Heupel Should Be Offensive Coordinator
by dishingoutdimes on Dec 8, 2010 10:07 PM CST
in Oklahoma Sooners Football
Email
Print
This article is not meant as a slight to Jay Norvell, who is the wide receivers coach and also held the title of "Assistant Offensive Coordinator" while Kevin Wilson was still at OU.
I am advocating that we need to give Heupel the promotion because he is extremely talented at what he does, he's smart, he deserves a promotion, and if we don't give him that soon - someone else will.
According to Bob Stoops, we should know about the coaching decision soon:
"In a statement Tuesday, Stoops said he will address later this week or early next week what the coaching arrangement will be for the bowl game and the process for filling Wilson's position."
Personally, I don't think that Bob is going to commit to an offensive coordinator for next year when we haven't even hit New Years yet. I think his strategy will be to just name a stand in "offensive coordinator" for the Fiesta Bowl. It might be sort of a trial run, but I think it will indicate who has a leg up in the race. I just hope he doesn't name Heupel and Norvell "co-Offensive Coordinators" and let them split playcalling duty. Mixing and matching stuff like that never seems to work, and the units invariably come out flat and uninspired.
The popular argument would be that Heupel is a Sooner through-and-through and thus is unlikely to bolt for another destination. However, the possibility of him leaving seems to have already been entertained:
"Heupel, who quarterbacked the Sooners to the national championship in 2000, has been a rising star in the coaching world ever since. Heupel reportedly interviewed for the offensive coordinator job at Minnesota back in January, and has aspirations of being a play-caller."
I'm aware you could make a similar argument for Norvell after he recruited Stills and Franks, and he managed to coach Broyles to be one of the top receivers in college football. The problem is that Norvell has already been tested as an offensive coordinator with mixed results. Let me put it another way - another team is far more likely to pick off Heupel than they are Norvell. I happen to think that Heupel is too much of an asset to let that happen.
What do you think?
32 comments
|
0 recs |
Do you like this story?
Comments
Agreed...
Nothing at all against Norvell. Heupel has a great history with the team. He has coached some of the most productive QBs the game has seen over the last few years. And, frankly, if he doesn’t move up soon he’ll move on. I’d hate to see that happen given his pedigree.
Stoops is a loyal guy. Given his past with Heupel and his history of promoting from within I see him giving him a shot. And I’d be behind that call 100%. Heupel’s a great coach and he has a lot of upside. I say give him the job and see what he can do. With some new playcalling from a great coach and the terrific talent, both already there and coming in, we could see our Sooners doing some great things over the next few seasons.
Sounds About Right
I’m comfortable trying the co-coorindator thing, but if you they don’t think it’d be a happy marriage, then giving it to Heupel over guys with more experience is a gamble, but it’s what I would do in Oklahoma’s position. It could be a tough job to take as your first OC position, but if Heupel felt like he was ready and wanted to try it, I’d be comfortable giving him the keys to the offense. Football fans have seen Heupel in a lot of roles over the last decade and he has excelled in every one. He was such a good QB, with such an average arm, that it didn’t take careful observer of the game to see someone with a future in coaching.
I’d also agree that would be no slight to Norvell at all. The upside of Heupel is just ultimately higher and if he catches fire somewhere else, you may never be able to bring him back. I don’t think it would be easy to replace Norvell either, and I’m fine with co-coordinators, but if I had to choose between the two I’d give it to Heupel.
I agree, no slight at Norvell to see Heupel get the job.
We have to get in the mindset of who do we want the keys to go to with players such as Trey Millard, Landry Jones, Roy Finch, Brandon Williams, Kenny Stills, Trey Franks, Trey Metoyer, and possibly Ryan Broyles. As far as I have heard, Norvell, at his previous OC jobs, was not given full reigns of the offense and was often not able to even give input. How accurate this information is, I don’t know. But the fact is Norvell has 7 years of OC experience to Heupel’s 0 years of experience. I was talking with another poster here in a thread about coaches earlier. We came to the agreement that OU is willing to higher unproven coaches such as Stoops and Capel, but the outcome has been a complete opposite between the two (Stoops excelled and Capel is below par). If it were up to me, I keep Heupel on the coaching staff purely based on potential, but give him 2-3 more years before handing the reigns over to him as OC.
