Biggest Mistakes Coach Stoops and his staff have made??

[Collier11]

Before anyone freaks out, I love coach stoops and unlike nick, I think he is the best coach in america. But with summer being so long and nothing to talk about, I thought I would play devils advocate and see if we can come up with some things that Coach and the staff should have done differently in hindsite

In my opinion from most significant to least, the Top 10

1: Last years qb situation, I think it was handled poorly and it hurt our teams chances last year in a big way of competing for the big 12
2: Recruiting class of 03', coach took a chance on some super talented guys with bad attitudes and it really hurt us big-time
3: [B]Big 12 title game in 03' and the orange bowl in 04' I still dont know what happened in these two games but it was bad coaching in large part I believe
This is really hard all of the sudden!!!
4: Not recruiting more Oklahoma kids I believe this has proven to hurt us, if for nothing else, just the way coach stoops recruited Oklahoma hard last year and so far this coming recruiting class
5: Allowing long to call 88 straight passes after kejaun got us down to the 8 yd line or whatever This probably should be higher, but I dont know that stoops can really change the play calls but damnit, we should have one more natl title
6: Offensive linemen leaving I dont even know that this is Stoops fault, but he is the head coach and something is wrong here. Whether it is recruiting lazy kids or shcmidt is too hard on them, or whatever...there is a big problem here that has us playing catch up
7: Letting Tommy Grady get away If we would have made an earlier decision on Paul thompson we could still have grady who by all accounts is playing well at Utah
8: Pulling the redshirts of so many players last year This still remains to be seen, but we wasted several guys' freshmen year for one or two games of playing time
9: Coach stoops being so hidden about injuries I dont know why, but from stoops saying white had a knee sprain when he had a blown up knee or josh heupel not being hurt when we all knwo he was, etc. Stoops has always been guarded about injuries and it is really frustrating as a fan
10: The inability to put teams away in 99' I am nitpicking here cus this is really hard, but Ou could have seriously been 9-2 or 10-1 in Stoops first year, but we blew leads against texas and notre dame, and ole miss

Anyways, If you agree or disagree or have some that I left off, id like to see what you guys think?

[Octavian]

11. Not registering w/ SF.com to neg Collier11

[Collier11]

Neg if you want, im just looking for something to talk about...its not like im saying stoops is an idiot, He is amazing but he has made mistakes

[Octavian]

I'm j/k w/ ya...that was the first dumb thing that popped in my head ;)

edit: well, certainly not the first ever....just the first after reading the thread.

[Octavian]

6: Offensive linemen leaving I dont even know that this is Stoops fault, but he is the head coach and something is wrong here. Whether it is recruiting lazy kids or shcmidt is too hard on them, or whatever...there is a big problem here that has us playing catch up


this would be my #1.

[Collier11]

I probably shoulda known, I just figured when I posted this that someone would take offense to it

[TheGodfather889]

The biggest mistake was not trying harder to keep little brother Mike Stoops in Norman.

[Scott D]

you forgot not hiring Nick Zepp as master of knowledge ;)

[yermom]

The biggest mistake was not trying harder to keep little brother Mike Stoops in Norman.

short of becoming AD and making him HC i'm not sure what he could have done here...


and we blew leads in every game in '99 ;)

it wasn't until the '02 game in Stoolwater that Stoops lost a game without ever leading

[Sooner in Tampa]

That play calling by CL in the Sugar Bowl will haunt me forever...we has the freakin LSU defense sucking air like crazy...we were marching and down the freakin field...DAMN, thanks for the cold sweats I will experience in my sleep again tonight

[AlbqSooner]

[QUOTE=Collier11
1:Allowing long to call 88 straight passes after kejaun got us down to the 8 yd line or whatever.[/QUOTE]
No question in my mind on this one.

[OUTrumpet]

bleh, edited the post and it double posted!

[OUTrumpet]

That play calling by CL in the Sugar Bowl will haunt me forever...we has the freakin LSU defense sucking air like crazy...we were marching and down the freakin field...DAMN, thanks for the cold sweats I will experience in my sleep again tonight

Did we do the pass that was like 2 inches overthrown for Kejuan on that drive? Or am I thinkin of something else. Cause I thought that was the perfect one, just we f'ed up when we did it.

I don't think we should have thrown that many passes though.

Although if we didn't punch it in running and called running plays, people would be saying pretty much the same thing about the end of the Sugar Bowl as they are about benching Reggie Bush at the end of the Rose Bowl. "You had a weak run game, and insisted on running, and didn't trust your Heisman qb to make a play"

We can play what-ifs all day though...


And for my biggest coaching mistakes -

OSU in 2001. There is no way we should have let that happen.

Offensive line depth.

The way the Orange Bowl happened.

[Sooner in Tampa]

Yes...that the time you are thinking about. JW---JUST missed Kejuan in the endzone.

[jk the sooner fan]

i'd have to go with the QB situation....hindsight being what it is, they should have told Thompson to move to WR, and kept Grady around....i really think last year would have been different

The OL problem is a tough one because a bigger part of me says good riddance to the guys who dont have what it takes to stick around.....

[1stTimeCaller]

the only one I really disagree with with is #9. I do know where you're coming from though.

[tbl]

OB has to be the biggest, just b/c of the extreme nature of it.

[Mjcpr]

OB has to be the biggest, just b/c of the extreme nature of it.

Since when do we blame the rape victim?

:O

[Sooner in Tampa]

Since when do we blame the rape victim?

:Odude...you ain't kidding. I think that qualified as a prison GANG rape. :(

[Tear Down This Wall]

(1) Not recruiting enough cornerbacks - lack of depth there killed us in '05.
(2) Not adjusting whatever it is that has made over a dozen offensive linemen leave over the past five years - lack of depth there killed us in '05.
(3) Screwing ENA and Grady for headcase Bomar, a.k.a. Brent Rawls, Jr. when he's off the field. Maybe this will change, maybe not. Let's hope so for the sake of the team. You read the boards, Rhett? For the sake of the team, lay off the booze.

[soonerloyal]

In my opinion from most significant to least, the Top 10

1: Last years qb situation, I think it was handled poorly and it hurt our teams chances last year in a big way of competing for the big 12
2: Recruiting class of 03', coach took a chance on some super talented guys with bad attitudes and it really hurt us big-time
3: [B]Big 12 title game in 03' and the orange bowl in 04' I still dont know what happened in these two games but it was bad coaching in large part I believe
This is really hard all of the sudden!!!
4: Not recruiting more Oklahoma kids I believe this has proven to hurt us, if for nothing else, just the way coach stoops recruited Oklahoma hard last year and so far this coming recruiting class
5: Allowing long to call 88 straight passes after kejaun got us down to the 8 yd line or whatever This probably should be higher, but I dont know that stoops can really change the play calls but damnit, we should have one more natl title
6: Offensive linemen leaving I dont even know that this is Stoops fault, but he is the head coach and something is wrong here. Whether it is recruiting lazy kids or shcmidt is too hard on them, or whatever...there is a big problem here that has us playing catch up
7: Letting Tommy Grady get away If we would have made an earlier decision on Paul thompson we could still have grady who by all accounts is playing well at Utah
8: Pulling the redshirts of so many players last year This still remains to be seen, but we wasted several guys' freshmen year for one or two games of playing time
9: Coach stoops being so hidden about injuries I dont know why, but from stoops saying white had a knee sprain when he had a blown up knee or josh heupel not being hurt when we all knwo he was, etc. Stoops has always been guarded about injuries and it is really frustrating as a fan
10: The inability to put teams away in 99' I am nitpicking here cus this is really hard, but Ou could have seriously been 9-2 or 10-1 in Stoops first year, but we blew leads against texas and notre dame, and ole miss

Bob Stoops has more coaching knowledge in his pinkie than most of us will ever hope to have, so I hesitate to armchair anything.

