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BOARD CHAT: November 30, 2021 (50+ Answered)

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Dabo Rumor

I'm going to preface this. I got this information from the same person (works within the program) who filled me in on the Wease injury and Spencer Rattler missing the Monday practice after OU-Texas. Both of those things ended up being true. He told me on Monday that Dabo had interviewed. I didn't believe it for one second. Way too far fetched. But now that Carey has spoken, there might be something to it.

Believe me, don't believe me. Just putting this out there.

The OSU loss can be devastating to a program

Like the Pukes. All their dreams of the college playoffs and putting up a NC 2021 sign next to the 1945 sign (crock) is gone. The only time they ever are good is when they have a 28 yr old QB or 24 plus year old defensive players. Bet somewhere in stoolwater they put of a banner and pass out our 2021 big 12 co-champs. It’s a great day to be a sooner. WS

Wednesday Notes...(UPDATE: 3:11p)

UPDATE: 3:11p - I don't want to write this (this is Carey). I can't believe what I'm about to write. And I don't want to do it. But all of us have been hearing some rumblings that none of us believe. It's too crazy to believe. But we keep hearing it. And the joke starts like this...

What if Brent Venables is coaching at the University of Oklahoma next year.

But what if he is the defensive coordinator?

I'm not saying this is who it is. Don't go around the Internet telling people we're reporting this is the leading candidate.

But spend some time telling yourself Dabo Swinney is a potential hire for Oklahoma.

People would say we're crazy. And maybe we are. But something weird is happening. And Dabo Swinney's name coming up is what has us weirded out.

Venables at DC? Is Bob coming back to be head coach with Jeff Lebby as OC?

I did reach out and asked people about the possibility. After our Clemson guys stopped laughing at me, they told me Dabo just built a new 20,000 sq/ft house and Clemson would match $15 mil a year if OU wanted to steal him.

I reached out to someone else in the profession and they told me that Georgia has killed off Clemson's pipeline to recruits. It's possible Dabo sees what is happening and could be looking for a new start elsewhere.

I'm not super high on this theory. Swinney's buyout is somewhere near $10 million. But we've heard it enough in bits and pieces that we would add it to the pile.

If Venables is OU's DC next year, I'd almost be willing to set sail with the theory that Bob could be the coach and he'd bring in Jeff Lebby as his OC and keep Caleb Williams in tow.

I will go die of embarrassment now. I don't feel good about any of what I've just typed.

UPDATE: 2:28p - Surprise, surprise, Bruce Feldman is faster than me.

It sounds like it will NOT be Matt Rhule as I had been thinking in the last update. Not sure where things changed but I admit all signs were pointing in that direction.

Now one has to think it's Brent Venables and that's the smart bet at this point but there's still some buzz about a few names - one of which is so absurd I'll mention at a later date.

UPDATE: 12:49p - I'll be honest guys, I'm just kind of sitting here waiting to hear that it has happened, it feels that close at the moment. Every time my phone goes off I kind of think 'there it is'.

I've heard talk of executive session and an emergency Board of Regents meeting and that an announcement could come at tonight's basketball game.

I'm starting to lean very hard in the direction of Matt Rhule but I wouldn't say I've got enough to go all in on that idea just yet.

UPDATE: 9:58a - OK all I think I'm finally confident in who the 'other candidate' is.

I've talked to 3 different sources this morning and have been told there is one candidate, that no one has mentioned more than peripherally, who is pushing hard for the job.

That candidate?

Carolina Panthers head coach Matt Rhule.

I'm told Rhule is very interested in the job and interestingly he shares representation with both Lincoln Riley and Brian Kelly. Perhaps his agent is ready to shake college football up a third time?

And for those asking, I'm told that Rhule has made some hints that he'd bring Joe Brady to Norman with him.

For those that don't see the immediate significance? Caleb Williams was going to commit to LSU before Brady followed Rhule to Carolina two years ago.

My personal take? This could be the guy, it adds up a few different ways but again I'm not making my pick just that I think there is real substance to this.

ORIGINAL: Alright guys, my phone (and that of the entire staff) basically just ring all the time right now but one of the most enlightening conversations I've had happened before the sun came up this morning.

For a few days now I've talked about having some questions about just how interested Brent Venables might be in the head coaching position at Oklahoma.

Well after my conversation this morning I no longer think that's in any question. In speaking to one source with knowledge I was told that Venables has, very recently, acknowledged that Oklahoma is 'the job I've always wanted'.

