Bill Benenbaugh hired as OU offensive line coach.

[8timechamps]

The Sooners have hired West Virginia's Bill Bedenbaugh. While no official release has come out of the University of Oklahoma, West Virginia's Athletic Director Oliver Luck confirmed the news to WV newspapers last night.

This afternoon, Cale Gundy was on the radio talking about Bedenbaugh, he said that Bedenbaugh had cut out newspaper clippings of former players, and put them in the lockers of every offensive lineman with a note that says he wants his players to be "Mean and Nasty".

Looks like OU got a solid coach and recruiter.

[Collier11]

hopefully a motivator who doesnt run off players, apparently a hell of a recruiter

[8timechamps]

hopefully a motivator who doesnt run off players, apparently a hell of a recruiter

I keep hearing how "dynamic" he is. I'm not even sure what that means. I just hope he is as good as I'm hearing.

[Collier11]

True, I hear he can recruit and is a nasty dude, my issue is this. Our problem for 4 or 5 years is getting the tough yardage. His running games have been consistently average to bad. I am sure it is not all on him, but that does worry me

[Mazeppa]

There's some interesting stuff in this article

http://wvmetronews.com/ou-wants-bedenbaugh-to-upgrade-talent/

[8timechamps]

True, I hear he can recruit and is a nasty dude, my issue is this. Our problem for 4 or 5 years is getting the tough yardage. His running games have been consistently average to bad. I am sure it is not all on him, but that does worry me

I was looking over his accomplishments, and didn't realize he was at Texas Tech. He certainly has the credentials to coach pass blocking, let's hope he can coach run blocking as well!

[Scott D]

True, I hear he can recruit and is a nasty dude, my issue is this. Our problem for 4 or 5 years is getting the tough yardage. His running games have been consistently average to bad. I am sure it is not all on him, but that does worry me

it's also part of the consequences in being in pass happy gimmick offenses.

[goingoneight]

I'm not really sure why so much time is invested in pass protection. It's the easiest part of the job as an OL.

[jkm, the stolen pifwafwi]

I'm not really sure why so much time is invested in pass protection. It's the easiest part of the job as an OL.

I'm not sure why we spend so much time on the running game, that is the easiest part of the job for the QB.

[Tiptonsooner]

I was looking over his accomplishments, and didn't realize he was at Texas Tech. He certainly has the credentials to coach pass blocking, let's hope he can coach run blocking as well!

He had WV run blocking pretty well against us this year....

[hvhurricane]

Why can't we actually search for someone who is up and coming in the coaching ranks instead of taking the easy road and picking someone who worked for Mike? He may end up being a great coach at OU, but it would be nice to see someone come in who has no ties to the Stoops brothers and can bring in some new philosophies.

[8timechamps]

He had WV run blocking pretty well against us this year....

I'm not sure how much run blocking there was...it appeared that Austin pretty much beat every member of the defense single handed.

[Monster Zero]

Why can't we actually search for someone who is up and coming in the coaching ranks instead of taking the easy road and picking someone who worked for Mike? He may end up being a great coach at OU, but it would be nice to see someone come in who has no ties to the Stoops brothers and can bring in some new philosophies.

Yeah.

[stoops the eternal pimp]

He had WV run blocking pretty well against us this year....

Quite a few teams ran the ball well against us..I don't think that's a feather in anyone's cap

[Ruf/Nek7]

As far as WVU running all over us, i credit ***clinched teeth*** holgorsen. He picked up on how to run against us and he game planned perfectly. Where i do credit Bedenbaugh is that he really had to get his line to move and pick up sets pre snap. His linemen really knew how to get next level.

[MyT Oklahoma]

Welcome to Norman Coach Benenbaugh.

P.S. Be sure to check out Bob's new house.

[stoopified]

I do't know a damn thing about this guy but I trust Bob and my extension Bill until I actually have a reason to complain. I plan on maintaining that stance concerning whomever the other new coaches are ,regardless of their coaching background.

[Aries]

I'm not really sure why so much time is invested in pass protection. It's the easiest part of the job as an OL.

I'm curious if you say this from experience playing OL? I don't, but everything I've read OL players have said run blocking is much easier than pass blocking. Interesting.

