Riley had Mike. I’m putting on my Make Oklahoma Great Again ball cap.
Positive spin here. The 95% of OU players who will not have a professional football career will be able to return to their studies earlier without the pressure and time commitment of the NCAA playoffs.