Oklahoma football: Sooners a champion of hiring former players as assistants

It is not all that uncommon for teams to hire alumni as assistants, but Oklahoma football is one of the schools leading the way in this endeavor.

Oklahoma currently has five assistant coaches who were former Sooner players: inside receivers coach Cale Gundy, tight ends coach Joe Jon Finley, running backs coach DeMarco Murray, inside linebackers coach Brian Odom and defensive line coach Calvin Thibodeaux.

From 2006 to 2014, Josh Heupel, who was the quarterback of the 2000 OU national championship team, served as quarterbacks coach and for five seasons as offensive coordinator.

With five former Sooners on the coaching staff, Oklahoma leads the Big 12 in that category. TCU is the next closest with four. No other Big 12 school has more than two former players on its staff, and Kansas has no former Jayhawk players on the coaching staff.

Ryan Aber, who covers the Oklahoma sports beat for The (Oklahoma City) Oklahoman, looked into this subject on a national scale. Clemson was the closest major program he could find with a situation comparable to Oklahoma’s. Dabo Swinney has four former Clemson Tigers on his staff.

You might be surprised to learn that five is not the largest number of former players on an Oklahoma football coaching staff. According to OU football historian Mike Brooks, Gomer Jones’ coaching staff in 1964 and 1965 included eight assistants who had played for Oklahoma.

When Jones stepped down after the 1965 season, Jim Mackenzie came in and replaced the entire staff. None of the new hires were former Sooners.

Of the five former OU players on Riley’s staff currently, four (Thibodeauz, Odom, Murray and Finley) played for Bob Stoops. Gundy was the OU QB in the early 1990s and played for Gary Gibbs. His brother, Mike, is the head coach at Oklahoma State.

Three former Sooners — Ty Darlington, Erick Wren and Will Johnson — are currently working with the football program as graduate assistants.