[MichiganSooner]

I was looking over his accomplishments, and didn't realize he was at Texas Tech. He certainly has the credentials to coach pass blocking, let's hope he can coach run blocking as well!

Interesting to see if our line has those wide Tech splits.

[PalmBeachSooner]

I keep hearing how "dynamic" he is. I'm not even sure what that means. I just hope he is as good as I'm hearing.

Well, he's not Mangino-esque but he is a big boy.

[PalmBeachSooner]

As far as WVU running all over us, i credit ***clinched teeth*** holgorsen. He picked up on how to run against us and he game planned perfectly. Where i do credit Bedenbaugh is that he really had to get his line to move and pick up sets pre snap. His linemen really knew how to get next level.

3 Defensive Linemen + 1 Linebacker = Nothing between DL and next level.

[Tear Down This Wall]

If the best we can do is someone who played for Mumme/Leach then coached with Leach & M Stoops, why did we not just keep Patton. Better the devil you know.

(Yes, I know Patton "left" to go somewhere else, just like Venables).

I don't get it. This seems to be a lateral hire at best. It foreshadows no change in offense, i.e., getting us a better, tougher run game. Neither Tech nor Arizona had outstanding run games while this clown was there.

And, as for WVU racking up the yards on us this year, put me in the camp of those who says that doesn't prove anything, given our defense's penchant for not being to stop the run.

Why not just fire Kittle, keep Patton, and hire another TE coach?

Crazy.

[cherokeebrewer]

Neither Tech nor Arizona had outstanding run games while this clown was there.
He just got here Saturday and you're already calling him a clown. That didn't take long...

[Scott D]

Boy you people will be unbearable in two years when Bob "retires" and Mike takes over.

[C&CDean]

If the best we can do is someone who played for Mumme/Leach then coached with Leach & M Stoops, why did we not just keep Patton. Better the devil you know.

(Yes, I know Patton "left" to go somewhere else, just like Venables).

I don't get it. This seems to be a lateral hire at best. It foreshadows no change in offense, i.e., getting us a better, tougher run game. Neither Tech nor Arizona had outstanding run games while this clown was there.

And, as for WVU racking up the yards on us this year, put me in the camp of those who says that doesn't prove anything, given our defense's penchant for not being to stop the run.

Why not just fire Kittle, keep Patton, and hire another TE coach?

Crazy.

When did you sign up for a few mil a year and become a coach? Oh. You didn't. This would probably be an appropriate time to say "STFU if you don't know WTF you're talking about." Yeah, sure it would.

Man our fans suck.

[C&CDean]

Boy you people will be unbearable in two years when Bob "retires" and Mike takes over.

No ****. I'll probably turn in my innerweb card. One can only stand so much ignorance in one place.

[goingoneight]

If the best we can do is someone who played for Mumme/Leach then coached with Leach & M Stoops, why did we not just keep Patton. Better the devil you know.

(Yes, I know Patton "left" to go somewhere else, just like Venables).

I don't get it. This seems to be a lateral hire at best. It foreshadows no change in offense, i.e., getting us a better, tougher run game. Neither Tech nor Arizona had outstanding run games while this clown was there.

And, as for WVU racking up the yards on us this year, put me in the camp of those who says that doesn't prove anything, given our defense's penchant for not being to stop the run.

Why not just fire Kittle, keep Patton, and hire another TE coach?

Crazy.

Maybe Bob knows something about Patton that people on the internet don't? Things like work habit, employer evaluation results or his strengths and weaknesses versus the different direction he hopes to take the program? I promise you, even a moron understands that he could make the move you suggested if it really was THAT easy.
"Well, I have a decent OL and that guy's inexperienced, I want to keep our scheme... sooooo... Bruce!"
"Yeah, Coach?"
"Make like a tree and get the **** outta here!"
*dials number on phone*
*ring-ring-ring*
"Hello?"
"Hey, Seth Littrell? You played fullback and tight end for us. You're a coach now, right? Wanna come on board here at OU?"

