OU Football 2013 | Potential Replacements For Jackie Shipp

While the assumption for a couple days has been that Bill Bedenbaugh will eventually be announced as Oklahoma's new offensive line coach even though there have been some delays in that announcement taking place. However, so far there hasn't been much talk about who could potentially replace the recently departed Jackie Shipp.

Most of the talk has been from the fans and searching for the most likely candidates, primarily due to previous relationships with Bob and/or Mike Stoops. We as Oklahoma football fans have so rarely had the chance to be in this kind of situation, it really is easy to get caught up in the hype of things. On any given message board, someone can throw out a name, even for no particular reason, and then suddenly the Internet does what it does and said name is spreading like wildfire. To be fair, at this point it's probably fair to say, within reason, that almost anyone could be a potential candidate especially given how little has leaked out of the Switzer Center regarding possible candidates.

However, we figured why not put a list together of our own so here are a list of possible candidates Oklahoma could consider.

Mike Tuiasosopo (Coaching Bio) - Tuiasosopo was most recently a member of the Colorado coaching staff, but was let go when the Buffs transitioned from Jon Embree to Mike MacIntyre. He was also formerly a member of Mike Stoops' staff at Arizona, so he would certainly fit the profile of a likely candidate given Bob's track record of hiring those he (or his staff) is familiar with.

Calvin Thibodeaux (Coaching Bio) - Thibodeaux is a former Oklahoma player and a current member of the Tulsa coaching staff. He is young and only just completed his first year as a coach at the D-I level. He would certainly bring credibility as a former player and could inject some much needed youth and enthusiasm into a staff desperate for both. There are some who believe he may not quite be ready for a job of this prominence, but if either Stoops is willing to take a chance on a young up-and-comer you'd have to think a former OU player would be the most likely candidate.

Jim Jeffcoat (Coaching Bio) - Jeffcoat only somewhat recently joined the staff at Colorado, so making another quick jump may be asking too much. He's a former NFL player which would certainly be a plus and he's coached at both Houston and San Jose State prior to following MacIntyre to Boulder. If memory serves, there was talk of Jeffcoat possibly joining the OU staff a year or two ago so there could be some familiarity there between he and Bob if those talks did in fact happen.

Bryant Young (Coaching Bio) - That name may sound familiar as Young and a pretty prominent career in the NFL with the San Francisco 49ers. Young is currently a member of Will Muschamp's staff down at Florida and believed to be a potential coaching star in the making. Admittedly, this appears to be one of those names I was referring to early where it started on a message board somewhere and OU fans latched onto it. No clue if there would be any interest on his part in coming to Oklahoma, but on paper alone it looks like it would be a home run hire.

Joe Salave'a (Coaching Bio) - Salave'a is a current member of Mike Leach's staff at Washington State, but like Tuiasosopo also coached with Mike Stoops at Arizona. Another guy who would bring NFL experience (he played nine years in the league) as well as someone Mike would be familiar with.

Tuiasosopo and Thibodeaux are really the two most talked about names at the moment, but that's really only from a 'makes the most sense' perspective. There has been almost zero information coming from Stoops or anyone close to the program on this current opening or the possible candidates who could fill it.

Once that changes we'll be sure to bring you any and everything we hear, but for now what are your thoughts on those listed above? As an Oklahoma fan, would any of those names excite you as a new addition to the OU staff?