1. I wasn't always comfortable with Thompson...from a stadium seat POV, I never got the feeling he was confident with himself in the QB position here. Heaven knows, too many people in Norman were awfully vocal about it within his hearing. He's blossoming in his new position. That seems to have been a great call for Stoops and Co. to make.

2. Recruiting, even for the best of coaches, can be a crapshoot. HS football is NOT college football, and until players actually get into that next level, it's difficult to know how they will react/perform. Stoops has a good head for shaping talent, especially in ways the player himself might not expect it. Stoops doesn't have psychic powers to tell him what's down the pike, any more than any other coach. Responsibility for performance sits on the shoulders of the players, too. Let's see what this next season brings for some of the very players some have been quick to criticize.

3. Can you elaborate on this? Wth what specific decisions are you disagreeing? Sure, I caught myself screaming in '03 "*$^#^#()!! Don't pass AGAIN!!!" "WHY are you RUNNING it UP the MIDDLE?! OHMYGAWD!!!", and I'm still trying to recover from 2004's title game :eek: - but what made your guts melt, specifically?

4. They recruit from Oklahoma about just as much as any other state. They always have a close eye on Oklahoma's HS talent. Look at Mossis Madu for 2006, for example. Have there been specific players you felt were ignored?

5. THAT was painful. Very. I'll prop ya on this one, but I'm just a little old broad who has only coached soccer, not football.

6. What, huh? Leaving? Graduating? Being ineligible? Be more specific, please. And as far as Schmitty being too "hard" on players, read what his former players who have moved on to the NFL have said about his conditioning. It's his job to be "hard", it's why Stoops hired him over anyone else. Expecting our players to be conditioned better than other team's' players, and calling for a kinder, gentler workout is like...like...asking a USMC Drill Instructor to be nice, let recruits be lazy, and then expect to turn out real Marines. It ain't happenin'. No pain, no gain.

7. Grady has talent. But in my opinion, if he had what it takes to shine as an OU QB, he would have shown it. Does Stoops revamp his entire vision just to tailor it to one player who might not even perform? I'd be mighty shocked if that happened. Switzer didn't do it for Aikman, back in the day.

8. How many redshirts were burned; can someone tell me? I don't remember exactly. The decision to do that is never done lightly.

9. I hate the media, and I have always admired Bob Stoops for not cowtowing to them. In my opinion, what coaches decide to share with the rest of us re injuries is what we need to know, unless some 'tard is basing his family income on who wins a college game. What, are we supposed to let the other teams know that they will be able to cripple one of our guys with a well-placed hit to the knee next Saturday?

10. Again, just MHO, but looking way back to '99 doesn't help us in 2006. Every year grants new players to meld with the old; new personal dynamics, new regulations, new challenges. Every team starts with a fresh slate. Stoops isn't the same coach in 2006 as he was in his first season, but who is? I too hope that we focus every game on gaining the lead and keeping it. But please, no "FINISH" bracelets. Just do it, not talk about it.

I firmly believe we will.

[SleestakSooner]

13. Not meeting me at the Library and shaking my hand before the start of each season! Last time he did that was the summer of 2000 ;)

[SleestakSooner]

On a more positive note... let's name the top ten brilliant coaching decisions Stoops has made. I'll go first.

1. Finding Josh Hyple out there and bringing him to OU!

[southern sooner]

promotion of chuck long.....

[southern sooner]

promotion of chuck long was a neg not a pos...

[CtheB]

"10: The inability to put teams away in 99' I am nitpicking here cus this is really hard, but Ou could have seriously been 9-2 or 10-1 in Stoops first year, but we blew leads against texas and notre dame, and ole miss"

The only lead we had against Ole Miss was a 1 point lead with about 40 seconds left. The mistake was kicking the ball to Deuce McAllister.

Hard to believe, but we had a glimpse of the success coming from Stoops in 1999. Other than Ole Miss, we had a double digit lead on everyone we played that year, just didn't have the D to hold it.

Then came 2000 :)

[okieballin]

encouraging chuch to take the job at san diego.+

[snp]

1: Last years qb situation, I think it was handled poorly and it hurt our teams chances last year in a big way of competing for the big 12


This is the same coach that has taken chances on Heupel and White. He seems to have a good idea of how his QBs will play. PT never came around, not his fault.



3: Big 12 title game in 03' and the orange bowl in 04' I still dont know what happened in these two games but it was bad coaching in large part I believe

Stoops wasn't the one turning the ball over in the red zone against a great offense. Player mistakes cost us the first half, and then who knows if you can believe the whole quitting thing.



4: Not recruiting more Oklahoma kids I believe this has proven to hurt us, if for nothing else, just the way coach stoops recruited Oklahoma hard last year and so far this coming recruiting class


Show me how this has hurt us.


7: Letting Tommy Grady get away If we would have made an earlier decision on Paul thompson we could still have grady who by all accounts is playing well at Utah

Grady left because he wasn't going to start. He knew it and he would be playing behind a guy a year younger than him. He made the best decision for himself.

And Grady isn't even the starter yet at Utah.


9: Coach stoops being so hidden about injuries I dont know why, but from stoops saying white had a knee sprain when he had a blown up knee or josh heupel not being hurt when we all knwo he was, etc. Stoops has always been guarded about injuries and it is really frustrating as a fan

Why on earth would you tell the team that you're about to play that one of your star players has a crucial weakness? We don't have any right to know.



I agree with the rest of your stuff, but not with these.

[rhombic21]

I still want to know how Chris Chester, who was the second center picked in the draft, didn't start at Center against TCU. And I still want to know why they continued to insist on playing Davin at Tackle all Spring and Fall when it was clear that he was a guard playing out of position. And I still want to know how it is that we continue to have problems with linemen leaving.

I thought that the QB situation was poorly handled, as others have pointed out. Move Thompson to WR in the spring, let Grady and Bomar battle it out for the first 2-3 games of the year and pick a starter by Conference play.

Playing Quentin Griffin as a freshman, 8 or 9 games into the season also ranks up their for me. How much better is the '03 team if we have Quentin back? IMO, we should have either played him from the beginning of the year, or been committed to letting him redshirt. I know guys were injured, but we should have found something else. Or just played him all year.

