Stoops poised to make most important hire since assembling original OU staff
Published: 2/14/2013 10:06 AM
Last Modified: 2/14/2013 10:07 AM
Bob Stoops said Wednesday he hasn't interviewed any candidates for his three staff vacancies. If we take him for his word, then, he didn't pick up the phone and tell West Virginia's Bill Bedenbaugh to start packing his bags as soon as he cut loose James Patton and Bruce Kittle.
Stoops is going to be thorough and maybe even a little deliberate in this process. Nothing wrong with that, especially when you consider something:
His hire for the defensive tackles/defensive line position might be the most important he has made since assembling his original OU staff.
Consider that every hire Stoops has ever made has been the result of: 1, an assistant receiving a head coaching/coordinator/NFL job elsewhere; 2, Stoops seamlessly promoting from within to fill the void; and/or 3: Stoops almost-as-seamlessly hiring an old contact or comrade to come in and pick up where the former assistant left off.
Not this time.
Jackie Shipp was fired, sure as Patton and Kittle were. What makes the Shipp situation so earth-shaking, though, is he was one of Stoops' originals. Loyalty is as big a trait of Bob's as competitiveness. It had to tear at him to let Shipp go. It couldn't have been a personal decision. He must have seen it as "I've got no choice."
This might be why…
Ever since he arrived, Stoops has been adamant that defense starts up front. Up front and in the middle. Ends get the sacks, linebackers the tackles and defensive backs the turnovers. But if you don't have muscle and playmaking from your tackles, you're asking for trouble.
Let's revisit some numbers I ran last fall detailing the production of OU's lead defensive tackles over the past decade:
2002 (Tommie Harris, Dusty Dvoracek and Kory Klein)
Tackles: 81
Tackles for lost yardage: 17
Sacks: 7
Hurries: 33
Pass deflections: 4
Fumble recoveries: 2
2003 (Harris, Dvoracek and Lynn McGruder)
Tackles: 102
TFLs: 30
Sacks: 14
Hurries: 38
Pass deflections: 2
Forced fumbles: 2
Fumble recoveries: 1
2004 (McGruder, Carl Pendleton and Remi Ayodele)
Tackles: 52
TFLs: 12
Sacks: 5
Hurries: 5
Pass deflections: 3
Forced fumbles: 2
2005 (a reinstated Dvoracek, Ayodele and Cory Bennett)
Tackles: 71
TFLs: 27
Sacks: 7
Hurries: 10
Pass deflections: 1
Fumble recoveries: 2
Interceptions: 1
2006 (Bennett, DeMarcus Granger, Steven Coleman)
Tackles: 65
TFLs: 11.5
Sacks: 3.5
Hurries: 2
2007 (Bennett, Granger, Gerald McCoy)
Tackles: 67
TFLs: 15.5
Sacks: 6
Hurries: 16
Pass deflections: 3
Fumble recoveries: 2
Forced fumbles: 1
2008 (McCoy, Granger, Adrian Taylor)
Tackles: 76
TFLs: 20
Sacks: 11
Hurries: 3
Pass deflections: 2
Fumble recoveries: 3
Forced fumbles: 1
Interceptions: 1
2009 (McCoy, Taylor, Jamarkus McFarland)
Tackles: 79
TFLs: 25
Sacks: 12
Hurries: 13
Pass deflections: 3
Fumble recoveries: 2
Forced fumbles: 1
2010 (Taylor, McFarland, Stacy McGee)
Tackles: 61
TFLs: 9
Sacks: 1.5
Hurries: 3
Pass deflections: 1
2011 (McFarland, McGee, Casey Walker)
Tackles: 60
TFLs: 10
Sacks: 3
Hurries: 3
Pass deflections: 3
Forced fumbles: 2
Now, we can add OU's 2012 production, featuring McFarland, Walker and McGee again:
Tackles: 68
TFLs: 11
Sacks: 4
Hurries: 5
Pass deflections: 1
Fumble recoveries: 1
Interceptions: 1
Whether Shipp didn't beat the recruiting trail hard enough, misjudged some of that talent or didn't coach it up once it was on campus, the years tackles weren't disruptive enough eventually outnumbered the years they were.
That became a real problem. It ran counter to the value Stoops put on the position. And as the SEC put a stranglehold on college football using big, strong, active, playmaking defensive tackles, it should have sounded in alarm in Shipp's office. And his home. And in his car out recruiting.
Whether he never heard it or he ignored it or he couldn't coach with it going off, now it will sound in someone else's office, home and car.
Whoever takes over OU's defensive interior had better respond. The faster he does, the faster the Sooners will play defense resembling Mike Stoops' first era in Norman (look at those '02 and '03 stats again). Also, the faster OU will return to championship hunts beyond the Big 12.
Yes, Bob Stoops' hire on the offensive line is crucial. But as the season that prompted this startling coaching shakeup showed, it's not the offense that's broken. There's a pretty big crack right there at the base of OU's defense.
Written by
Guerin Emig
Sports Writer
