Staff turnover makes Stoops' job tougher

Berry Tramel

Published: October 1, 2006

NORMAN — Barry Switzer coached 16 Oklahoma football seasons. He employed 18 full-time assistants on his staff.

Bob Stoops has coached eight Sooner football seasons. Stoops has employed 18 full-time assistants on his staff.

Staff turnover has hit Stoops hard. More remarkable coaching trivia from the two most recent Sooner reigns:

In 16 years, just two full-time Switzer assistants were hired away to be head coaches — Donnie Duncan by Iowa State in 1978 and Mack Brown by Tulane in 1984. In eight years, Stoops already has lost four assistants to the same, uh, honor — Mike Leach to Texas Tech in 1999, Mark Mangino to Kansas in 2001, Mike Stoops to Arizona in 2003 and Chuck Long to San Diego State in 2005.

If you never fully understood that can't-see-the-forest-for-the-trees wisdom, this is a perfect example. Sooner fans have analyzed each coaching departure. They largely lamented, and still do, Mike Stoops' exodus; they largely celebrated the bon voyages of Mangino and Long.

Those are the trees. The forest is all the coaching changes. It's not so much who Stoops is losing off his staff, but how many. It's the quantity as much as the quality.

Staff stability matters. Schools can retain their status with frequent turnover, but it's not easy. Nebraska under Tom Osborne. The Sooners under Switzer. Alabama under the Bear. All had consistency in their systems and their staffs.

Switzer had six assistants who coached at least 10 years for him, and if you count Warren Harper's final year as a volunteer, it's seven.

Switzer in 16 years had three defensive coordinators (Larry Lacewell for five years, Rex Norris for three, Gary Gibbs for eight) and three offensive coordinators (Galen Hall for 11 years, Mack Brown for one and Jim Donnan for four). Stoops has had two d-coordinators but is on his fourth offensive boss.

That has to hurt the product.

"I disagree," Stoops said. "I don't believe it has to. I believe players affect you more than staff ability."

Point well made. The Sooners miss Tommie Harris and Teddy Lehman more than they do Mike Stoops. Miss Josh Heupel and Jamaal Brown more than they do Mike Leach and Mark Mangino.

Another point is this: staff upheaval almost always means one of two things. Either you haven't won enough or you've won so much others are envious.

Stoops has not fired an assistant. Every former Stoops coach left for a better job. In addition to the head coaches, Jonathan Hayes, Steve Spurrier Jr., Darrell Wyatt and Jay Norvell left for NFL jobs, and Bo Pelini left to become defensive coordinator at LSU.

Sometimes change can be good. Texas football does not look back longingly for the days of Carl Reese defenses. Second-year UT coordinator Gene Chizik, 31-1 since the start of the 2004 season, is working out just fine, thank you.

Stoops himself has said new blood helps. But too much new blood can cause more problems than it cures.

Stoops has countered his turnover by always hiring coordinators from within. Mangino replaced Leach. Long replaced Mangino. Brent Venables replaced Mike Stoops. Kevin Wilson replaced Long. All had worked with and for the departing coordinator.

That's a winning way to go, and win the Sooners have.

"I have someone there that's been there helping 'em be coordinators and is in position to be the coordinator," Stoops said. "For the players, they don't feel like they're switching from one system to another system."

But few organizations can withstand constant raids on a staff. Just ask the New England football Patriots, whose Super Bowl success cost them both coordinators, Charlie Weis (Notre Dame) and Romeo Crennel (Cleveland Browns), and Crennel's successor, Eric Mangini, was whisked away after last season by the Jets despite no New England repeat.

OU's 2005 dip was not staff related, unless you can link it to recruiting. The Sooners ran short of stars. Too early to tell whether this OU squad will end, or extend, the slump.

But continued staff turnover will make Stoops' restoration job tougher. The Sooners pay their assistants very well and Stoops no doubt treats them well, but there always are greener pastures.