Letting JeJuan Rankins ruin his RS year by only playing on special teams. Same thing goes for Brandon Jones. How much could we have used Brandon Jones last year? How much could we have used JeJuan for another year?

Letting DJ Wolfe play as a true Freshman when there were already 4 HBs ahead of him (KeJuan, AD, Hickson, Choice). He basically wasted a year playing garbage time and on special teams. Plus, what are the chances that we hold onto Choice if he sees that starting his Junior year, he'll be splitting carries with AD (once KeJuan leaves), and then he'll be poised to start as a Senior?

Not calling a timeout and getting the team re-composed after it was obvious that we were shell shocked against USC early in the game.

Allowing Bo Pellini to come in and change our entire coverage scheme. Should have just let Brent be sole DC that year, and found a DB coach somewhere (or moved Bobby Jack).

Waiting until the Texas A+M game to play Marcus Walker, thus wasting a year of his elgibility. He was clearly better than Bassey or Chijoke, and should have been playing probably from the start, or at least once it was apparent that neither of those guys could grasp Pellini's system.

Allowing Marcus Walker to play last year, rather than take a medical redshirt, when it was obvious to everyone else that the kid was not going to be healthy enough to make an impact.

Never making adjustments defensively against OK State in '04 when the ONLY thing that they were doing offensively was completing deep balls. How do you not make some sort of adjustment to keep your DBs from getting beat? How do you not bring an insane amount of heat to keep the QB from having time to get the ball off? Do something! We were lucky to win that game, and it shouldn't have been nearly that close.

Allowing Lendy Holmes to return punts when it was clear even early in the season that he had trouble fielding the ball. Arguably cost us the UCLA game (game is completely different if we don't have that mistake early on). Either tell Rankins to go field it on his bum ankle and just fair catch anything, or find somebody else that can field the ball.

Allowing Thompson to play the second half against TCU when it was clear that he wasn't going to get it done. Also, allowing Chuck Long to start Thompson without a more robust QB run game. How the hell do you play Paul Thompson at QB and run ZERO option plays from under center. The only QB run play that we even had was the zone read, which was installed as an afterthought and wasn't executed well at all. Where were the bootlegs and QB draws? The sprintouts and options?

Allowing Peterson to play against Texas and Kansas when he was clearly not ready to go. Could have potentially made the injury worse and lost him for the year, and doubtlessly slowed down his healing process by not letting him focus 100% on rehabbing until he was healthy.

There's probably more.

But the thing about all of those things are that Stoops is still a top 5 HC in America, and is on pace to be one of the best of all time. Just goes to show how difficult being a HC at a place like Oklahoma is.

[Scott D]

In regards to #9...part of that is the confidentiality requirement regarding athletes.

[King Crimson]

special teams coaching since Hayes left.....went from a game-changing, legitimate advantage to a liability in 03, 04. OSU 04, anyone? we give them 14 points in the first half in a game that shouldn't have even been close.

and FWIW, i sat in that endzone in the Sugar Bowl. it still burns. and i give my dad props since he spent most of the game yelling: "run the ball out of the gawddamned I, Chuck...". he was looking like a genius in the 4th quarter....there for a while.

it's also not often noted but LSU scored exactly zero offensive points in the second half.

[OUstud]

In regards to how the QB situation was handled last year, I thought, even at the time, that PT really didn't get much of a chance. Bomar had that one scramble for like 20 yards that fired everyone up, but he performed poorly as well. (Granted, our OL sucked). It seemed like PT would get a little confidence, then they would pull him. Our inconsistency in that game killed us. That to me was probably their lowlight as coaches.

[LLoyd Dobler]

To my knowledge, Grady has yet to take a snap at Utah in a meaningful situation. Reason: He had to sit out a year.

The starter from last year returns - Johnson - who threw for nearly 3,000 yards and ran for another 500 yards is back.

I am curious on how he has played well, and how Stoops is deserving of this mistake. Tommy Grady was not the sharpest knife in the drawer.

1) He almost did not qualify to get into college - had to be cleared late into 2-a-days
2) Nearly flunked out last year - that is why he missed fall practice prior to transferring. Stoops was not going to let him leave until he was eligible.

I want someone with intelligence to be the QB, not just a guy who can throw a nice spiral.

Some of your other s are right on - Grady is a senior who has thrown about 10college passes in mop up duty. People think he would have saved the day last year, which is stupid. THERE IS A REASON HE NEVER WAS THE STARTER, OR WAS NEVER GOING TO BE THE STARTER. White, Bomar and Thompson were the reasons. This ain't Stoops first rodeo.

[CU Sooner]

The way PT was shafted last year still irritates me, he was never given a chance to succeed. It was like they said "Here, run these 6 plays and see how you do. Oh, that sucked lets put Bomar in. Next game comes and PT doesn't even see field while Bomar suckks so bad they won't even let him throw it. That is my only true complaint so far since everything else is hindsight. The only other thing that comes close is hiring little bo peepelini. What a disaster he made out of our secondary, with talented and experienced guys too.

[Sooner Schemer]

Letting Mike ****** get to him
- We seem to have lost the killer instinct after his unwarranted criticism.

Being overly conservative with punt/kick returners
- With the talent available, we should be able to find someone who can do more than just hang on to the ball.

Not getting the backup QB enough reps
- If Paul Thompson wasn't ready to play in the Sugar Bowl instead of an obviously injured Jason White, the coaches should get part of the blame for not playing him more in some of our blowout wins.

FOOTWEAR
- We came out in the wrong shoes in at least 2 games, both losses. I don't know if we had the same equipment manager for both, but the staff is ultimately responsible. I doubt the outcome of THAT BOWL GAME would have been different, but it could have made a difference in the 2001 Nebraska game.

[Collier11]

Like I said guys, this was largely nit-picking...This was a tough list to fill out, I was just trying to give us something to talk about, I am not in any way questioning coach stoops though, trust me on that one

[jkm, the stolen pifwafwi]

lets apply a little logic to this so that we can see what type of mistakes have been made.

mistakes come in 3 varieties

in-game mistakes
short term mistakes (affecting a season)
long term mistakes (ones that affect 3-4 seasons)

of those mistakes, some happen once and others repeat. repeating mistakes are far worse than one time mistakes even though a one time mistake can cost you a season worth of work.

the other item to consider when looking at "mistakes" is whether it is only visible in hindsight. pulling Q's redshirt is a perfect example of this. it got us bowl eligible in 99 which allowed us to land guys like jimmy wilkerson and works. only 3 years later when he esploded did people start to regret the decision (not before as most wanted him benched in favor of works).

long term mistakes (repeating)
OL and CB situation

long term mistakes
recruiting the athlete over the football player
promoting a coordinator with no external coordinator experience

short term mistakes (repeating)
QB competitions
playing players with chronic shoulder injuries

etc, etc

[Texas Golfer]

Neg if you want, im just looking for something to talk about...its not like im saying stoops is an idiot, He is amazing but he has made mistakes

WTF!!!???!!! Are you saying that he's....human?

