UPDATE: TUE 6:59p
So, a lot of people have been asking about
Brent Venables and his strength and conditioning hire. I kept telling people, don't worry. Brent will get the right guy that was a lot closer to Jerry Schmidt when he was at OU. He'll find someone that is similar to Schmidt in that he'll put guys through the ringer, build them up and make them better from the time they arrive to the time they leave.
OU is headed to the SEC and Venables is operating with that in mind. This team has to be more physical than it's been. It has to be stronger than the other team in the fourth quarter.
Well, Venables went and got a guy that symbolizes everything Bob Stoops had when he was the head coach at Oklahoma.
His first strength and conditioning coach will be
Jerry Schmidt. Credit Eddie who started to hear about this late in the afternoon. After further checking around, we can confirm that Schmidt is going to leave Texas A&M and return to Oklahoma to become OU head of strength and conditioning once again.
Schmidt should be squared away and all the red tape out of the way by close of business tomorrow from what we're told.
UPDATE: TUE 5:32p - We've been told that Oklahoma has moved far enough along with the hiring process of Ole Miss offensive coordinator that we're comfortable reporting him as Oklahoma's next offensive coordinator and we'll add him to the roster list that we've already got going.
It sounds as though all the basics are done save for simply announcing it. We'll see when that happens but, again, we're comfortable enough with the situation to add him to Oklahoma's coaching staff.
Presumably this puts Oklahoma's offensive coaching staff together.
HC - Brent Venables
OC/QB - Jeff Lebby
RB - Demarco Murray
WR - Cale Gundy (assuming about his position)
TEs - Joe Jon Finley
OL - Bill Bedenbaugh
DC - N/A
DE - N/A
DL - N/A
LB- N/A
DT - N/A
CB - N/A
S - N/A
UPDATE: TUE 2:29p - So this morning I had a conversation with a few sources and got some interesting information that I think maybe a few others came across but came to different conclusions on.
What I was told is that
Brent Venables may have a decent read on who some his future position coaches could be but that they weren't quite ready to be announced as they may well be members of current playoff coaching staffs.
Obviously that's enough to make all of you perk up and pay attention but the part that is vexing is...who would they be?
It's, quite obviously, on the defensive side of the ball as the offense (again, assuming Lebby comes to pass) seems to be complete.
And when you look at the four staffs, there are no glaringly obvious connections to
Brent Venables, save for one.
I want it to be said, the next is 100-percent PURE speculation based on the information at hand.
I've not heard this candidate is in contact with Oklahoma nor do I even know if it's ever happened he's just the one guy who really has some connection to the Sooners.
That coach?
Michigan defensive passing game coordinator and defensive backs coach
Steve Clinkscale. The vast majority of Clinkscale's time has been spent in Big 10 country - aside from now being with the Wolverines, he has spent time at Toledo, Illinois, and Cincinnati.
His one big school stop outside of the region?
Kentucky under head coach
Mark Stoops.
Clinkscale spent five years under Stoops, earning the same title early in 2021 with the Wildcats that he now holds before Michigan whisked him away to Ann Arbor.
And it's not hard to figure where Clinkscale's connection to Stoops comes from?
His hometown?
Youngstown, Ohio.
Again, this is all connecting dots so let's not get too crazy about it but it is an interesting possibility that would make some sense.
I know some have also connected
Dan Lanning to this rumor but that, to me, is kind of like the
Dabo Swinney rumors - why would he do that? Money? No. Prestige? No. Recruiting region? No. Etc., etc., no.
The one someone offered up was 'to get out of Kirby Smart's shadow'? And that part I could get, I could if he was going to work for almost any other head coach.
I mean is going to work for Venables really going to put to bed any questions of 'is it him or is it his head coach?'. Maybe, but that just seems a pretty thin straw to hang onto.
UPDATE: TUE 12:27p - I've spoken with a few sources and completely buy the validity of the reports, by our Ole Miss site, that
Jeff Lebby has informed current Ole Miss players that he has accepted the offensive coordinator job at Oklahoma.
Obviously until Oklahoma announces it nothing is 'official' but it sounds like everyone is on the same page.
As far as his arrival it sounds like Lebby, at the request of some around the Ole Miss program, is planning to coach in the bowl game. It will be interesting to see what Oklahoma, from top to bottom, thinks of that as obviously the Sooners would like to have Lebby on campus being around quarterback
Caleb Williams and trying to develop that relationship in hopes that Williams can be convinced to stay and spend time working under Lebby.
It feels like that aspect still has some ironing out to do but, for now, we wait to see what, and when, Oklahoma announces as that seems to be the final hurdle.
As far as how meaningful that is to Oklahoma? I think it's huge as Lebby is a guy that is 'incredibly well respected and thought of in Oxford'. In fact, should Ole Miss open up tomorrow (I don't suspect it will, just for the sake of conversation) Lebby would be right near the top of the list as a potential replacement for
Lane Kiffin.
