OSU staff turnover troubling
The Oklahoma State football staff upheaval can’t be a good thing for the Cowboys and can’t be pleasing to Boone Pickens, because it’s exactly what he didn’t want.
The Cowboys have lost defensive coordinator Tim Beckman (Toledo head coach), offensive assistants Trooper Taylor and Curtis Luper (Auburn assistants) and director of football operations Jimmy Gonzales (fired). Plus, offensive assistant Gunter Brewer has been reported to be interviewing at Minnesota U. for its offensive coordinator job.
Staff changeover is not a good thing for any program, and OSU recognizes that. Here’s a quote Boone Pickens gave me during football season:
“I think (Mike) Gundy’s done a good job. I told him, ‘I don’t want to lose any coaches off the staff, unless it’s either by Gundy’s determination or they went to a head job. That’s been exactly what’s happened. No lateral moves anywhere. They (in the past) came in for a cup of coffee. That doesn’t happen anymore.”
Except now it is. The departures of Beckman and Gonzales fit Pickens’ acceptability parameters, though staff firings always are troubling. But the losses of Taylor and Luper do not fit, and neither would the loss of Brewer.
Auburn ranks higher on the football food chain than does OSU, but Minnesota ranks below. And the whole reason Pickens got involved in money for football salaries was to keep the likes of Taylor and Luper from leaving Stillwater for a place like Auburn.
Yes, Auburn apparently upped the ante. OSU was paying well, over $200,000 a year for quality assistants, but that price tag has gone up as Auburn and Tennessee have revamped coaching staffs.
How much money is enough, Pickens must wonder. Pickens and Gundy and frankly everyone in college football. But that’s an abstract discussion. On the concrete level, OSU has lost the staff stability it correctly desired.
-------------Berry Tramel can be heard Monday through Friday from 4:40-5:20 p.m. on The Sports Animal radio network, including AM-640 and FM-98.1. You can e-mail him here and follow him on Twitter @BerryTramel. Visit Berry's website here.
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Comments
Berry: Follow the money trail. Brewer is definitely a surprise if he leaves. The rest of the coaches were asked to leave or left for the money trail.
If Gunter Brewer became OC at Minnesota, it would probably be a step up for him because he would probably call the plays there. It was sad to see Luper go to Auburn, but OSU was home for him because he’d played there and worked 4 years there. He wants to be an HC someday. He needed some good experience at another place to help that goal along and in that respect, Auburn was a good opportunity for him. Everyone has left for good career reasons. OSU’s recent success helped open the doors for them. The exception would be Trosper Taylor. I don’t wish him any ill, don’t know enough about him one way or the other, but the thing about co-offensive coordinator wasn’t what I think he really wanted and it would have been better if he’d just never come to OSU on those pretenses. I would say that hiring him was an HC and whoever else’s mistake. Maybe the HC should let the next OC be the OC, but Leach calls plays successfully at our hated rival Tech. As for DC, go find another Beckman. It’s no disgrace when they leave to become an HC.
Must be sad to be taking your directions from ole Boonie. When you get bought out, like Boonie has bought out OSU, you have sold your soul. Maybe the ones leaving aren’t in the soul-selling business. It will always be the same with ole Boonie calling the shots. It is no different than Jerry Jones in Dallas. No different at all.
Edbonoz: You mean sort of like that school in Norman “sold its soul” years and years ago to the Gaylords?? I hear they plan to rename it Gaylord U. That what you mean?
Bob, I’m sorry, how many times have we heard about the Gaylord’s being involved in making decisions that effect the football team? I don’t know of any times they have done that, in fact I remember that they specifically requested the name of the stadium not be changed but Boren did it anyway. The opposite is true in aggieland where Boone is basically running the show. You are comparing apples to oranges.
