Norvell Has Been Fired.

[Wishboned]

Bruce Feldman ‏@BruceFeldmanCFB 5m5 minutes ago
Big staff shake-up coming at #Oklahoma. Co-OC Jay Norvell is out, source tells @FoxSports.

Confirmed by DOK

http://newsok.com/bob-stoops-fires-co-offensive-coordinator-jay-norvell/article/5381758

ORMAN — Oklahoma coach Bob Stoops has fired co-offensive coordinator and receivers coach Jay Norvell, sources confirmed to The Oklahoman.

Photo - University of Oklahoma Sooners (OU) football Co-Offensive Coordinator Jay Norvell talks about his 2014 recruiting class in the Adrian Peterson Meeting Room at Gaylord Family-Oklahoma Memorial Stadium in Norman, Okla., on Wednesday, Feb. 5, 2014. Photo by Steve Sisney, The Oklahoman
University of Oklahoma Sooners (OU) football Co-Offensive Coordinator Jay Norvell talks about his 2014 recruiting class in the Adrian Peterson Meeting Room at Gaylord Family-Oklahoma Memorial Stadium in Norman, Okla., on Wednesday, Feb. 5, 2014. Photo by Steve Sisney, The Oklahoman
The news was first reported by FoxSports.com’s Bruce Feldman.

News of Norvell’s ouster comes less than a week after the Sooners scored only six points in a 34-point Russell Athletic Bowl loss to Clemson.

And this could be just the beginning of a drastic coaching staff overhaul.

According to sources close to the program, the only OU assistant coaches with firm job security are running backs coach Cale Gundy, offensive line coach Bill Bedenbaugh and defensive line coach Jerry Montgomery.

Norvell’s contract ran through May 31, 2015, and he was also given the same raise last summer to bring his salary to $455,000.

He joined the Oklahoma staff in 2008 as receivers coach, and was promoted to co-offensive coordinator in 2010.

His career includes stops at Wisconsin, Iowa State, the Indianapolis Colts, the Oakland Raiders, Nebraska and UCLA.

He is unique as someone who has coached in both a BCS National Championship Game (2009 with Oklahoma) and a Super Bowl (2003 with Oakland).

Norvell joined the Colts’ staff in 1998, allowing him to be there for the very beginning of the Peyton Manning era. Norvell coached receivers, including superstar Marvin Harrison.

In four seasons playing for Norvell, Harrison caught 385 passes for 5,376 yards and 48 touchdowns.

Norvell played college football at Iowa in the early-to mid 1980s. He and Stoops were teammates during Norvell’s first few years there.

Norvell was an All-Big Ten defensive back in 1985, when he intercepted a league-high seven passes and the Hawkeyes were Big Ten Champions.

He coached tight ends during his two seasons with the Raiders, and coached quarterbacks with both Nebraska and UCLA, but he’s spent most of his career working with wide receivers.

[SoonerorLater]

Well, it's a start.

[Wishboned]

Hopefully, unlike Jay's receivers, it's catching.

[cherokeebrewer]

"According to sources close to the program, the only OU assistant coaches with firm job security are running backs coach Cale Gundy, offensive line coach Bill Bedenbaugh and defensive line coach Jerry Montgomery"

This is the part I like best. Good wishes for Coach Norvel...

[ouduckhunter]

It's time! Get the rest of the staff changes handled, and let's move forward!

[pappy]

"According to sources close to the program, the only OU assistant coaches with firm job security are running backs coach Cale Gundy, offensive line coach Bill Bedenbaugh and defensive line coach Jerry Montgomery"

This is the part I like best. Good wishes for Coach Norvel...

They're the only ones who have earned the job security. ... I wonder if this means DGB is going to declare?

[Judge Smails]

That explains why I saw Josh at the What-a-Burger filling out a job application today.

[BoulderSooner79]

So Josh has been promoted by removing the "co-" from his title ?


(Sorry, couldn't resist)

[BoulderSooner79]

That explains why I saw Josh at the What-a-Burger filling out a job application today.

