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.
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.
Last edited by a moderator:
