That's pretty much nonsense. I love what Riley has done since he came to Norman. I do think he's been a tad overrated. His sets made Perine and Mixon look pretty good. But the vice versa is true. People in the NFL have secretly, or perhaps covertly talked about Mixon as being as good as any running back for NFL purposes last year, but they viewed him as damaged goods. He made some pretty special plays, and he had a high quality guy to alternate with. It maximized how good the offense looked. Throw in Mayfield as a great college quarterback, and the Biletnikoff winner, and he had some pretty terrific weapons. Easier to look like a great coordinator, when your X's are better than their O's.
We had all that, and a great OLine, but still didn't get it done against UH or tOSU. Injuries were a big part of that. All that to say, that I love LRiley. I think it will be a much bigger test this season.
When the news first came up that Bob was "retiring" it wasn't certain yet that Lincoln was the replacement. I made my feelings about his issues known right up front. I thought Lincoln was a solid replacement, BUT ...
I'd hard more than one place, that his hiring was automatic that he'd be bringing Ruffin with him, and I said at the time, that if that were true, I'd rather we get a different coach. I think Ruffin McNeill is about as overrated as any coach in college football. He's never done anything. He's been around for more than 30 years, and his best hasn't been great. He is a quality man. Everybody seems to love him, everywhere he's been, and I respect that. But he is a guy with lousy self discipline. I don't think a coach whose weight fluctuates between 280 and 375 pounds and who can't move around sufficiently on a practice field, is good for OUrs or any program.
I've heard a ton of excuses about that. But we're hiring as the number two man in OUr football program -- at least that's what the title Assistant Head Coach indicates -- a guy whose credentials are worse than anyone on this staff otherwise. I've been called racist for opposing this hire, which is nonsense. I've asked anyone to tell me what he's ever accomplished as a coach, and other than being a mediocre HC, or a mediocre DC, nobody has told me anything that the resume' of a coach with a title of anything higher than position coach, ought to have at Oklahoma.
A guy who got fired a little more than a year ago, for being 5-7 in a conference where Tulsa, Tulane and SMU were circled games on his schedule, doesn't deserve a job on this staff above the bottom end of the staff. And a guy who started coaching in 1980, and in college in 1985, shouldn't be hired to the bottom end of OUr staff.
Being a wonderful human being is a terrific thing. But it's not a qualification to be on OUr staff. I think Kittle showed us that. He is getting this job because he's great friends with OUr new HC. And the message it sends to the rest of OUr staff is very troubling to me.
I'm shocked, that those who think Bob Stoops quit giving his best effort, or that Mike Stoops is incompetent, or that Kish should go, or any other coach that they've chewed up and spit out in the last decade, that these people seem to unanimously love the hire. I just don't see it.
I'd call him a has been, except he's never done it before. The last time he had a recruiting presence in Texas was eight years ago, and he wasn't recruiting the kinds of players that OU needs to be successful. Before the hire, I said I thought it was a horrible idea, and still believe that.
OUr new HC can hire whomever he wants, though I think maybe part of the reason Bob is gone, is because the BOR told him no about a coach he wanted to hire. This has nothing to do with my disliking Coach Riley. This has to do with a guy whose record is the opposite of stellar, but who is a wonderful man. That's not good enough.