I worked at the What-a-Burger at 36th and MacArthur in high school. Not a terrible gig.

[cherokeebrewer]

They're the only ones who have earned the job security. ... I wonder if this means DGB is going to declare?

I suspect he was going anyway, but this likely nails it. If Josh Huepel is not fired or demoted, we may have a rebellion on our hands...I think he will be.

[Widescreen]

Hope Norvell catches on somewhere else quickly. Never excited when someone loses their job but I do think things needed to move in a different direction.

[SoonerorLater]

I worked at the What-a-Burger at 36th and MacArthur in high school. Not a terrible gig.

I bet you're the guy who shorted me those ketchup packets.

[BoulderSooner79]

I bet you're the guy who shorted me those ketchup packets.

Ketchup has more sugar in it than most people realize - I was looking after your health.

[aurorasooner]

Well, it's a start.One thing fans don't know is who was actually in charge of our pitiful offense and the pitiful offensive formations and if there was any contributing micromanagement from the top.
Hopefully Norvell isn't just a scapegoat in hope that the fans will wholeheartedly accept Heupel back as OC and we'll see the same old uninspiring pathetic crap next year. Now if Heupel was being handcuffed by this crappy offensive system by meddling from the top and they intend to turn him loose, then I don't have any problems with giving him another year, and only another year. It's hard for fans to know.
However, I'm skeptical, that HCBS can really make the right CEO-type decisions regardless of his personal allegiances to do what's best.
Sure hope I'm wrong about that, but this team's on-the-field performance next year will tell us if he can correct things or if we're headed in the exact same direction as Texass was under Mack, just getting rid of a few assistants, when that wasn't the main problem.
A couple of things are for sure, 1) that while this "Arizona coach's connection" may have brought us a few top-notch Cali recruits, they can't coach/game-plan for (*&^ on game-day/game-week against a quality opponent and their in-game management and communication, especially in critical situations, was/is just awful and embarrassing. 2) HCBS '''ain't going to get this thing turned around this year bunkered down from some Florida golf course/vacation beach home or calling it in from Europe to his brother.

[8timechamps]

I'm surprised this was the first move. I knew that Norvell was in that gray area, and could be let go, or could have been given more time. Guess the area wasn't so gray.

It's time for some fresh perspective at the WR position, and we haven't exactly been bringing in elite talent either. Considering Shepard was almost a lock to pick OU, that doesn't leave a lot a big time players Norvell has landed recently. Then there was the poor performance from the group (sans Shep) this year.

I'm a little surprised the cuts are happening before NSD, but in today's college football, time is money.

[BoulderSooner79]

I'm not assuming this is the first - just the first made public. Norvell may have wanted it this way to make it widely known he is available. I don't think he'll have any problem landing a new position, but he might have to take a step down in pay and responsibility for now.

[birddog]

So Josh has been promoted by removing the "co-" from his title ?


(Sorry, couldn't resist)

Official title for Josh now is ordinator.

[SoonerMarkVA]

If you look at how incredibly awful the WR development has been, this is the least surprising move, next to firing MS (who of course presents its own issues) or BJW for the incredibly awful performance of the secondary.

[OkieThunderLion]

I think some combo of Kish/BJW/Mike are next to go.

I'd like to see BJW stay, in Merv's role.

[OkieThunderLion]

I'm not assuming this is the first - just the first made public.

I think you're wise!

[SoonerMarkVA]

The main thing is, Stoops needs to absolutely hit it out of the park for whoever is going to OC and DC (assuming both those guys are either gone or demoted). And he needs to back the freak off and let those guys, once he does hit it out of the park, run the show. No more intervening, pull in the reins and play it super conservative crap (yes, I'm assuming he's been doing that for more than the 10 years now). Get 2 thoroughbreds, and let those thoroughbreds run!

[8timechamps]

I'm not assuming this is the first - just the first made public. Norvell may have wanted it this way to make it widely known he is available. I don't think he'll have any problem landing a new position, but he might have to take a step down in pay and responsibility for now.