Personal Foul
Maybe it’s best to get Norvell off the sidelines so he doesn’t cost us more personal foul penalties.
My greatest fear in life is that no one will remember me after I'm dead -some dead guy
if I remember wan't it onlyone penalty?
the penalty show that Norvell has some fire in him and he can get someones attention. Hopefully he gets the players attention and not the zebras.
As long as we win
"In high school they called me the Diesel because I used to run people over. Diesel is like the king of the road. If my football career does not work out, maybe I will be a Diesel model. I have a couple pairs of their shoes." -Adrian Peterson
by OUPest on Dec 9, 2010 8:21 AM CST via mobile up reply actions
settle down man!
I am a coach too(3rd grade) so I would have been just as mad as he was with the way that DB came in and speared the WR that was trying to recover the fumble…He was acting like a man that did not want to see one of his kids get hurt. I did not fault him one bit over that.
I'm torn...
I like the idea of promoting from within (especially since he’s a legendary alum), but it just feels too soon to hand the entire offense over to Coach Heup…Maybe in a few years, but even then I think I’d feel better if he cut his teeth as an OC somewhere else and proved himself first, then came back to the OC job at OU. Just because you can drive well doesn’t mean you’re ready to race Ferraris.
I wouldn't want him taking his first OC job somewhere else
except for his being on the younger side of things I have a real good feeling that Josh could indeed handle the job.
You may be right.
I already feel better about it, now that it’s official.
by Uncle Earmuffs on Dec 14, 2010 10:40 AM CST up reply actions
Vote for Josh!
He knows this offense as well as anyone. He was clutch as a player, I think he is ready for the job.
Do you know where you're at and who I am?
just a thought
as I have been reading since the departure of KW, there is more to the oc job than just calling plays. WR coaches do NOT get offered head coaching jobs, nor do quarterback coaches.
Make Norvell the oc – left heupel call the plays; in a year or two, norvell gets a head coaching job and heupel has two years of experience calling plays that he does NOT have now. both get a bump in pay with new responsibilities.
If it comes down to losing one, sorry Norvell, but bye bye – KEEP huepel
Team FIRST, Effort SECOND, Talent THIRD, Selfish NEVER
So if you want Heupel
To call the plays, why not just make him the offensive coordinator then?
"I don't like Texas. I don't like the city of Austin. And I don't like the color orange. It reminds me of puke." The Boz
let me repeat
there is MORE to being the offensive coordinator than calling plays
Team FIRST, Effort SECOND, Talent THIRD, Selfish NEVER
Given Norvells track record I say "no"
Plus it’s not like he’s done a bang up job, who was responsible for the crap thrown out last yr at WR. And who is responsible for the misuse of Dajuan Miller??
by OU JJ on Dec 9, 2010 11:57 AM CST via mobile reply actions
I don't know
It’s pretty hard to argue w/ the player that Ryan Broyles has become under him, or sticking with Cam Kenney (kind of paid off lately), or his ability to get Kenny Stills and Trey Franks into Norman, or his lead role in soon to be Sooner Trey Metyeor.
"I don't like Texas. I don't like the city of Austin. And I don't like the color orange. It reminds me of puke." The Boz
& Broyles was on campus with Sumlin was he not?
If Norvell recruited those guys specifically than ok, but I understood there to be contact with the position coach but not necessarily the one recruiting them per se. I could be wrong. I am just saying last years WR couldnt catch a ball. Compare those to WR coached by SSjr his first couple of years, or Sumlins WR….there is play calling & there is coaching & they are not necessarily interchangeable.
question
how does his ability to coach up broyles and recruit stills, franks and metyeor qualify him to be the OFFENSIVE COORDINATOR?