[Tear Down This Wall]

I still want to know how Chris Chester, who was the second center picked in the draft, didn't start at Center against TCU. And I still want to know why they continued to insist on playing Davin at Tackle all Spring and Fall when it was clear that he was a guard playing out of position. And I still want to know how it is that we continue to have problems with linemen leaving.

I thought that the QB situation was poorly handled, as others have pointed out. Move Thompson to WR in the spring, let Grady and Bomar battle it out for the first 2-3 games of the year and pick a starter by Conference play.

Playing Quentin Griffin as a freshman, 8 or 9 games into the season also ranks up their for me. How much better is the '03 team if we have Quentin back? IMO, we should have either played him from the beginning of the year, or been committed to letting him redshirt. I know guys were injured, but we should have found something else. Or just played him all year.

Letting JeJuan Rankins ruin his RS year by only playing on special teams. Same thing goes for Brandon Jones. How much could we have used Brandon Jones last year? How much could we have used JeJuan for another year?

Letting DJ Wolfe play as a true Freshman when there were already 4 HBs ahead of him (KeJuan, AD, Hickson, Choice). He basically wasted a year playing garbage time and on special teams. Plus, what are the chances that we hold onto Choice if he sees that starting his Junior year, he'll be splitting carries with AD (once KeJuan leaves), and then he'll be poised to start as a Senior?

Not calling a timeout and getting the team re-composed after it was obvious that we were shell shocked against USC early in the game.

Allowing Bo Pellini to come in and change our entire coverage scheme. Should have just let Brent be sole DC that year, and found a DB coach somewhere (or moved Bobby Jack).

Waiting until the Texas A+M game to play Marcus Walker, thus wasting a year of his elgibility. He was clearly better than Bassey or Chijoke, and should have been playing probably from the start, or at least once it was apparent that neither of those guys could grasp Pellini's system.

Allowing Marcus Walker to play last year, rather than take a medical redshirt, when it was obvious to everyone else that the kid was not going to be healthy enough to make an impact.

Never making adjustments defensively against OK State in '04 when the ONLY thing that they were doing offensively was completing deep balls. How do you not make some sort of adjustment to keep your DBs from getting beat? How do you not bring an insane amount of heat to keep the QB from having time to get the ball off? Do something! We were lucky to win that game, and it shouldn't have been nearly that close.

Allowing Lendy Holmes to return punts when it was clear even early in the season that he had trouble fielding the ball. Arguably cost us the UCLA game (game is completely different if we don't have that mistake early on). Either tell Rankins to go field it on his bum ankle and just fair catch anything, or find somebody else that can field the ball.

Allowing Thompson to play the second half against TCU when it was clear that he wasn't going to get it done. Also, allowing Chuck Long to start Thompson without a more robust QB run game. How the hell do you play Paul Thompson at QB and run ZERO option plays from under center. The only QB run play that we even had was the zone read, which was installed as an afterthought and wasn't executed well at all. Where were the bootlegs and QB draws? The sprintouts and options?

Allowing Peterson to play against Texas and Kansas when he was clearly not ready to go. Could have potentially made the injury worse and lost him for the year, and doubtlessly slowed down his healing process by not letting him focus 100% on rehabbing until he was healthy.

There's probably more.

But the thing about all of those things are that Stoops is still a top 5 HC in America, and is on pace to be one of the best of all time. Just goes to show how difficult being a HC at a place like Oklahoma is.

Chester/OL - Allowing assistants to run off linemen causes severe depth problems after five years. There was no one else left to play tackle so Davin was sent there.

All three QBs did well in spring, but Bomar was more highly recruited. Gary Gibbs/Cale Gundy Syndrome here.

Q played as a freshman only after season ending injuries to Reggie Skinner and Michael Thornton.

Agree on Rankins and Jones re: playing them sparingly instead of reshirting. Same song different verse last year with the linebacker Reynolds from Las Vegas. Why is he burning a year of eligibility covering kickoffs?

Here is where we oversigned in some areas while neglecting things like, say, cornerback, where Wolfe was eventually moved anyway (even though he had no idea how to play the position).

Nothing could have stopped USC from shredding us. Bob and the staff apparently misread what they saw on film re: the Trojans.

2003 without Pelini, OU 11-2
2004 with Pelini, OU 12-1
2005 without Pelini, OU 8-4...
Pelini was hardly the problem, but a convenient scapegoat for people unhappy about going 12-1. Wholeheartedly agree that a real DB coach should have been hired. However, if you're not going to recruit cornerbacks, I guess it doesn't matter who coaches the guys you eventually send back there.

Unless some major medical miracle occurs, chalk Walker up to another player overworked in the weight room. Add him to the list of former Sooners in the NFL that are constantly on injured reserve.

OSU, 2004. See all the way back to the 1998 Big 12 Championship Game where Texas A&M comes from behind to beat Kansas State. Mike Stoops bangs on the glass up in the coaches box like a monkey on acid as his secondary is torched again and again by an inferior opponent.

Punt returner in 2005 - we were just screwed like in 2002. All of those WRs and not one a decent punt returner.

ENA was screwed all the way around. Long could have had Mike Homgren's playbook and it wouldn't have mattered because the OL couldn't block anyway.

AD should have been put on ice after TCU, but he's such a great athlete and gamer, he probably fudged with the coaches and trainers about the true extent of the injury.

[Collier11]

WTF!!!???!!! Are you saying that he's....human?


Dont push it now ;)

[soonervegas]

Not playing Paul Thompson in the Sugar Bowl.

[Collier11]

This is the same coach that has taken chances on Heupel and White. He seems to have a good idea of how his QBs will play. PT never came around, not his fault. This is an argument that could go on for days, I just think they waited too long on picking a qb.



Stoops wasn't the one turning the ball over in the red zone against a great offense. Player mistakes cost us the first half, and then who knows if you can believe the whole quitting thing.

Stoops let it get out of hand, they coulda changed gameplan, taken timeouts, something. True, they dont make the plays and im not blaming them for what I thought was Ou giving up against suc, but they have to be the leaders.



Show me how this has hurt us. Stoops signed 11 oklahoma kids this past year as opposed to 6, 3, 6, and 5 the previous four years. I think that right there shows a change in philosophy. I think it hurt us cus there isnt that state pride that I would argue can mean alot more that just stars next to your name.



Grady left because he wasn't going to start. He knew it and he would be playing behind a guy a year younger than him. He made the best decision for himself.

And Grady isn't even the starter yet at Utah. I think if he woulda moved paul to wr during summer and let bomar and grady get the snaps, we would have one really good qb right now and another good backup as opposed to NO backup as of yet.



Why on earth would you tell the team that you're about to play that one of your star players has a crucial weakness? We don't have any right to know.

This is more of a personal annoyance thing, to tell us things like jason white had a knee sprain when we all knew what happened, it bugged me.