Haha! Haha! Gaylord U! That is great! I have never heard anything like that before…terrific stuff, I mean just terrific stuff. You should look into securing a job writing jokes for a television show.
t-boone if you want to be like the good old boy in Dallas or Oakland then purchase a NFL team.Everybody knows that money talks and all coaches are looking for advancement.
I wish Berry Tramel would find a higher paying job and leave the DOK, maybe they could actually replace him with someone that could be objective when it comes to all the colleges in Oklahoma. The articles he writes are mostly garbage and totally biased.
OU makes sure they pay Tramel well…so he can downplay anything that happens at OSU. The bad news is we have to read another anti-OSU story. Tramel, no one offering you more money than Gaylord U are they? The Gaylords have owned OU for 50 years. Makes you wonder how Bradford turned down a multi-million dollar contract to stay at OU. Hmmm let me read between the lines there.OU and the Gaylords have plenty of money at Gaylord OU. That didnt affect Bradford did it? There is your real story, many other news sources are questioning it.
Longivity at a place like OSU is hard to come by. Longivity at a university with a winning tradition is more the norm. OSU is and will probably always be a stepping stone on the way to a head coaching postition. All the money that Boone gives won’t change that, it can only help al little. Gundy did a good job finding and hiring good quality ass’t coaches, but he can’t keep them at OSU. Good coaches are in demand and want to be head coaches. OSU has to get used to it. There will always be upward mobility, unless they hire a poor quality coach. OSU’s history is as a school in the 40 to 70 range of D1 football programs. Boone is trying to improve that with money. It is yet to be seen if that will be done. The one constant is Gundy, and I think he is a pretty good coach.
Haven’t check into the Gaylord’s paper in a while until today. I’m glad to see that my decisionn to drop the paper was the correct one. Why is it that negativity sells in OK? Oh wait, it doesn’t. Revenue trails quality writing, objectivity, & fairness.
BTW thanks for the free check into your garbage.
Tramel is usually spot on with providing solid journalistic objectivity as he did here. It amazes me how much garbage comes out of the mouths of fellow okies who happen to cheer for a different U. How and why is it that the Sooners get dragged into a blog that started out to be total sincere concern about the pokes? BTW wake up and cherish the amazing donor you all have in TBP.
Things won’t change over night or even in the span of 2 years. OSU is headed in the right direction. I switched and started reading the Tulsa World a few months back because they give both schools equal pub. Wish I didn’t check out the DOK again. Berry will never write an article about OSU that is 100% positive. Even after a win, he will always point out something negative.
Boone Pickens help OSU big time, and now OSU is big time and other programs want the Cowboys crews. Every where coaches and assistants are playing music chairs, so for the sour grapes, busy body and people know don’t understand business go to college and get a education stop talking garbage.
Berry, what’s more troubling to me than the coaches leaving was the meltdown against Oregon. Certainly we lost some key recruiters and while I thought Beckman did a fine job I’m not certain OSU’s defense is still where it needs to be in terms of being able to shut down and stop an opponent. Part of the problem I think is certain coaches given too much responsibility while others weren’t given enough. You know when you get into titles like “co-offensive coordinator” it’s like “who’s the guy”. From that standpoint I can see where someone like Brewer would take a cut to be the guy! Money aside, I’m not sure Gundy has earned the respect of his coaches. A head coach must delegate first and foremost and for sure must give his defense as much attention as his offense. From a recruiting standpoint, I think Luper and Taylor see an opportunity to be able to recruit in their backyards rather than having to recruit nationally and mainly in Texas. Possibly they couldn’t see an opportunity to move up in their respective careers at OSU. Beckman, well almost any offensive coordinator or defensive coordinator is always looking for that next opportunity which in almost any teams coordinators usually jump at an opportunity to be a head coach somewhere. OU has had similar situations losing Leach, Mangino and Mike Stoops to head coaching positions. Others will follow. Right now is a good time to be at OU but that won’t always be the case. They’ll soon have more turnover in their coaching staff. I think if I were Gundy though I would turn over the offensive coordinator helm to Brewer and go back to being a head coach. The biggest part of being a head coach is earning the respect of your coaches and players, and you can’t always get that done with money! Ask Jerry Jones!