Team FIRST, Effort SECOND, Talent THIRD, Selfish NEVER
That wouldn't fall under your "other stuff" that OC's are responsible for?
"I don't like Texas. I don't like the city of Austin. And I don't like the color orange. It reminds me of puke." The Boz
possibly
but if recruiting prowess qualifies norvell to be the oc, why not consider gundy, or for that matter let venables be the oc and dc as he’s arguably the best recruiter on the staff; i have no problem with your choice for oc, but that doesn’t make my opinion any less valid. Just for curiosity sake, can you name ONE oc that is also the recruiting coordinator?
Team FIRST, Effort SECOND, Talent THIRD, Selfish NEVER
here's the deal with Broyles
Broyles would be a stand out under any offense that threw the ball in his direction and Broyles would be a star even if you or I coached him. The kid came in his freshman year with plenty of talent and he still has the talent and ‘IT’ factor. The kid knew how to play football really well before he came to OU.
If it comes down to those two
I say let Heupel run the show. I think he has more upside.
That being said, I’m more interested in bringing in some new blood and fresh ideas from the outside. To me, promoting from within is like the football version of inbreeding. It only works for so long before the ideas get stale and you go retarded (no offense intended to anyone, just a statement in fact).
by SCKSChief on Dec 9, 2010 12:23 PM CST reply actions 1 recs
I totally agree on all this
and better written than I could have done too.
rec’d
Colorado Rockies correspondent at My Team Rivals (www.mtrmedia.com/rockies) and my own site Rockies Reporter (www.rockiesreporter.wordpress.com)
+1
"I don't like Texas. I don't like the city of Austin. And I don't like the color orange. It reminds me of puke." The Boz
My concern
with new blood is that we are set up for a championship run next year. If we get new blood do we stifle ourselves because our players are learning a new system? I guess we could circumvent such a scenario by bringing in an OC with a similar system to KW’s.
I don't think so
Not with all the spring ball and everything else they now have that they didn’t used to. Spring ball is the place where you iron out the issues that arise with terminology and stuff like that. After all, KW basically started a NEW offense three seasons ago when we went to this “go fast” offense. It was crap at the beginning, but I think it has worked out alright.
Very torn
I love Heupel, and my hope would be that his move to OC would be part of a grooming for an eventual setup like Muschamp-Brown at UT. Even back when he was a player, knowing how much he wanted to coach, and seeing how hard he worked and how football-smart he is, I thought it would be awesome if he would one day come back to OU as head coach. Keeping him here and moving him up would be great toward that eventual goal. I know, I know…Stoops could be here another 10 years. He’s building a HUGE house in NW Norman (I’ve seen it and “HUGE” doesn’t even begin to describe it)…his kids are young and they’re settled now. But he also could stick around a couple more years and decide it’s time to go, while he’s still on top and has time to devote to his family. Who knows?
On the other hand, I like SCKSChief’s idea about bringing someone in from the outside. I think some new offensive blood would be helpful…and Stoops has proven over the years that he has a good eye for coaches.
Splitting time
I think having them as co-coordinators, would be a good deal. Bringing in somebody that has not been here is just going to cause problems. Let them share time and we’ll be just fine. Plus with having 2 guys calling the shots will give the defensive coordinators fits trying to figure out what we’re going to do next. Each guy can bring his own flavor into the mix and we’ll never have the predictability issues we’ve had before. Chew on that for a minute…
I think in theory most agree with you
The problem is if you get to the “too many cooks in the kitchen” issue
"I don't like Texas. I don't like the city of Austin. And I don't like the color orange. It reminds me of puke." The Boz
Comments For This Post Are Closed
Secondary Sidebar
User Tools
FanPosts
Community blog posts and discussion.