I agree with the rest of your stuff, but not with these. Not easy to find fault in coach that is 75-16 with three mnc appearances though

[rhombic21]

Chester/OL - Allowing assistants to run off linemen causes severe depth problems after five years. There was no one else left to play tackle so Davin was sent there.
There was before Millington quit the team. My point was that Joseph should have been at guard during the spring and fall, before Millington quit. And the Rayl kid seemed to do pretty well when he played vs KU. It's not like Joseph set the world on fire at tackle, and we BADLY needed somebody to be a dominant inside run blocker all year.


All three QBs did well in spring, but Bomar was more highly recruited. Gary Gibbs/Cale Gundy Syndrome here.
Yeah, but they should have had the foresight to know that PT wasn't going to be a pocket passer. If they weren't prepared to install a Texas A+M style offense with PT, then he should have never been in the running.


Q played as a freshman only after season ending injuries to Reggie Skinner and Michael Thornton.
I understand that. My point is twofold. 1) How the heck did he not play earlier given that he was behind those two guys? 2) 8 games into the season, they ought to have found somebody else to finish the year out. Play Johnny Bailous, or move Josh Norman over. Play Seth Littrel at HB. You don't burn a kid's redshirt unless there's a conference or national title on the line, and you have no other choice.


Nothing could have stopped USC from shredding us. Bob and the staff apparently misread what they saw on film re: the Trojans.
We'll never know, but it's bad coaching none-the-less. You call timeout, get the guys gathered, and stop the bleeding. If they still shred us, then you didn't lose anything.


2003 without Pelini, OU 11-2
2004 with Pelini, OU 12-1
2005 without Pelini, OU 8-4...
Pelini was hardly the problem, but a convenient scapegoat for people unhappy about going 12-1. Wholeheartedly agree that a real DB coach should have been hired. However, if you're not going to recruit cornerbacks, I guess it doesn't matter who coaches the guys you eventually send back there.
That's hardly a fair comparison. The offense in 2004 was the best in the Stoops era, and probably one of the most talented in the history of college football. Heisman winning QB, Heisman runner up true freshman RB, FOUR WRs who went in the NFL Draft (and another who got drafted a year later), the number one Offensive tackle chosen, and the number one offensive guard chosen in the next year's draft. Two more all conference players at Tackle (Wes Sims, who also got drafted), and Center (Carter). Plus the best blocking, and one of the better receiving fullbacks in the nation (who also signed an NFL contract). Ridiculous.

Defensively though, we were not as good in 2004 as we should have been. Let's also not forget that we lost a lot of talent from the defense after 2004. Lance Mitchell, Dan Cody, Jonathan Jackson, Antonio Perkins, Brodney Pool, Donte Nicholson. Pellini had a pretty freaking good defensive backfield to work with. Perkins, Pool, and Nicholson all got drafted. Bassey and Chijoke signed with teams this year. And look at how much better Joke and Bassey played under BJW. I still want to know why we have two 6-2 200+ pound CBs who can run sub 4.4 40s, and we're playing soft zone coverage all year. I still want to know how Pool and Nicholson were consistently out of position, when that wasn't an issue in 2003 for either guy. That's coaching, bottom line.

Please don't compare the 2005 and 2004 defenses. It's not even close. BJW was working with a converted RB at one corner, and two guys that Pellini never got anything out of (so much so that we had to burn Walker's redshirt) at the other. He was working with a converted LB and true Freshman at one Safety, and a converted CB and true Frehsman at the other. BJW clearly did more with his talent than Pellini ever thought of. If it hadn't been for our ridiculously good offense in 2004, we would have lost 4 or 5 games that year too, despite our abundance of NFL talent on defense, because the defense, secondary especially, underperformed all year. Compare that with 2005, when the defense kept us in virtually every game (slight exception of the Texas game), and probably was good enough to win 12 or 13 games, despite the fact that we lost several NFL caliber players the previous year, many of whom were replaced by guys who were not ready to play, or who were flat out not that good at their new position, and then we only had 2 healthy DEs all year, which put even more pressure on the LBs and DBs to cover longer.


AD should have been put on ice after TCU, but he's such a great athlete and gamer, he probably fudged with the coaches and trainers about the true extent of the injury.
Agreed. The problem is that he went out and ran for 230 yards against Tulsa because we needed him to, as a result of Wilson and Long dropping the ball on getting the QBs and OL ready to execute what we wanted them to. Then they weren't going to sit him against UCLA in the first road game of the year. But once he got hurt against KState, it was pretty evident that he was done. He shouldn't have even been in uniform until the Nebraska game.

[Collier11]

Defensively though, we were not as good in 2004 as we should have been. Let's also not forget that we lost a lot of talent from the defense after 2004. Lance Mitchell, Dan Cody, Jonathan Jackson, Antonio Perkins, Brodney Pool, Donte Nicholson. Pellini had a pretty freaking good defensive backfield to work with. Perkins, Pool, and Nicholson all got drafted. Bassey and Chijoke signed with teams this year. And look at how much better Joke and Bassey played under BJW. I still want to know why we have two 6-2 200+ pound CBs who can run sub 4.4 40s, and we're playing soft zone coverage all year. I still want to know how Pool and Nicholson were consistently out of position, when that wasn't an issue in 2003 for either guy. That's coaching, bottom line.
.

Remember though, Perk was hurt most of the year, Pool was better roving around and without good enough corners he had to play more coverage which hurt him, and nicholson is a better roy-type back but he couldnt be up at the line like we like cus he was in coverage so much more.

[Tear Down This Wall]

Because safeties are the guys Bob coaches personally, maybe you should ask him why Pool and Nicholson were out of place against USC.

As far as Pelini goes, LSU went 11-2 with the 6th ranked defense last year with the 3rd lowest passing efficiency allowed in the country. So, again, people who blame Pelini for one loss, but give him no credit for the 12 wins...well, row the boat any way you like.

[Collier11]

I agree, Pelini did a good job while here

[Tear Down This Wall]

As to Q in 1999. If Stoops had thought Balous and Littrell were better than Q, he'd have played them. Fortunately, Bob plays to win, so he put his third best back at the time in there when the top two went down with injuries. It's hard to fault him for that.

[Tear Down This Wall]

For the umpteenth time...

It didn't matter where Joseph played in 2005. From the five years of attrition - even leading up to the defections just days before the season began - he was going to have his hands full. He was the best returning player, so obviously he was going to be asked to go where Wilson though they needed him most.

Now, what they needed was four clones of Joseph, but you do with what you have. And, last year, there wasn't much after Joseph.

Also, Rayl? Against KU? We judge a player to be fit to play if he does well against KU? Rayl should have been left on the defensive side of the ball. He never got the OL schemes. If unnamed assistants hadn't been so busy running off o-linemen, Rayl would have stayed on defense and probably been pretty good. He was the #10 DT prospect when he signed.

[85Sooner]

On a more positive note... let's name the top ten brilliant coaching decisions Stoops has made. I'll go first.

1. Finding Josh Heuple out there and bringing him to OU!


fixed
but

I think that was coach leach. Jason was as well.

[BoomerSooner3]

In regards to Q's redshirt, do you think he would have been as good as he was in 2000 if he hadn't played a down in 1999?