He was up for the UCF job last year and seems to only be growing in the eyes of every program he gets to.
One interesting angle that a few sources have brought up? There is some belief that former TCU standout running back
Zack Evans might be intending to go play at him for Ole Miss - and was on campus visiting last weekend when the news of
Brent Venables to Oklahoma broke.
There are some that think Evans might be interested in following Lebby to Norman to play a bit closer to home.
We'll see how that plays out as we're not yet sure on Venables' transfer portal ideas and policies.
UPDATE: 7:47p - Alright, I'm getting the distinct impression that Oklahoma won't be retaining any of it's remaining defensive staff for
Brent Venables' first class.
We've been told, and reported to you all for a week now, by sources close to Rivals100 defensive tackle
Gabe Dindy that that any chance to keep him in the fold was likely to hinge on Oklahoma retaining
Calvin Thibodeaux.
Dindy had tried to remain patient and my general guess is that when it wasn't clear that Thibodeaux would be staying, he went with the staff, and situation, that he knew best.
(Sorry, had to retype this a few times, originally put it up shortly before putting the girls to bed and was trying to type quickly, didn't really convey my thougths well).
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UPDATE: MON 5:56p - It is fair to say that the hire that fascinates many of us is at defensive coordinator. Who might
Brent Venables see as worthy to be his first defensive coordinator.
Something I have discussed with you all, all along, is that I feel like there's a good possibility for it to be a young energetic coach who is very active is a recruiter and can learn under Venables to do things the way Brent expects.
In multiple conversations that we have had a name that seems to be popping up more and more is Louisiana-Monroe defensive coordinator and linebackers coach
Zac Alley.
Alley spent four years as a graduate assistant Clemson under Venables and it is not hard to imagine him still having a lot of affinity for Oklahoma's new head man.
Since then he has spent two years at Boise State under Bryan Harsin and last year became the youngest defensive coordinator in college football at Monroe.
He is just 28 years old and as such would make a ton of sense being the type of young defensive coordinator I've been wondering if Oklahoma might pursue. I'm told he is a high-energy and very personable guy that could be one of the emerging stars in college football.
Interestingly enough he also has some considerable special teams backgrounds and might be able to take on that role as well. And I'm clear
UPDATE: MON 1:18p - So after my last update many said 'what about Demarco?!?!' I want to reiterate again that these are people I feel comfortable saying WILL be around on the new staff. I've assumed he'd be part of ANY coaches plan going forward but I try to have more than that to go off of.
Now after talking to a few sources I feel confident that
Demarco Murray will be retained.
Again, not a surprising update but one that needed to be checked into and gives me a chacne to explain this list. It doesn't mean guys like Thibodeaux and or Cain, won't stay as well. I'm keeping track of what I feel comfortable REPORTING.
HC - Brent Venables
OC - N/A
QB - N/A
RB - Demarco Murray
WR - Cale Gundy (assuming about his position)
TEs - Joe Jon Finley
OL - Bill Bedenbaugh
DC - N/A
DE - N/A
DL - N/A
LB- N/A
DT - N/A
CB - N/A
S - N/A
UPDATE: MON 11:09a - We've continued to search around and with a BIG hand from
@Eddie_Rado we are confident in reporting that
Cale Gundy,
Joe Jon Finley, and
Bill Bedenbaugh will remain in Norman.
As our first reports indicate, it isn't surprising news, but definitely good that you can start to see the staff come together.
I also think the certainty over retaining Finley could be an indicator for the plan to bring in
Jeff Lebby as offensive coordinator. That's not to say that Finley couldn't/wouldn't be kept otherwise just that the two are very close and it would seem to indicate the validity of what we're all expecting in Lebby to Oklahoma.
We'll keep updating this as we go...
And for housekeeping I'm using the model of Clemson's staff breakdown (obviously Venables may do it differently) and obviously there won't be 12 assistants, but as we're ONLY going with what we KNOW we can't combine the positions that the coordinators will be responsible for yet.
HC - Brent Venables
OC - N/A
QB - N/A
RB - N/A
WR - Cale Gundy (presumably)
TEs - Joe Jon Finley
OL - Bill Bedenbaugh
DC - N/A
DE - N/A
DL - N/A
LB- N/A
DT - N/A
CB - N/A
S - N/A
UPDATE: 10:03p - So it's not a huge surprise when I post something like I have that pretty quickly I start getting feedback, clarifications, etc.
And as you could tell in my previous post I had some questions about how realistic the hiring of
Randy Clements could be and after hearing from a few sources I think it's pretty clear that isn't going to happen.
What's more?