True, and I don't think anything official has come from OU on this (unless I've missed it). So, it could just be that he was the first one verified.

I don't doubt that Norvell will be able to land on his feet, and I wouldn't be surprised to see him back in the NFL.

I'm hearing rumblings that there will be an official announcement from the school this week, and it will detail all of the staff changes.

It'll be interesting to see if any of this affects recruiting, but the only recruit that has made a statement about Norvell's departure is Dede Westbrook (JUCO transfer). He just said he was a little upset, but trusted that Stoops had a plan and he was anxious to get to Norman.

The only coach that could affect recruiting in this class (with his departure) is Mike Stoops, and I'm not sure how much he would impact the class. I know he is partially responsible for a couple of DBs that have verbally committed, so we'll see how that works out.

[8timechamps]

If you look at how incredibly awful the WR development has been, this is the least surprising move, next to firing MS (who of course presents its own issues) or BJW for the incredibly awful performance of the secondary.

This year was bad.

However, it hasn't always been that way. Norvell has 3 guys playing in the NFL that were at OU within the past 6 years. Maybe not as good as some programs, but not terrible either. I really think things started crumbling after 2012. When Stills left, that left a major hole in the group, and if it weren't for Justin Brown and Saunders transferring, it would have really been bad. We were fortunate to get those two guys into the program. A college program like OU should never find itself in that kind of position, depending on transfers.

It was just time for him to move on.

[graphster]

Our WR play has been an issue off and on for several years. In 2009 we basically had Broyles and then nobody else. 2010 Stills came on, as did Cameron Kenny (who was a JUCO transfer).

2011 is when things really started to fall apart. After Broyles got hurt, it was apparent that we had little depth behind him and Stills.
2012 was only saved by transfers of Brown and Saunders
2013 We had Saunders and Shepard, and Bester (another Juco) ocassionally made some plays
2014 We had Shepard and no other major threats

Really, without the transfers, we probably would have seen the drop off much sooner. Fact is that we haven't had depth at WR since 2008. We had a couple years where we had two, maybe 3 good players (Stills and Broyles and now Shepard), but had nobody behind them. If you look at the WR groups we had under previous coaches, we routinely went 5 or 6 deep and had multiple playmakers. Look at the WR's that we had in the mid 2000s, when we had guys like Clayton, Brandon Jones, Travis Wilson, Mark Bradley, etc...Then we had Malcolm Kelly, Juaqin Iglesias, Manuel Johnson, etc...Hard to argue that he's done anywhere near as good a job as any of his predecessors at developing consistent talent and depth at the WR position.

Also, given that (for most of his tenure) we threw the ball all over the place and had experience at the QB position, I can't imagine that it was that difficult to recruit WRs to come to OU. Given that Broyles was from Norman and Shepard is an OU legacy, I'm not sure how much credit you give Norvell for them. Stills seems to be the only big time recruit he landed that ever produced for us on the field. Had a bunch of other highly rated guys that never panned out.

[8timechamps]

Our WR play has been an issue off and on for several years. In 2009 we basically had Broyles and then nobody else. 2010 Stills came on, as did Cameron Kenny (who was a JUCO transfer).

2011 is when things really started to fall apart. After Broyles got hurt, it was apparent that we had little depth behind him and Stills.
2012 was only saved by transfers of Brown and Saunders
2013 We had Saunders and Shepard, and Bester (another Juco) ocassionally made some plays
2014 We had Shepard and no other major threats

Really, without the transfers, we probably would have seen the drop off much sooner. Fact is that we haven't had depth at WR since 2008. We had a couple years where we had two, maybe 3 good players (Stills and Broyles and now Shepard), but had nobody behind them. If you look at the WR groups we had under previous coaches, we routinely went 5 or 6 deep and had multiple playmakers. Look at the WR's that we had in the mid 2000s, when we had guys like Clayton, Brandon Jones, Travis Wilson, Mark Bradley, etc...Then we had Malcolm Kelly, Juaqin Iglesias, Manuel Johnson, etc...Hard to argue that he's done anywhere near as good a job as any of his predecessors at developing consistent talent and depth at the WR position.