[rhombic21]

Because safeties are the guys Bob coaches personally, maybe you should ask him why Pool and Nicholson were out of place against USC.

As far as Pelini goes, LSU went 11-2 with the 6th ranked defense last year with the 3rd lowest passing efficiency allowed in the country. So, again, people who blame Pelini for one loss, but give him no credit for the 12 wins...well, row the boat any way you like.
My problem isn't that Pellini is a bad coach. I just don't think that his secondary schemes fit our talent, and what our guys were good at. We were just too passive in coverage, and didn't play enough aggressive man to man. Pellini is a good DC, but I don't think that he was a good fit for our staff. His personality is more laid back and hands off, which probably resulted in some conflicting messages to the players, given Venables' and Stoops' aggressive coaching style.

I don't think that Bob coaches the Safeties personally. I was under the impression that the only position that Bob coached personally was the special teams unit. I know that he would help out on DB drills, but he always described that as simply doing GA type work, in terms of running drills. He didn't design schemes, and wasn't responsible for individually coaching players. Pellini was the DB coach when he was here, and then Bobby Jack took over when he left.

[soonerboy_odanorth]

Not listening to me when I told them to switch to the 5-2 "Oklahoma" defense for the Orange Bowl and generate some wicked nasty pressure on Leinhart... ;)

[rhombic21]

As to Q in 1999. If Stoops had thought Balous and Littrell were better than Q, he'd have played them. Fortunately, Bob plays to win, so he put his third best back at the time in there when the top two went down with injuries. It's hard to fault him for that.
It's not a matter of whether those guys were better. It's a matter of us being 8 games into a season that obviously wasn't going to do anything above a lower level bowl, and wasting a year of eligibility that arguably cost us a NC in 2003.

[rhombic21]

For the umpteenth time...

It didn't matter where Joseph played in 2005. From the five years of attrition - even leading up to the defections just days before the season began - he was going to have his hands full. He was the best returning player, so obviously he was going to be asked to go where Wilson though they needed him most.

Now, what they needed was four clones of Joseph, but you do with what you have. And, last year, there wasn't much after Joseph.

Also, Rayl? Against KU? We judge a player to be fit to play if he does well against KU? Rayl should have been left on the defensive side of the ball. He never got the OL schemes. If unnamed assistants hadn't been so busy running off o-linemen, Rayl would have stayed on defense and probably been pretty good. He was the #10 DT prospect when he signed.
Retarded logic.

Joseph was the FIRST GUARD CHOSEN in the NFL draft. That tells you something about what kind of guard he is. He didn't even make All American at tackle. So he's a DOMINANT guard, and a mediocre tackle.

Before Millington left, there's no way that he should have been anything but a guard. But if you go back to last spring, the coaches WANTED to move him to tackle, because they thought that he'd be a better tackle than a guard. Then it was obvious that he wasn't, and they REFUSED to move him back. Thus Millington was forced to split time with Messner at the other tackle, and eventually quit. If Joseph is at guard, then Millington probably doesn't quit. But regardless of whether Millington would have quit or not, the fact of the matter is that rather than moving Joseph out to tackle and losing the most dominant run blocking guard in the conference, they should have simply found somebody else to play tackle, and accepted that that person wouldn't be exceptionally good. I'd rather have a mediocre-slightly below average tackle, and a DOMINANT guard. The fact of the matter is that Chaisson/Bush were both mediocre-bad at guard, so it would have been a serious upgrade there. And Joseph just wasn't that good at tackle, so it's not like it was even a serious upgrade to the tackle slot.

[1991SOONER]

1) Failing to prepare the team adequately for the '04 OB

2) Failing to correct a weak secondary in '04 when EVERYONE in the nation knew it.

3) Letting Mike Stoops go. BIG mistake. Although there was probably not much he could do for that one. Lets face it, little brother Mike was sooooo good it was bound to happen Sooner or later.

4) In hindsight, I think Thompson would have done just fine at qb. I believe we would have won against TCU had they kept him in. He may not have moved the ball quite like Bomar, but he also made fewer mistakes (which is better?).

5) Not letting Jason White play more even when the score was up. I mean, whenever he had to play a full game he seemed to run out of steam towards the end? Because we were blowing out teams so bad, that when we finally got around to playing a good one, Jason seemed to run out early. Not his fault. Coaches fault.

[Soonerman08]

The way PT was shafted last year still irritates me, he was never given a chance to succeed. It was like they said "Here, run these 6 plays and see how you do. Oh, that sucked lets put Bomar in. Next game comes and PT doesn't even see field while Bomar suckks so bad they won't even let him throw it. That is my only true complaint so far since everything else is hindsight. The only other thing that comes close is hiring little bo peepelini. What a disaster he made out of our secondary, with talented and experienced guys too.


Thompson sucked it up worse than any of them. The guy clearly couldn't throw the football any better than Bomar did at first. He was a junior in the system, and still didn't know how to get it done. That in my opinion is a clear cut example of someone who will have never got it done. I've seen sophomore quarterbacks who have never taken a snap before come in and take better control of a team than Thompson displayed against TCU. It was horrible.

[rhombic21]

I really would have liked to see what PT would have done if they'd have opened up the QB run game like they did against UCLA and KState.

Is he as good as Bomar from the pocket? Hell no. But get him out there on the edge where he can use his athleticism, and I think he could have been pretty good. Probably doesn't have the overall physical skills that Bomar does, but could have potentially made up for it with his ability to be a leader and manage a game.

[goingoneight]

you forgot not hiring Nick Zepp as master of knowledge ;)

I think that was Schnellenboozer's f*ck-up. :D

[1991SOONER]

I really would have liked to see what PT would have done if they'd have opened up the QB run game like they did against UCLA and KState.

Is he as good as Bomar from the pocket? Hell no. But get him out there on the edge where he can use his athleticism, and I think he could have been pretty good. Probably doesn't have the overall physical skills that Bomar does, but could have potentially made up for it with his ability to be a leader and manage a game.

I believe in Bomars potential, don't get me wrong. I just think he should have set out another year.

On the other hand, Bomar DID save us the embarrassment of losing to Baylor. EEeeeekkk!!!

[Salt City Sooner]

"Q played as a freshman only after season ending injuries to Reggie Skinner and Michael Thornton."
Skinner didn't get hurt in '99, at least not significantly.

[SelmaBamaFan]

How about this one... and Im serious heh:

- Calling off the dogs while up 77 points to Coach Fran.

- Not busting the clock in that game ;)


TOTFP,YHBB!!!

[1991SOONER]

How about this one... and Im serious heh:

- Calling off the dogs while up 77 points to Coach Fran.

- Not busting the clock in that game ;)


TOTFP,YHBB!!!

Hey that score could have EASILY been 84-0 had our offense not started intentionally falling over at the line of scrimmage:D

[Collier11]

Are you kidding, that score could have easily been 100-0, and im being serious. IF I remember right, we had 77 by the end of the 3rd quarter. Stoops cant ask his team to lay down after halftime, thats not fair to his team and the kids who never get PT. Giving up ONE entire quarter is fair enough, its not Stoops' fault that A&M was that Horrible that day!!!!

