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Posted
3 minutes ago, statsman said:

Yeah, I never understood the love for Burke. I figured him to be their “Neyor”- a key pickup, if healthy, who is just a sunk cost you absorb if unhealthy. 
 
Marvin Jones Jr. is on his third team at OU. Crazy. 
 
What OU is doing this year, hitting the portal hard for key positions and shuffling in dozens of new portal-ins from FCS (the “There is so much horseshit here that there must be a pony in there somewhere” theory of roster construction) is very reminiscent of Stoops year 1. That it is actually Venables year 4 is hilarious. 

It's an interesting comparison. I'm not in agreement with you on it, but it's not a bad notion. To me, a big difference is the level of evaluation talent on the two staffs. Look back at that Stoops staff, year 1:

-HC Bob Stoops - at the top of the defensive coaching ranks, trends and minds of that era, fresh out of a mentorship under Spurrier, preceded by one with Snyder.

-OC Mike Leach - at the top of the offensive coaching ranks, trends and minds of that era, fresh out of a mentorship under Hal Mumme.

-Co-DC Mike Stoops - had coached under Snyder for years, played under Hayden Fry. This is pre-burnout, hungry and focused, 37 YO Mike Stoops.

-Co-DC Brent Venables - 28 YO, mentored under Snyder for 6 years after playing his way up through JUCO and then to KSU. 

-DE Coach Bobby Jack Wright - this dude was hired for connections in Texas and throughout the small high school world and juco hinterlands, not as an evaluator. He opened the door to so much random tape that most schools were ignoring that it isn't even funny. He was the guy that connected them to Snow College and Heupel, if memory serves. Even the worst coach on the staff was invaluable for their original set-up. 

-TE/ST Coach Jonathan Hayes - long time NFL TE and played with Stoops under Fry at Iowa. Coaches for 15 years in the NFL after 3 years at OU.

-RB Coach Cale Gundy - dude evaluated and recruited some legends at RB for OU, and then did the same at WR coach. Evaluated and recruited Quintin Griffin, who was a midget that big schools ignored. 

-WR Coach Steve Spurrier JR - mentored under his father for all of his early life. 28 YO and hungry.

-OL Coach Mark Mangino - multi-year OL coach under Snyder, his mentor. 

-DL Coach Jackie Shipp - Coached all over the country in various programs learning the ropes for a decade before being called home by Stoops. 

That group was young, energetic, and educated. Some of those guys became famous evaluators of talent. Their classes were almost always under-ranked in the early days. What they did heading into 1999 and then again in 2000, without a portal and not utilizing bags effectively, remains impressive. I can't even imagine what they would have done with the portal and some NIL money. Ugly. 

Now compare that to the trash heap currently comprising the OU staff under Venables. You keep the time machine, I'm fine here in 2025. Jay Valai, Demarco Murray, Joe Jon Finley, etc. 

 

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Posted

i remember ou fans on twitter talking up Burkes over Golden in that first window last season... 

 

they have worked themselves up thinking he will be the difference maker for them.

Posted
41 minutes ago, closetojumping said:

It's an interesting comparison. I'm not in agreement with you on it, but it's not a bad notion. To me, a big difference is the level of evaluation talent on the two staffs. Look back at that Stoops staff, year 1:

-HC Bob Stoops - at the top of the defensive coaching ranks, trends and minds of that era, fresh out of a mentorship under Spurrier, preceded by one with Snyder.

-OC Mike Leach - at the top of the offensive coaching ranks, trends and minds of that era, fresh out of a mentorship under Hal Mumme.

-Co-DC Mike Stoops - had coached under Snyder for years, played under Hayden Fry. This is pre-burnout, hungry and focused, 37 YO Mike Stoops.

-Co-DC Brent Venables - 28 YO, mentored under Snyder for 6 years after playing his way up through JUCO and then to KSU. 

-DE Coach Bobby Jack Wright - this dude was hired for connections in Texas and throughout the small high school world and juco hinterlands, not as an evaluator. He opened the door to so much random tape that most schools were ignoring that it isn't even funny. He was the guy that connected them to Snow College and Heupel, if memory serves. Even the worst coach on the staff was invaluable for their original set-up. 

-TE/ST Coach Jonathan Hayes - long time NFL TE and played with Stoops under Fry at Iowa. Coaches for 15 years in the NFL after 3 years at OU.

-RB Coach Cale Gundy - dude evaluated and recruited some legends at RB for OU, and then did the same at WR coach. Evaluated and recruited Quintin Griffin, who was a midget that big schools ignored. 

-WR Coach Steve Spurrier JR - mentored under his father for all of his early life. 28 YO and hungry.

-OL Coach Mark Mangino - multi-year OL coach under Snyder, his mentor. 

-DL Coach Jackie Shipp - Coached all over the country in various programs learning the ropes for a decade before being called home by Stoops. 

That group was young, energetic, and educated. Some of those guys became famous evaluators of talent. Their classes were almost always under-ranked in the early days. What they did heading into 1999 and then again in 2000, without a portal and not utilizing bags effectively, remains impressive. I can't even imagine what they would have done with the portal and some NIL money. Ugly. 

Now compare that to the trash heap currently comprising the OU staff under Venables. You keep the time machine, I'm fine here in 2025. Jay Valai, Demarco Murray, Joe Jon Finley, etc. 

 

Great explanation- thx. My point was more that they were casting a wide net for talent in a year when they should be just filling holes, not rebuilding whole rooms. 
 
You’re right about that OU staff in ‘99 and the job they did. Years ago, I did a detailed look at quick MNC builds (2000 OU, 2002 tOSU, 2003 USC, 2009 Bama), and was struck by how in each case- EXCEPT 2000 OU- the new HC inherited a bunch of future NFL talent. I had heard for years about Stoops cashing in on the roster Blake assembled, and was surprised to see that Stoops inherited less high level talent than Mack Brown did from Mackovic. 
 