The way the "firings" were announced along with the way OU's team laid down and let A&M raw dog them, then the infamous recruiting fail leads me to believe the writing was on the wall for quite some time. Patton was the only guy who was forward-thinking and got another job to go to right away. They'd have been gone after the Cotton Bowl had it not been for OU losing a couple recruits last year due to staff changes.

[jkm, the stolen pifwafwi]

If the best we can do is someone who played for Mumme/Leach then coached with Leach & M Stoops, why did we not just keep Patton. Better the devil you know.

(Yes, I know Patton "left" to go somewhere else, just like Venables).

I don't get it. This seems to be a lateral hire at best. It foreshadows no change in offense, i.e., getting us a better, tougher run game. Neither Tech nor Arizona had outstanding run games while this clown was there.

And, as for WVU racking up the yards on us this year, put me in the camp of those who says that doesn't prove anything, given our defense's penchant for not being to stop the run.

Why not just fire Kittle, keep Patton, and hire another TE coach?

Crazy.

The problem with Kittle wasn't his coaching, it was how hard his resume got hammered on the recruiting trail.

[goingoneight]

Kittle is still a mystery altogether. Granted, the position he was promoted to in 2011 was one that is a safe position to bring a guy into with little D1 experience. Usually Stoops has been good with knowing whether or not a guy would be a good fit. Though I'm still not sure if that's the case with all of this Arizona blue coming on board.

I'm still one who believes Kittle was shown the door because the Patton replacement didn't want to share the OL coaching duties with him. That's kind of a tough sell. I'm not really sure we're actually pursuing any TE coaches at the moment, either. Kittle had an expendable position. For no more than they are used in OU's offense, somebody could work with them much like Kevin Wilson did with the TEs, FBs, OL on top of coordinating the offense itself.

Hopefully what Mike Stoops hinted at as being the culprit to the UA staff's failure was true that they weren't funded well for any kind of sustained long-term success. The reason I say hopefully is because at OU, we know that's not the case.

[jkm, the stolen pifwafwi]

Hopefully what Mike Stoops hinted at as being the culprit to the UA staff's failure was true that they weren't funded well for any kind of sustained long-term success. The reason I say hopefully is because at OU, we know that's not the case.

The only factor that would have anything to do with funding is retaining coaches. Schools are not going to be able to buy players without running a huge risk of getting caught. There is just too much media penetration now for it to even be a feasible method of doing things over the long term.

This leaves us with evaluation. There IS risk here especially for small schools. If you get a reputation as a shrew evaluator of talent then other teams will watch who you offer and then pounce on them and use their name as leverage. Heck, it happened to us in the early 2000s on 2 different recruits (a DE and Scott Derry) both of whom Texas pounced all over once we offered them.

Bob Stoops is not Coach K. There is a ceiling to the maximum number of super-egos that he can have on a team and get the WHOLE team to buy into his system. When the team does buy in, we are an amazingly good team. When they don't, we are an above average team.

[KantoSooner]

I'm a bit surprised that we don't have more rumor, at least, surrounding the DL coaching position. Have I not been listening to the right outlets?
Who is being speculated about?

[Salt City Sooner]

Scuttlebutt is picking up about this guy:

http://www.mgoblue.com/sports/m-footbl/mtt/montgomery_jerry00.html

[Mjcpr]

Can he recruit the SE?

[goingoneight]

The only factor that would have anything to do with funding is retaining coaches. Schools are not going to be able to buy players without running a huge risk of getting caught. There is just too much media penetration now for it to even be a feasible method of doing things over the long term.

This leaves us with evaluation. There IS risk here especially for small schools. If you get a reputation as a shrew evaluator of talent then other teams will watch who you offer and then pounce on them and use their name as leverage. Heck, it happened to us in the early 2000s on 2 different recruits (a DE and Scott Derry) both of whom Texas pounced all over once we offered them.

Bob Stoops is not Coach K. There is a ceiling to the maximum number of super-egos that he can have on a team and get the WHOLE team to buy into his system. When the team does buy in, we are an amazingly good team. When they don't, we are an above average team.

I wasn't referring to buying players. Mike's hinted at things like the recruiting budget, the powers-that-be at UA telling him no when he suggested things that would help bring in talent and develop them. We know at OU that they usually spare no expense in facilities and that kind of stuff.