[Soonerwolf]

Neg if you want, im just looking for something to talk about...its not like im saying stoops is an idiot, He is amazing but he has made mistakes

did you actually put thought into this or do you have no life? Rather than focus on the positives of the program = you have decided that you know OU football better than coach Stoops. Maybe you should follow Nebraska or Colorado or other schools that would give you something to really be negative about.

QB situation - in cased you missed it, Grady fell behind in classes and that affected his competition for the QB position. Are you going to blame Stoops for AD's injury or the fact that some of the high school players really are overrated and expect kid glove treatment. Stoops treats them like men rather than catering to them (Bush, Lienart. etc.)

Be serious . . .

[SoonerJedi]

And I still want to know how it is that we continue to have problems with linemen leaving.

Who cares, they stunk. What great lineman has ever left? Akim Millington?



I thought that the QB situation was poorly handled, as others have pointed out. Move Thompson to WR in the spring, let Grady and Bomar battle it out for the first 2-3 games of the year and pick a starter by Conference play.

That's a crappy thing to do to Thompson. Thompson wanted to compete for QB. That was what he signed on for. After going to bat for OU when Hyble and White were both hurt, you think Stoops should have been a jerk and force him to WR? No OU player would have ever stuck their neck out for Stoops again after a stunt like that.

Stoops did the right thing. He let all three try for the starting QB job. Grady left because it was apparent that the other two were better than him.



Allowing Bo Pellini to come in and change our entire coverage scheme. Should have just let Brent be sole DC that year, and found a DB coach somewhere (or moved Bobby Jack).

I agree with this one.


Allowing Marcus Walker to play last year, rather than take a medical redshirt, when it was obvious to everyone else that the kid was not going to be healthy enough to make an impact.

Walker was the only proven corner we had going into last year. No one knew if Wolfe would develop.

A lot of your points are about players that got to play in their freshmen year rather than redshirt, but redshirting also backfires. When the team crumbles because you don't plug a weakness, it hurts recruiting for the following year. Sure we could have held back Quinten Griffin, but if we had, we may never have picked up Adrian Peterson. There are no guarentees. You try to win that year or there is no point in considering next year.



Never making adjustments defensively against OK State in '04 when the ONLY thing that they were doing offensively was completing deep balls. How do you not make some sort of adjustment to keep your DBs from getting beat? How do you not bring an insane amount of heat to keep the QB from having time to get the ball off? Do something! We were lucky to win that game, and it shouldn't have been nearly that close.

Is that the game where OU came back from 21 down? ... ergo, there were adjustments made in that game.



Allowing Lendy Holmes to return punts when it was clear even early in the season that he had trouble fielding the ball. Arguably cost us the UCLA game (game is completely different if we don't have that mistake early on). Either tell Rankins to go field it on his bum ankle and just fair catch anything, or find somebody else that can field the ball.

He had trouble twice.
And btw, Stoops did exactly what you said ... in that game no less. Are you honestly saying that Stoops shouldn't give a player a second chance to prove himself? If a HC is a much a jerk as you think Stoops should have been, players tend to loose morale.

Some of your ideas would wreck the program.



But the thing about all of those things are that Stoops is still a top 5 HC in America, and is on pace to be one of the best of all time. Just goes to show how difficult being a HC at a place like Oklahoma is.


Agreed ... more difficult than you've thought through apparently.

[BASSooner]

scary as it may be Stoops may become the best coach of all time and he's young and he will NOT be leaving here ANYTIME soon. In fact, I think he won't leave this program at all.

[1991SOONER]

scary as it may be Stoops may become the best coach of all time and he's young and he will NOT be leaving here ANYTIME soon. In fact, I think he won't leave this program at all.

I hope not because I'm happy with him overall.

In other words, he may walk on water, but occasionally he gets his socks wet:D

[jkm, the stolen pifwafwi]

QB situation - in cased you missed it, Grady fell behind in classes and that affected his competition for the QB position. Are you going to blame Stoops for AD's injury or the fact that some of the high school players really are overrated and expect kid glove treatment. Stoops treats them like men rather than catering to them (Bush, Lienart. etc.)

your facts are a little off on this. he wasn't behind in classes to play at OU, he was behind to transfer to another school other than OU. he was ran out on a rail during summer conditioning...

[Collier11]

did you actually put thought into this or do you have no life? Rather than focus on the positives of the program = you have decided that you know OU football better than coach Stoops. Maybe you should follow Nebraska or Colorado or other schools that would give you something to really be negative about.

QB situation - in cased you missed it, Grady fell behind in classes and that affected his competition for the QB position. Are you going to blame Stoops for AD's injury or the fact that some of the high school players really are overrated and expect kid glove treatment. Stoops treats them like men rather than catering to them (Bush, Lienart. etc.)

Be serious . . .


HEH!! Idiot!!

[Tear Down This Wall]

Retarded logic.

Joseph was the FIRST GUARD CHOSEN in the NFL draft. That tells you something about what kind of guard he is. He didn't even make All American at tackle. So he's a DOMINANT guard, and a mediocre tackle.

Before Millington left, there's no way that he should have been anything but a guard. But if you go back to last spring, the coaches WANTED to move him to tackle, because they thought that he'd be a better tackle than a guard. Then it was obvious that he wasn't, and they REFUSED to move him back. Thus Millington was forced to split time with Messner at the other tackle, and eventually quit. If Joseph is at guard, then Millington probably doesn't quit. But regardless of whether Millington would have quit or not, the fact of the matter is that rather than moving Joseph out to tackle and losing the most dominant run blocking guard in the conference, they should have simply found somebody else to play tackle, and accepted that that person wouldn't be exceptionally good. I'd rather have a mediocre-slightly below average tackle, and a DOMINANT guard. The fact of the matter is that Chaisson/Bush were both mediocre-bad at guard, so it would have been a serious upgrade there. And Joseph just wasn't that good at tackle, so it's not like it was even a serious upgrade to the tackle slot.

I'm not sure if you are just purposely not seeing the picture, or are simply unable. There was no one else to put at tackle last year. Your only suggestion was Rayl, which was not an option at all. Just because a guy has been given a uniform and has the letters "OT" stuck by his name doesn't mean he can play the position.

Kevin Wilson thought Davin Joseph was talented enough to play different positions in the line. He didn't do it to screw Davin or the team. He did it because he had to do it.

Just an overall comment here to end: you need to step back and realize that our coaches want to win football games. In 1999, that meant playing the third best halfback when the first two were injured. In 2005, it meant taking the best linemen and trying to fill the biggest hole, tackle.

You need to understand that some guys simply cannot play Division I-A football at a consistent enough level to be used - even if they're on scholarship! (i.e., Poteat, Rayl, Balous, etc.) No amount of your questioning Bob Stoops & Co.'s personnel decisions will change that.

Some guys just aren't as advertised when they sign. Sorry. Some guys get injured. Sorry. Stoops' job, and the job of his assistants, is to decide who's ready to go on game day.