He got two key guys from JC (Heupel and Torrance Marshall), and moved a bunch of athletes to different positions. Plus, being an early Spread adapter helped. Overall, it was really a remarkable job of coaching. I really wish the BCS had matched them with Miami, instead of FSU. 

Posted

The entire Dabo/Clemson coaching tree has been absolute disaster, Bret Venables 22-17 at OU is the most successful coach to come out of Clemson. Whatever Dabo did during the 2010’s is clearly not replicable and Venables spent the later half of his career solely in that environment and that’s where he saw his success. 

Posted
19 minutes ago, statsman said:

Great explanation- thx. My point was more that they were casting a wide net for talent in a year when they should be just filling holes, not rebuilding whole rooms. 
 
You’re right about that OU staff in ‘99 and the job they did. Years ago, I did a detailed look at quick MNC builds (2000 OU, 2002 tOSU, 2003 USC, 2009 Bama), and was struck by how in each case- EXCEPT 2000 OU- the new HC inherited a bunch of future NFL talent. I had heard for years about Stoops cashing in on the roster Blake assembled, and was surprised to see that Stoops inherited less high level talent than Mack Brown did from Mackovic. 
 
He got two key guys from JC (Heupel and Torrance Marshall), and moved a bunch of athletes to different positions. Plus, being an early Spread adapter helped. Overall, it was really a remarkable job of coaching. I really wish the BCS had matched them with Miami, instead of FSU. 

OU 2000 also had freakish luck with injuries.  Their depth was not great, so that was fortunate.  I don't think a starter missed a single game.  That just never happens.

Posted
1 minute ago, Frank Drebin said:

OU 2000 also had freakish luck with injuries.  Their depth was not great, so that was fortunate.  I don't think a starter missed a single game.  That just never happens.

Honestly- credit to them. They had players injured; how could they not? They just didn’t stop playing (I remember Calmus playing half the season with a cast on his forearm?). 
 
Back to Burks- I hope this link works. Basically, he made most of his hay in 2023 against Fresno State and Indiana. Against Iowa, tOSU, Michigan, Nebraska- he averaged less than 8 yards per reception (and he didn’t have a lot of receptions). If, in his fifth year of college football, Burks performs at a level the Sooners expect, then he will have climbed to a level of performance that he has never approached before. 

https://purduesports.com/sports/football/roster/burksdeion/12167

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Posted
1 hour ago, Ty Webb said:

FIFY.

The thing about Mangino that gets lost in all of the humor over the years about his morbid obesity and everything around that is that the guy was an unbelievable OL coach. He was also an amazing evaluator of talent. Kind of a rotund savant.

I know he's allegedly a major asshole, but I've always kind of hoped that Sarkisian would hire him as an analyst to evaluate OL recruits, opposing DLs, our own OL efficiencies/deficiencies, and offer up red zone input.

I don't care how expensive his wish list would be. If the guy wants to be compensated in Japanese wagyu gravy and ruby port by the gallon, then we step up and do so. If he needs a towel boy to wipe his ass 4 times a day, Max Merrill needs a gig. If he's defiling Bellmont restrooms twice weekly, have a fucking plumbling crew on standby. This needs to happen. 

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Posted
1 hour ago, Frank Drebin said:

Mangino would be a great analyst.  Pretty sure he had weight loss surgery.  He now is just about the size of the average Surly tailgater

spacer.png

Hey! I resemble that comment!

Posted
5 hours ago, statsman said:

What OU is doing this year, hitting the portal hard for key positions and shuffling in dozens of new portal-ins from FCS (the “There is so much horseshit here that there must be a pony in there somewhere” theory of roster construction) is very reminiscent of Stoops year 1. That it is actually Venables year 4 is hilarious. 

Reminds me of The Elks portal class last off-season.

 

Spoiler: they all turned out to be horseshit and no unicorns were found

Posted (edited)
18 hours ago, statsman said:

The Okies are coping with Texas reloading…

IMG_3800.jpeg

IMG_3799.jpeg

They got that OUDNA. That's just as good as whatever that aggy lunacy is. 

It won't win them any games. But it'll keep their hicks brainwashed just long enough for them to change the story when the shit hits the fan. Thatll be 9.95

Edited by FCB
It's never shot gd!!!
Posted
34 minutes ago, FCB said:

They got that OUDNA. That's just as good as whatever that aggy lunacy is. 

It won't win them any games. But it'll keep their hicks brainwashed just long enough for them to change the story when the shit hits the fan. Thatll be 9.95

In our Dallas hotel elevator last October, two fat sorority girls, dressed up like whores on the Friday night before the game, drunkenly told me and my wife that OU was going to “beat that ass because of sooner magic, baby!!” I just smiled and waited for our floor. 

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Posted
12 minutes ago, closetojumping said:

In our Dallas hotel elevator last October, two fat sorority girls, dressed up like whores on the Friday night before the game, drunkenly told me and my wife that OU was going to “beat that ass because of sooner magic, baby!!” I just smiled and waited for our floor. 

Must have been the same two fatasses that were talking shit after the game.  I told them congrats on all 3 points.  She replied something along the lines of, "I'd rather die in red than ugly burnt orange."  I told her good luck with that.

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Posted
1 hour ago, closetojumping said:

In our Dallas hotel elevator last October, two fat sorority girls, dressed up like whores on the Friday night before the game, drunkenly told me and my wife that OU was going to “beat that ass because of sooner magic, baby!!” I just smiled and waited for our floor. 

where was @Vic Mackey???

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