The Football Brainiacs

I was up late last night fielding phone calls from various friends and family wanting to talk or vent about the game, the season, and the state of the program in general. I’m sure there will be much to write and discuss as I expect this offseason to be interesting, to say the least. But I just wanted to take a moment to talk about results.

Demanding Results

A friend of mine is a prominent Alabama writer and “insider.” A couple weeks ago, right after Alabama won the SEC championship and earned the top spot in the college football playoff, I was talking him about this 2014 season. He mentions to me word is going around in the Alabama inner-circles that after this season Nick Saban may replace two or three coaches. He mentioned the specific coaches, one of whom happens to be a coach my friend knows personally. Whether this comes to fruition or not isn’t my point in bringing this up.

What surprised me is how nonchalant he sounded when mentioning these possible changes. I said, “coaching changes?!?” “They just made the playoffs!” And my friend’s very casual response to me was, “yeah but that doesn’t mean it was because of their position groups…they can be better.”

Last year, after Oklahoma won the Sugar Bowl, no Oklahoma fan would have dared press a similar idea/standard. That while the win against Alabama was great, it’s always a good time to ask the question ‘did Oklahoma win this season because of you, or in spite of you?’ And to take it a step further…if you are doing a good job…can Oklahoma find someone who can do an even better job?

That seems like a cold way to do business. But every program has to decide what standards are acceptable. I define a program as the fans, boosters, and administrators because for most coaches, their loyalty to a school is born when they signed a contract and can die when they sign one with another school. However, the rest of us remain after said HC leaves. So I’ll say it this way…WE have to decide what standard is acceptable.

While it may seem cold, Oklahoma is — or at least should be — the upper-echelon of the college football world. We aren’t a program that looks at Alabama or Ohio State or Florida State and thinks, “well, but that’s Alabama, Ohio State, and Florida State.” Oklahoma should be the standard. It’s a unique privilege to coach at the University of Oklahoma. And let’s face it, the alternative for a coach isn’t some sad story. No one is trying to send somebody into the coal mines. Coaching at Kansas, or San Diego State, or Southern Miss (no offense to any of those schools) isn’t some horrible life to be had. A coach can make a good paycheck doing something he loves there. But to be a coach at any position at a school like Oklahoma should require a standard and that should be as high as standards can be.

It doesn’t matter what you’ve done prior. It doesn’t matter how you got here. It doesn’t matter who you are related to. The program has to set a results-based standard.

An individual position group coach cannot necessarily be judged by how the final score reads. If the offense wins the game in spite of the defense, then the latter hasn’t produced the necessary results to remain at the University of Oklahoma. If the defense wins the game in spite of the offense then again, the results weren’t achieved. If Oklahoma makes it to the playoff, but a single position group can be better or didn’t produce the desired results, then a change needs to at least be on the table.

But that’s the difference between a guy like Nick Saban and Bob Stoops. The latter of whom has never run his program in such a manner. And it would appear why OU is not currently on the same level as Alabama.

The University of Oklahoma isn’t a private corporation. It’s a school and a program that belongs to the state. The tradition and brand is something the people of the state, the students, and alumni OWN and take great pride in.

Why has Alabama become the standard? They’ve become the standard because it’s demanded. Nothing less than meeting that standard, set by Saban, is acceptable. Whether it’s demanded by the head coach or it’s demanded by the fans…it’s demanded. You cannot play at the University of Alabama unless you meet some very clearly defined standards. And you cannot coach at the University of Alabama unless you also meet some very clearly defined standards. Why should that be any different at the University of Oklahoma?

Why Does it Take a Debacle?

A great question a friend (and college football insider in his own right) asked me last night was, “why does Oklahoma have to get to the point where they are embarrassed on national television before changes are made?”

I think the reason lies in something I can certainly relate to. I’m the type of person in my personal and business life that always wants to find an excuse for the people around me. On many occasions I’ve been accused of being naive, because of my desire to see the best in people. In personal relationships, I like to think that’s a strength. But I’m quite certain it’s cost me many times in business settings.

Instead of demanding a certain result along the way, I just kept making excuses for a person. It’s always easy to justify a lack of result and if it’s in your nature to accept that result, or it’s in your circumstance to be permitted to…you’ll do it.

But if you do it for too long, your circumstances won’t permit it. You’ll run out of money, or you’ll run out of support, or both.

Changes

I’m not in a position to fire anyone and don’t get paid to call people out by name, so I’ll refrain from doing so. I can rant about having to be the bad guy, but I don’t actually have to be the bad guy. But I will say this very clearly; I do believe Bob Stoops is fully capable of righting the ship.

I know there is growing sentiment that he isn’t the guy and I can’t definitively say if he is or isn’t. I can only share with you what I believe. And I believe he is capable of being that guy, IF he chooses to. But he, like anyone, will have to be held to a results-based standard and to have a chance at achieving the desired results, I believe he will absolutely have to make changes. Those changes, though, can’t be cosmetic. They can’t be attempts to appease the masses. In my estimation, he has to step back and, with a great deal of humility, recognize that he needs a lot of help to get this program back to a national championship level/standard. He needs to bring in trusted and proven names that can help him. He needs guys that he can rely on. And the standards need to be set early and often.

Before the Clemson debacle — a word that has been used a lot in reference to this program lately — I had heard a number of rumors from sources about possible coaching changes, with one or two that seemed almost certain. On this site, we’ve been saying since the end of the season that changes are coming. I expected two on the defensive side and one on the offensive side. I still think that will happen and have heard more were possible. At this point, I’d almost be stunned if there weren’t more than just those initial three I heard about.

But again, it’s not about the number of changes. It’s about asking whether a particular coach is yielding the necessary results. In fact, at Oklahoma, perhaps there is a better way to judge success for an individual coach. Coach Switzer famously said, “People don’t know what it is to be champions. Oklahoma invented it.” If that quote is any indication of what the standard is at Oklahoma, then perhaps the question that has to be asked of each coach at OU isn’t whether they are yielding results, but instead is there anyone better?

Because if that is the case, then perhaps you aren’t meeting the standard set by the fans, alumni, boosters, students and citizens of the state.