That adds up as Venables and Kansas State never have seemed likely and there are at least 11 reports, and or rumors, of him turning down various other head coaching opportunities.

That said the source I spoke with acknowledged that Oklahoma isn't speaking only to Venables, as of yesterday.

That's where it gets interesting as it feels like there have been three possibilities emerge in the last 12 hours.

Venables, Dan Lanning, the Georgia defensive coordinator, and 'someone else'. I hate to be that vague on the last one but it really does feel like there's a surprise behind door No. 3 that Oklahoma is taking a look at and I won't throw out a name just to say I did. Again, I know it's vague but just want you all to know what things sound like.

Now as for Lanning, I've heard some various stuff on him and how ready he is but I've talked to two people in the last 24 hours that think he is an absolute superstar in the making.

"With his connections in Kansas City (where Lanning grew up) and obvious SEC ties, he just makes a ton of sense. I could make a case for him ahead of Venables, honestly," one source said.

We're still checking around some more but I wanted to give you what I've got for now.

I will also say there is considerable chatter that something could/will happen today. I don't KNOW that as a fact but it's definitely possible as more and more wide-ranging sources are kind of pointing in that direction.

Going to be a fun day...

lets-go-the-rock.gif

Friday Notes... UPDATE 5:26p

UPDATE 5:26P (Carey) - Oh, god, what am I doing? Why am I doing this? I AM NOT reporting anything about Dabo being the next head coach at OU. I AM NOT DOING THAT!

But I checked with our Clemson people about the report of their AD Dan Radakovich. I wanted to know if this was a surprise to them? Or if this was expected.

It was very much a surprise to them. "Clemson President has called him teh best AD in America. He has a great situation at Clemson, a lot of autonomy and Dabo winning big makes him look good. He would leave for a conference commisioner position IMO."

That was from our Clemson publisher as he didn't know that report was out on Radakovich.

I just find all of this very interesting as people are starting to report that he is leaving Clemson for Miami. He's leaving all that stuff our Clemson site just said was so positive.

Has something changed?

ORIGINAL POST:

Alright guys I want to start off with a note that there has been a team meeting called at 10:30a that we've confirmed through multiple sources. And while that can excited a lot of people we're told that it's more about getting the staff around the players for right now. Maybe that is a smoke screen for a more meaningful gathering but it doesn't feel like it to anyone I've spoken to.

That's a late add to these notes and here's what I was already working on:

ORIGINAL: OK everyone, time to kind of have a state of the coaching search conversation and doing so in the case where I'm absolutely not the 'commander in chief' of this thing and having to connect some dots from all over the place left by one of the most well-connected and secretive men in all of athletics (not college athletics, just athletics, period).

So we'll start off with where I ended yesterday and that's continued talk of building a staff in spite of consternation of who the head of the staff may be. Honestly, it's nuts but that's just how many different directions this thing keeps going.

There is just no question that the talk of Dan Lanning has picked up a lot in the last 24 hours but I'd be lying if I said that had no connection to this decision getting pushed back and people trying to draw two ideas together. But what is interesting is that should Lanning be the hire his offensive coordinator could be an obvious option with many feeling his first hire might be Florida State offensive coordinator Kenny Dillingham.

Dillingham has been an up and comer for a long time since emerging as a GA at Arizona State years ago and following Mike Norvell to Memphis to become quarterbacks coach in 2017 and offensive coordinator in 2018 before spending 2019 at Auburn. So he's recruited the Southeast plenty, obviously, but he also is well known in the South Midlands (yeah, let's go with that weird title for our current location).

Now, the Seminoles were far from a juggernaut offensively but there are two sides of that argument one is simply the numbers, which just aren't pretty. But the other is an offense that is still having it's talent replenished after Jimbo Fisher and Willie Taggart left a smoking husk of a roster when Norvell, Dillingham, and company arrived.

So, that'll be an interesting internal debate should Oklahoma go down the Lanning road because a lot of people think highly of Dillingham from when he had a dominant offense in Memphis as opposed to some less than statistically dominant groups in the power five the past few years.

The one story that I think isn't getting enough conversation right now is Dave Aranda. His name has come up a few times in the last 24 hours and it would make a ton of sense for Oklahoma's delay. And while yes Baylor can pay him plenty of money, so can Oklahoma and he can do it at a level that I'm sure he'd like to. No matter what he does with Baylor, he's been at LSU he knows the gap in talent between where he wants to go and what he'll get at Baylor.