Question: Since Cale Gundy is the running backs coach, why aren't you questioning his skill for not having Balous and Littrell ready to go in 1999 behind Skinner and Thornton? Or, why aren't you questioning Gundy for not having Kejuan Jones ready to shine during his third year on campus in 2003, the year you pine for Q's eligibility. You seem perfectly willing to throw Bo Pelini, a coach that was here for one season, under the bus for one loss in 13 games; but, there's no mention of Gundy in all of your running back questions.

[soonerloyal]

What I'm hoping to see right this minute is Stoop's foot up Rhett B's arse. He better stop farkin' around off-campus. That stuff might fly in Austin, but we can't put up with it in Norman. Heck, I'm a mom...let me blister his butt.

I hope Stoops has a choke chain on him after this. The kid needs to focus on the golden ops he has, not on snagging a Bud Light on the sly.

[rhombic21]

TDTW, you keep missing my original point.

IF the coaches had left Davin at guard during the pre-season, and only moved him to tackle after the season started, then I would give them the benefit of the doubt. But they didn't. They had Davin at Tackle when they already had 2 Big 12 caliber tackles on campus. Plus they had 2 young tackles behind those guys that ended up playing significantly (Robinson and Braxton).
Akim Millington was going to start. So they obviously thought that he could play Division I. And Chris Messner turned out to grade out the highest of any lineman, and is now the anchor of the OL, so it's obvious that he could play tackle. And Braxton played significantly at tackle early on in the year, so it's obvious that he could at least compete at a division I level. And Duke Robinson freaking started against Tulsa, and then Kevin Wilson said publicly that he made a mistake in not starting him against UCLA, because we weren't able to run the ball without Davin at guard. And Rayl did play well against Kansas. In fact several coaches were complimenting him on his play. And Chris Bush was supposed to be a versatile lineman who they said could have played Tackle if we had needed him to (don't know if that's true or not, but that's what the coaches said during the preseason). So please don't make it like we had no options. That's just not true. There were other options.

Kevin Wilson said publicly after the UCLA game that he made a mistake in not playing Davin at Guard, like he did against Tulsa. He said that it was obvious that we couldn't run the ball inside the tackles without Davin at guard. And you know what? He was right. Chaisson and Bush were terrible run blockers.

As far as 1999 is concerned. I understand what you are saying, completely. If the coaches cared so much about winning, why wasn't Quentin playing earlier in the year? I saw Michael Thornton and Reggie Skinner, Quentin was better than both of those guys, even as a freshman. So why wasn't he on the field? Again, if they had played him from the beginning of the season, then I wouldn't have had a problem. But, in my mind, to play a guy 8 games into the season and burn his redshirt is pretty drastic, especially when you consider that the team wasn't vying for any sort of conference title or big time bowl game.

[rhombic21]

Who cares, they stunk. What great lineman has ever left? Akim Millington?
It hurts depth. And it forces guys like Davin Joseph to have to play out of position, while other guys like Duke Robinson burn a redshirt year because they're forced to play before the coaches want them to.


That's a crappy thing to do to Thompson. Thompson wanted to compete for QB. That was what he signed on for. After going to bat for OU when Hyble and White were both hurt, you think Stoops should have been a jerk and force him to WR? No OU player would have ever stuck their neck out for Stoops again after a stunt like that.

Stoops did the right thing. He let all three try for the starting QB job. Grady left because it was apparent that the other two were better than him.
No, the crappy thing to do to Thompson is to let him compete at QB all spring and fall, give him one game at the position, and then effectively tell him that if he wants to play, he has to switch positions. How much better would Thompson have been if he'd have been able to switch to WR in the spring, so that he could have potentially made an impact at WR last year? How much better would Thompson have been if he wasn't learning basic WR technique during the middle of a season, when coaches didn't have time to give him a bunch of 1-1 time? How much better would Thompson have been if he'd have been allowed to focus on WR last year, rather than having to double as the backup QB?


Walker was the only proven corner we had going into last year. No one knew if Wolfe would develop.
But he was hurt in preseason! He wasn't even practicing. He didn't even start, or play meaningful minutes! Somebody should have pulled the plug on the deal, made the kid go to surgery, and take a redshirt. He's now wasted 2 years of eligibility to play in a handful of games. His career is half over, and he hasn't even played half a season yet.


A lot of your points are about players that got to play in their freshmen year rather than redshirt, but redshirting also backfires. When the team crumbles because you don't plug a weakness, it hurts recruiting for the following year. Sure we could have held back Quinten Griffin, but if we had, we may never have picked up Adrian Peterson. There are no guarentees. You try to win that year or there is no point in considering next year.
What? Griffin would have been a senior the year that we recruited AD. AD would have still come in as a true freshman with no Q on the team. And if the running game had been amazing in 2003 with Q on the team, we have a better chance of winning the NC, which gives us a better chance to sign AD. There's no way that you can say that having Q in 2003 would have hurt us in recruiting AD.


Is that the game where OU came back from 21 down? ... ergo, there were adjustments made in that game.
Actually, no. That's the game that we scored 38 points in, and were up by 17 in, only to give it back because we couldn't stop the deep ball. OSU was in that game for 2 reasons. One, we had the special teams mistakes early that spotted them 14 points. And two, after we got control of the game midway in the third, we couldn't stop the deep ball.



He had trouble twice.
And btw, Stoops did exactly what you said ... in that game no less. Are you honestly saying that Stoops shouldn't give a player a second chance to prove himself? If a HC is a much a jerk as you think Stoops should have been, players tend to loose morale.
He let Rankins return it after Lendy fumbled it, yes. My point is that Lendy should have never been back there to begin with, if he was having problems with fielding the ball. I remember in 2001, Brandon Jones had the big punt return against Tulsa, and everybody thought he was going to be our next punt returner. Next game, against A+M, he doesn't field a ball that he should have, and Stoops yanked him for good, because Jones wasn't ready to be a punt returner for us. Where was Brandon's second chance? Players lose morale when they get down 7 points because a guy who has struggled returning punts all season muffs a punt inside their own 15 yard line, embarassing everybody on National TV. I bet the players would have had a lot better morale if they had been up by 14 at halftime. I bet the defense would have had a better morale if the special teams wasn't putting them in terrible situations. And what about Lendy's morale? Do you think that he was helped by being allowed to go out there and return punts when he wasn't ready to do so? Now he gets made to look a fool on national TV, and has to deal with his teammates being ****ed that he cost them points. How does that help ANYBODY?

[rhombic21]

I want to clarify on the Quentin situation.

I can understand why he did it at the time. I'm not saying that there was no logical reason to do it.

But if he'd have known how good we were going to be in 2000-2003, and known how Q was going to blossom in 2002, I think that he would have chosen to keep Q's shirt on. So from that point of view, it's a mistake. It's an understandable mistake, but a mistake none-the-less. I'd have gladly traded in a win in 1999 for a couple in 2003. And I think that Stoops would have too. The difference between 7-5 and 6-6 is negligible, while the difference between 12-2 and 14-0 is HUGE.