I’d like to comment further if you wouldn’t mind. You know a lot has been made of the Big XII’s high potent offenses. I think we see in the case of both OU and OSU’s bowl bids that the Big XII is losing it’s edge as a hard nosed football conference and are not as physical as teams from the past. I liken OU and OSU to the days when Brigham Young would win ten or eleven games a year but were handily blown out in bowl games due to a lack of a physical presence especially on the defensive side of the ball. This flag football routine is not that new and it produces a lot of points against inferior defenses, but put them up against the good defenses and they fail miserably. Case in point, T-Tech, OU and OSU had probably the three most potent offenses in the Big XII. All three lost their bowl bids. Texas on the other hand is pretty formidable on the defensive front even if their secondary is sometimes suspect. Tebow doesn’t run on Texas like he did OU. Florida-Texas, I believe Texas wins. Bradford is a much better passer than Tebow, but Tebow more the competitor and complete player. Tebow may not QB in the NFL, but believe me, he will play and excel in the NFL possibly as a receiver, fullback or slotback. Bradford on the other hand will still have to work on his arm strength if he’s to QB in the NFL. Robinson won’t play QB in the NFL, probably won’t make an NFL roster, but is an exceptional college QB with his dual run pass threat and heady decision making.
One more suggestion. I’d really like to see them bring back Bill Young from Miami to be OSU’s DC. He’s one of our own and proved at Kansas that he’s a tremendous DC. I know he doesn’t fit Mike Gundy’s role model as a young firey coach who fits into the fold, but he is a seasoned veteran which I think OSU needs more experienced coaches with track records supporting successful resumes.
OSU sure let a good coach get away when Vance Bedford was made a scapegoat by Gundy. Ask OU how good of coach he is.
One point I think Berry missed is that Gundy’s increased involvement in the offense had to have affected the decisions of the offensive coaches to leave. There’s a reason some coaching staffs have little turnover and other staffs have much turnover: responsibilities are understood and respected in some places and not in others.
I will say this though! One thing is for certain, given OU’s lack of success in recent years in bowl games don’t look for OU to earn the BCS spot over Texas if similar circumstances arise like this past season. OU will have to beat Texas head up next year to even be considered for another shot at a national title. That will be a tall order in and of itself with McCoy coming back for his senior year and virtually his entire supporting cast back as well. You don’t just replace guys like Loadholdt and Robinson on the offensive line overnight. Bradford will be running for his life next season.
Your math is wrong. If we go to the cotton bowl it would be 3 games at jerry’s world and 1 at the cotton bowl. Also, in an earlier post you asked for feedback on the cotton bowl renovations. we sat in the section adjacent to the tunnel. great seats, but all we could see was a scoreboard in the other endzone with score, game time, and time outs left. No view of the jumbotron, no info on down and distance, etc. AND no speakers to hear the public address announcer!! totally in the dark.
Berry:
I think you are correct to be troubled, but one has to also realize I think Taylor just took the job because he needed one and was looking to return to the SEC even it was Vandy. When Cutcliffe left for the Duke job, Taylor was the odd guy out when Sanders was elevated to OC. He left out of hurt pride. Now, he gets a lot of money being thrown around by Chizik in big part because the folks at Auburn are very restless about his selection and the main big donor, like T. Boone at Auburn, the CEO of Colonial Bank, not only did not like Tuberville, but wanted to hand pick the HFC. Auburn is taking a perceived beating in recruiting from Saban and Chizik was told he best hire some folks who could recruit ‘the Auburn way’….read into that a lot of money on the side. Alabama has nothing on Auburn, Auburn’s dirty money is handled by professional money launderers. Taylor was rumored for a long time to take short cuts in recruiting. Frankly, I think it best he migrated from OSU.