Happy Tuesday, friends and fans!

The Oklahoma Sooners have hired Joe Jon Finley — the former OU TE who lettered from ‘04 to ‘07 — to coach tight ends and H-backs. He makes his return to Norman after last serving on the staff as a graduate assistant in 2013.

Before he kicked off his career as a coach, Finley spent fives seasons in the NFL, making three stops with the San Francisco 49ers, Detroit Lions and Carolina Panthers.

After he hung up the pads for good, Finley put on a headset and took on his first major collegiate coaching role with the Baylor Bears as an offensive quality control coach in 2015. The following three seasons, he manned the tight ends department for the Missouri Tigers, then he did the same with the Texas A&M Aggies in 2019. He was last with Ole Miss, where he doubled as the team’s TEs coach as well as its passing game coordinator.

With the departure of Shane Beamer to South Carolina, OU needed a strong hire to replace the years of success at this key position group in Lincoln Riley’s offense. The 35-year-old Finley may be young, but he has a promising resume. Also, he now joins Cale Gundy, Calvin Thibodeaux, Brian Odom and DeMarco Murray as former Sooner players on today’s coaching staff at Oklahoma.

Now onto today’s Hot Links! OU basketball is back in action tonight, a young Sooner receiver garners high expectations going into his sophomore season, a highly talented running back has entered the transfer portal and more!

OU Links

• If you were worried about the QB depth chart at Oklahoma after the departures of both Tanner Mordecai and Chandler Morris, then have no fear, Micah Bowens is here. The former-three-star dual-threat spent one season at Penn State before announcing his decision to transfer to OU. Our Kamiar Mehrabian will have a bit more on this in a later post.

• Make sure you check out the Oklahoma hoops action that tips-off tonight at 5:30 p.m. CT on FSOK. The Sooners are playing host to Lon Kruger’s alma mater — the Kansas State Wildcats. Considering the struggles KSU has had this season, this is a prime opportunity for OU to improve upon its already respectable NCAA Tournament resume.

• Speaking of men’s basketball, the Tulsa World’s Eric Bailey pondered how senior guard Austin Reaves could become the first Sooner to record a triple-double since Terry Evans did so in 1993.
• Fresh off his true freshman season, WR Marvin Mims was recently named to ESPN’s ‘Way-Too-Early’ 2021 All-America team.
• In case you missed it, Oklahoma officially added former Tennessee Volunteers offensive tackle Wayna Morris via the NCAA Transfer Portal on Monday after the highly-touted lineman spent his first two collegiate seasons in Knoxville.

Around the Sports World

• The New York Mets have fired general manager Jared Porter after it was discovered that he had sent a series of unsolicited, sexually explicit text messages to a female reporter in 2016.
• Michigan Wolverines RB Zach Charbonnet has entered the NCAA Transfer Portal after spending two seasons in Ann Arbor. In total, the talented back recorded 850 rushing yards and 12 touchdowns on 168 carries.
• Portland Trail Blazers guard CJ McCollum has been diagnosed with a hairline fracture in his left foot he suffered in a win over the Atlanta Hawks. He will reportedly be sidelined for the next four weeks.
• Baltimore Ravens RB and 2009 Heisman Trophy winner Mark Ingram II has been released after two seasons with the team.
• Former NBA guard Delonte West has reportedly accepted a job working at the same Florida rehabilitation facility he was admitted to in 2020 to overcome his struggles with substance abuse.

Follow Crimson & Cream Machine on Twitter!