Also, given that (for most of his tenure) we threw the ball all over the place and had experience at the QB position, I can't imagine that it was that difficult to recruit WRs to come to OU. Given that Broyles was from Norman and Shepard is an OU legacy, I'm not sure how much credit you give Norvell for them. Stills seems to be the only big time recruit he landed that ever produced for us on the field. Had a bunch of other highly rated guys that never panned out.

That's the way I see it too.

Our recent WR recruiting has been strange too. Some of the guys we are going after look good, but we don't seem to be a serious contender with the top guys. This year, there's an in-state kid (I can't remember his name off of the top of my head), but we never offered him and he's heading to Louisville (I think, or maybe Arkansas). Meanwhile, we offered several guys out of state that looked a lot like the in state kid, and lost out on the majority of them.

Recruiting seemed to be going well for Norvell when he first got to Norman. Just seems to have dropped off recently.

Then I look at Durron Neal, who was one of the top receivers the year he came out, and he hasn't really developed much. At the very least, he seems stuck at a point where he can't get separation. I really think he's better than what we've seen, and hopefully a new coach can get him there in his last year.

[Piware]

I hate this. I really liked Coach Jay and his enthusiasm on the sideline. Still, it had to be done.

[graphster]

Seems like even the big recruits that we did get often either didn't work out and ended up transferring or getting kicked off the team, or they just never developed into consistent players. That's either poor evaluation or poor development, or both. I get that these are high school kids and so you're going to have a few misses or unpredictable things happen, but when you continually fail to bring in and develop young talent, it's eventually going to catch up with you, and that's what has happened to us over the past few years at WR. We brought in some transfers with 1 or 2 years of eligibility (from JUCO or other FBS programs) and it provided some brief relief, but we didn't have any young guys behind them who were developing into future starters or even contributors. So when the transfers graduated, we were left with nothing left in the cupboard. And given that we generally run more of a spread offense with 3 receivers on the field the majority of the time, WR is one position we can't afford to be thin at.

[blacktop]

Wow, didn't see this coming. Any word on his recruits for this year? Are they reconsidering? Too early for speculating on replacement?

[BoulderSooner79]

Wow, didn't see this coming. Any word on his recruits for this year? Are they reconsidering? Too early for speculating on replacement?

It's never too early to speculate.

:welcoming:

[Breadburner]

Norvell has done a poor job......He really recruited some kids with poor character as of late......

[cherokeebrewer]

I wouldn't mind having Darrell Wyatt back, but dang that guy has moved around a lot and maybe we need fresh air in Norman...

[badger]

So long and thanks for all the fish.

[SoonerMarkVA]

I wouldn't mind having Darrell Wyatt back, but dang that guy has moved around a lot and maybe we need fresh air in Norman...

Your last point is important. Fresh air, fresh blood, whatever you want to call it: we need fresh ideas that break BS out of this long-running group-think he's had from always having close ties to everyone he brings in. So it's not so much specific to Wyatt, but whether his return would lead back into the comfortable thinking and ideas that have stagnated, or whether he will challenge Stoops' tendencies and reshape things. That he is an excellent coach isn't much in debate, IMO.

I have to say, the suspense is killing me! I'm barely even thinking about recruiting while waiting anxiously for any news on the coaching changes.

[Wishboned]

Dejuan Miller was not a fan of Norvell.


Looks like OU gonna start cleanin house. I heard stoops (not bob but the DC) is next on the choppin block. Jay taught me a lot about being a sound receiver and how to compete consistently, but to keep it 100 bc I wasn't one of his "guys" he tended To give more chances to other players in games and off the field. if I dropped a couple passes I'd be benched but if one of his favorites Dropped a couple or even more they NEVER came out. But it is what it is, favoritism at it's fullest. Can't say I'm surprised he got the axe.


https://twitter.com/D_Miller24

[cherokeebrewer]

Dejuan Miller was not a fan of Norvell.


https://twitter.com/D_Miller24

I don't see the need for Miller or anyone eles to take cheap shots at Jay Norvell...