Aranda is also a guy with SEC familiarity and could bring the steady nature and toughness that many feel Oklahoma has lost. It's not concrete, it's all a little vague but there is just some talk that maybe Oklahoma could make this move on Sunday following the Big 12 championship game. Much like Lanning, if this search pushes past this evening then Aranda suddenly becomes far more real because there just comes a point in time when 'why would OU be waiting if they didn't HAVE to?'.

I've heard some Luke Fickell talk but not from any sources, largely at people trying to throw darts at the board - no shame, to a degree it's what I'm doing as well. But I just don't get any feeling that he is interested in moving outside of his region and short of an upset this weekend I don't see anyway it's possible he is Oklahoma's full-time head coach before January and I just don't think that's a tenable reality for the Sooners in their current state. Fickell is good but is he that good?

As far as Dabo Swinney, all I can say at this point is the rumors persist and persist. To me, they don't make sense and I can't really fathom why he would even consider the possibility - it's likely he isn't. My guess is it's the echo chamber doing what the echo chamber does but I can not lie there are a few angles that I can't simply laugh away. And no, to all our Clemson readers I still don't think this happens and I don't get why it keeps coming up but I get that him being mentioned will enrage you and there's just not a thing I can do about that so, sorry, not sorry?

And to keep the Clemson train rolling, Brent Venables is a name that won't go away until this job is finalized but as I said with Aranda and Lanning, if Venables is the choice, why wouldn't it have happened already? It just feels like that possibility is slipping away but again maybe there is an interview that Stoops, Joe Harrosz, and Joe Castiglione feel they must complete before Venables is the choice? I mean, I guess that's a thread to hold onto but with the chaos of this program right now it's hard to think a group that smart and savvy would wait if they were even remotely sure Venables was their guy.

Finally in South Carolina, there is still an under swell of feeling that Shane Beamer could be an answer but that if it gets to that point Oklahoma may have missed on a few other options. And even with that said, I still maintain that Beamer could be a great hire, up there with about any on the list, if the right coordinators join him.

My .02...

Not really notes, per se, just thinking out loud.

Let's start with the 2022 and 2023 classes.

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2022
Gavin Sawchuk - seems solid
Raleek Brown - flipped to USC
Nicholas Anderson - seems solid
Kaden Helms - solid
Jason Llewelyn - waiting it out
Jake Taylor - solid
Jacob Sexton - solid
Pancake Hunter - decommitted
Derrick Moore - decommitted
Cedric Roberts - seems solid
Gabe Dindy - solid? Man, you hope
Kip Lewis - ????
Kobie McKinzie - decommitted (Texas coming?)
Gentry Williams - solid?
Robert Spears-Jennings - solid
Xavion Brice - solid (but TCU and Tech are coming)
Jayden Rowe - solid

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2023
Malachi Nelson - flipped to USC
Treyaun Webb - decommitted
Makai Lemon - decommitted
Brandon Inniss - decommitted
Deandre Moore - solid
Luke Hasz - solid
Joshua Bates - ??? (visiting Colorado today)

So my Friday afternoon question is this... is the worst over? OU has lost the guys you fully expected, but have the Sooners weathered the storm with the rest of the fellas?

You can worry about 2023 later, but if OU can maintain the 13 for 2022 and maybe add a few more pieces, you'll live with that. It's rough not knowing anything about Lewis and McKinzie because you don't know much about Brian Odom. But keep someone like Gabe Dindy and add Jovantae Barnes and DeSean Brown, hmm, OK.

Through some of my wife's connections, actually have a pretty good gauge of what's up with Odom, Bedenbaugh and Grinch, or at least what their sons are thinking. Those boys are devastated, loved being in Norman. Maybe they'll get over it, but they're crushed right now, especially Grinch's son.

We've sorta mentioned that throughout the course of this week, but you don't think about the family aspect that much when something happens like Sunday afternoon. Odom and Bedenbaugh would love to stay in Norman, but you just never know.

***

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Williams the savior?

That was some scene Wednesday at the OU-Florida basketball game. I'm still not 100 percent convinced Caleb Williams is staying, but man if he does? A legend forever.

Showed him on the big screen once, and then during another timeout, he tossed the T-Shirts into the stands. He was already so loved, but now you're going to have a lot of people believing Williams was trying to progress as his head coach was looking for the door.

He was joined by linebackers Danny Stutsman and Brian Asamoah. And I know I saw Jadon Haselwood walking around, too. Stutsman even put on a cape for a bit and was running around with the OU flag.

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If Williams stays... whew, if he stays.
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