In not so shocking news, since this has been a rumor floating around since last week, Bob Stoops and the Oklahoma Sooners announced on Monday that James Patton is out.

Patton is taking a job as the recruiting coordinator at Indiana, under head coach Kevin Wilson. I’m sure most everyone remembers that Wilson is the the former OC for the Sooners.

Stoops released a statement on Monday in regards to Patton’s departure:

We appreciate the contributions that James made to our program over the past seven seasons. He was a valued member of a staff that helped us win five Big 12 championships. We wish James and his family the best in this opportunity with Kevin Wilson at Indiana.

Patton also commented:

Our family has enjoyed a tremendous experience at the University of Oklahoma. It has truly been a pleasure to work with Joe Castiglione, Coach Stoops and the entire football staff, as well as the many talented student-athletes that I was privileged to coach at OU. I’m excited about this new challenge at Indiana, and am extremely grateful for being afforded a chance to work with Oklahoma Football the past seven years.

Patton is no stranger to the B1G atmosphere. Before coming to Norman, he was an assistant at Northwestern for seven years.

Now, to who will replace Patton.. rumor on the streets is that it could *possibly* be former Kansas Jayhawks head coach, Mark Mangino. If you remember, Mangino was a former member of the OU staff before taking the job at Kansas. Since his firing from Kansas, Mangino has been spotted on the Sooners sidelines a few times and was officially listed as a consultant.

Not sure this is the direction that Stoops and the staff are going to go in because of the controversy that surrounds Mangino during his head coaching days, but I wouldn’t be surprised.

Stay tuned!

Coach Bob Stoops and Former Michigan coach Rich Rodriguez at Spring Practice

It was football day in Norman yesterday. Beautiful weather, wonderful scenery and of course the Sooners playing football.

There are still a lot of questions to be answered about who will rightfully own which position come Fall, but there were quite a few stand-outs.

I don’t know if it was the picture perfect Spring weather or not, but the crowd yesterday was somewhat lethargic. That is until a surprise breakout run from a walk-on running back.

Yes a walk on. Dom Whaley wowed the crowd with a 40 yard run yesterday. I know I was asking myself who the heck this kid was. Whaley had 10 carries and a total of 65 yards. More than any of the other running backs I was anxious to see. The RB spot is wide open at this point, though I still feel it will fall into the hands of Roy Finch, who did well behind DeMarco Murray last season.

» Continue reading “Spring Game, the Aftermath”