Stoops, Shelby together again
Published: 7/20/2007 11:18 AM
Last Modified: 7/20/2007 11:18 AM
People still rave about the way Mike Stoops turned Roy Williams into one of college football's most lethal weapons during Oklahoma's recent glory years. It was pretty amazing stuff, but then so was what happened when Williams graduated to the Dallas Cowboys and Stoops, then OU's defensive coordinator and secondary coach, took on a new pet project.
Brandon Shelby wasn't big, fast or skilled enough to step in for Williams. He was listed at 6-feet, 200 pounds or so, but out there among the Sooner giants, he looked more like 5-feet, 100.
Thing is, he was also tougher than many of those behemoths, and smarter -- Shelby earned two degrees at OU, and was named to two academic All-Big 12 teams. So Stoops found ways to plug him into must-stop situations and, more often than not, he raised all kinds of hell.
The years 2001-04 were among the Sooners' finest defensively. All-Americans like Tommie Harris, Teddy Lehman and Derrick Strait had a lot to do with that. But so did Shelby, and the coach who knew just how to use him.
Kind of cool to see them together again. Stoops recently hired Shelby, who had spent the last two years as an OU grad assistant, onto his Arizona staff to, fittingly, help with the secondary.
"There's so much carryover from Oklahoma, and that's good for me," Shelby told the Arizona Daily Star. "Mike is giving me the opportunity to begin my coaching career. What better way to do it than learn from the guy who taught me?"
-- Guerin Emig
Written by
Guerin Emig
Sports Writer