I'm growing increasingly confident that Oklahoma will be able to keep offensive line coach
Bill Bedenbaugh to, very likely, team up with
Jeff Lebby in what could be a really interesting matchup of run game ideas - but I'll nerd out on that later.
I think the hire that has the most people talking is that of defensive coordinator and while I alluded to it earlier the only name I'd heard all week was
Barry Odom, Arkansas' defensive coordinator.
I'm not saying how viable this option is as I kind of wonder about how he and Venables would mesh as two guys with very strong defensive ideas but it's a name that has come up and thought I'd pass it along.
ORIGINAL: OK, as you all might expect we've been working on all kinds of leads on what
Brent Venables' first staff in Norman might look like - I'm also working on a full content item kind of laying out each position and drawing some various conclusions on how things could be built out.
But for now, let's get some thoughts on what could play out.
I don't have a feel for every position and won't pretend that I do but I think offensive coordinator is a near done deal with
Jeff Lebby, with one source in Oxford, Miss. telling me that 'something would have to go wrong for him not to get (the Oklahoma offensive coordinator) job'.
And to tell you what a coup that is for the Sooners I'm told Lebby, a 2007 Oklahoma graduate, was in the running for the same role at Auburn as well as LSU. In fact there was some gossip of him possibly being the answer for a few schools at head coach if a few chips had fallen in his direction. The bottom line is that he is a guy in high demand.
And for those that don't remember, Lebby is a former highly regarded high school offensive line signee for the Sooners in the class of 2001.
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But while some of that, including the most key element of his likely landing spot in Norman, is already known what isn't as well known to some is the likelihood he'd bring along his offensive line coach,
Randy Clements with him to Norman. Clements has spent a lot of time with Lebby through the years and was one of the key architects of Baylor's success up front under
Art Briles. Now, can Oklahoma stomach that Clements was one of Briles' principle defenders during the 'CAB' and 'Truth Don't Lie' eras.
As cautious as Oklahoma is with hiring and
Joe Castiglione is careful with outside 'issues' it'll be interesting to see if he can overlook the connections to one of college football's uglier scandals in recent memory.
I'm NOT saying I know how that will come out but it's going to be an interesting point to see.
Beyond THAT issue though, Clements is an outstanding coach who produced the Big 12 offensive lineman of the year from 2012-2015 and has produced a lot of success in his years coaching linemen.
We'll keep working for more on offense but one would have to be awfully surprised if
Demarco Murray and
Cale Gundy aren't part of the plans for the Sooners as Murray has already proven to be a potentially elite recruiter and obviously Gundy and Venables worked together for over a decade - there's a good understanding by Venables as to what Gundy means to the program and the continuity he could help provide.
On the defensive side of the ball there are a lot more questions as there doesn't seem as much likelihood for carry over from the previous regime. The only three that are even possible at this point are
Jamar Cain,
Calvin Thibodeaux, and
Brian Odom.
As I detailed earlier this week, Thibodeaux and Cain feel like, at best, two men for one spot as there is some belief that Venables will bring his close friend, and Clemson defensive tackles coach as well as recruiting coordinator,
Todd Bates with him. In the Clemson coaching staff they do have a defensive ends position so could it be Thibodeaux? Sure could. Could it be Cain? Sure could.
Could it be someone else altogether, yes.
And again, maybe we're wrong about our first read on Bates as that was just kind of hearsay during the week but it was something that a few people thought was a very plausible scenario when discussing how Venables might build his first staff.
Odom will be interesting as Venables has made his hay as one of his generation's great linebacker coaches, how will he view Odom and is Odom already bound for USC? It kind of depends on who you ask but there has been a feeling around Norman that he'd like to stay but there also being a real question if he felt he could wait and not give the Trojans an answer. And to that end many have speculated that Odom will follow his former boss to the land of Troy.
But much like Bates that's just kind of back and forth gossip at this point.
There have been a lot of familiar names on this list so far but one that you all may need to familiarize yourselves with as I think he'd make for an interesting hire and I believe he'd have real interest is current Missouri secondary coach
Aaron Fletcher. Fletcher came up from the Dallas area coaching at places like Dallas Carter, DeSoto, and Lancaster before hitting the college ranks and making his way to Houston Baptist and then Tulsa before now finding his way to his first year in Columbia.
Fletcher was part of a Tulsa pass defense in 2018 that was one of the nation's best (No. 8) and saw a strong finish in 2020 (No. 18) as well.
As for recruiting, aside from his obvious ties to powerhouses in the Dallas area he also has a ton of great relationships with staffs in the area as well as building some strong in-roads in the Tulsa area.
Ever wonder how
Gentry Williams kept Mizzou on his list with Florida, Oklahoma, USC, LSU, and some others? Look no further than Fletcher. He doesn't have a direct line to Venables but they've definitely crossed paths before and this hire could be interesting.
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