[BoulderSooner79]

I don't see the need for Miller or anyone eles to take cheap shots at Jay Norvell...

Clearly Miller felt the need to vent.

[ouduckhunter]

I don't see the need for Miller or anyone eles to take cheap shots at Jay Norvell...

True That! I was trolling ESpin last night, and saw a tweet from Ryan Broyles that was extremely complimentary about Coach Norvell, both as a coach, and as a person. It is definitely time for changes at OU, and hopefully all good things will come to Coach Norvell with another team.

[Pride1Mom]

I watched a LOT OF FOOTBALL these past weeks, and I noticed the EFFORT made by other receivers on other teams. The QBs were not the BEST passers, but I saw receivers really lay it out to get to the ball. KNOWING the play being called, and being on the same page between QB and receiver NEVER happened this season. The year 2014 team had no HEART!! All of a sudden OU has NO QBs that can complete even a 5 yard pass.

[SoonerForLife92]

If you look at how incredibly awful the WR development has been, this is the least surprising move, next to firing MS (who of course presents its own issues) or BJW for the incredibly awful performance of the secondary.

I don't know, watching a lot of games this year (well particularly the bowl because it's fresh in my mind) it seemed the defensive players were in position but failed to tackle or make plays, at least in the first quarter/half. However this is still on the coaches of course... and I am only willing to give Mike so much more time (year probably) before I think we should move on.

Now if we can get rid of Heupel or demote him back to QB coach then we're talkin

[SoonerForLife92]

ignore

[soonergirlNeugene]

Dejuan Miller was not a fan of Norvell.
https://twitter.com/D_Miller24

Receivers seem to have the greatest propensity to be haters. It must be a very frustrating position to play.

[Landthief 1972]

Not surprised Norvell was the first to go. As already mentioned in this thread, he seemed to struggle to coach up anyone who wasn't Broyles/Shepard/etc. His recruiting efforts have seen diminishing returns. He (and/or Bob) made it a priority to get some tall, quick deep threat WRs. Nearly every recruit matching that description who put on a Sooner uniform has been a flop or a pervert (or both). So now we've got 5'10" WRs playing wide out who can't break loose and can't reach over the defender to grab the deep floaters.

To make matters worse, none of the newer WRs seem to have a knack for YAC that we've become accustomed to over the years. We had a lot of 3 and longs that, in previous years, would have been 1st down conversions by most of the WRs from the mid-2000s by way of YAC. These new kids seem to get tripped up immediately.

[Eielson]

As soon as a guy like Justin Brown, Jalen Saunders, or DGB announce they're transferring, Norvell is the perfect guy to have on the phone with them. He's also a great guy.

A LOT of our former WR's say he's terrible at developing WR's, though. I don't name names in these situations, because it's up to them if they want it out there publically, but Dejaun Miller is one of them. It's always difficult to say, though, because you never know when they're just bitter that they didn't become the superstars they were supposed to.

The data suggests he isn't developing many WR's, though. He's bringing in lots of talent, but there are tons of guys across the country that can do that. I can get behind this move, but ONLY if there is more to come. I'm hearing at least two more guys are as good as gone. If that's Heupel and Kish or BJW, I'll be a happy camper. I'd imagine Montgomery, Bedenaugh, and Gundy are as safe as it gets.

[Soonerjeepman]

I don't see the need for Miller or anyone eles to take cheap shots at Jay Norvell...

guess I don't see it as a cheap shot. Not that I'm in Miller's camp...but coaches at every level, maybe not "pro", have their "favorites". How many times have we said on here that we (fans) were amazed at how quickly someone gets pulled or not.

I think he is just speaking the truth. Just a thought. Seems like lots of comments on here about how Norvell doesn't improve anyone.