After having a few days to absorb the departure of The King of Big 12 Coaching from the Oklahoma football program, one thought inside my head seems to be more prevalent than any other.
The Sooners might be in deep poop.
Oh, I'm sure that a large portion of the Oklahoma fan base is incredibly excited about the rise of Lincoln Riley, mostly because young love is the best love. With the exit of Bob Stoops and the insertion of Riley into the top job in the entire state of Oklahoma, the Sooners have traded in "Old Reliable" for a younger, sexier model.
Yet, younger and sexier doesn't automatically translate into better. Sometimes it's ... dare I say ... not even close.
Just ask Texas fans.
When Will Muschamp was named Texas' head-coach-in-waiting back in 2008, the feeling in Austin was that the Longhorns had locked up the single-best young head coaching property on the market and when he left for Florida following the 2010 season, much angst was felt.
Yet, it didn't take very long for Muschamp to prove at Florida that he almost certainly wasn't the right man for the job in Austin.
Major Applewhite is another guy who was considered to be potential head-coaching gold when he returned to Austin from a trio of outposts in 2008, but it took nearly a decade before he eventually received a head coaching shot and there's still zero proof that it's a position in which he's ready to succeed.
All you can do right now with Applewhite is guess because there's just not any kind of track record to lean on and with all due respect to Riley, the same is true of him.
Yes, the Oklahoma administration is in love with him and his work as the offensive coordinator in Norman is to be commended, but let's keep it real. He's coached all of two seasons of major college football since his work at Texas Tech as an inside receivers coach in 2009.
Other than interest from Houston this year when Tom Herman took the head coaching job in Austin and an interview with North Texas, we're talking about a guy who hasn't really come within a 100-foot pole of a big-time head coaching gig and the Sooners just turned over the keys to one of college football's top programs to him.
It's like a 16-year-old getting his driver's permit and his parents deciding to give him a Porsche for his first car. I suppose he might be the best driver in the world, but isn't it more likely he'll crash the car in less than a month?
Make no mistake about it, this is a significant risk for UT's No. 1 rival and if Joe Castiglione ends up getting this wrong, it will set the Sooners back for the rest of this decade.
Yes, Stoops was himself a coordinator back in 1999 when he took the job in Norman, so I'm not suggesting that it's not possible to catch lightning in a bottle. I'm observing that the odds suggest catching lightning in a bottle twice in a row is unlikely. I'm observing that a job like Oklahoma, which has been the No. 1 program in the Big 12 for nearly the last two decades, is too big to give to someone who has to approach the job the same way Shane Buechele approached playing quarterback last season.
Every time something happens this season, it'll be the first time Riley will have approached that situation, whether we're talking about his first game, his first road game, his first Texas-OU game or his first player arrest involving domestic abuse.
If you're Oklahoma, you can't guess, you have to know. Anyone who tells you that they know how this will turn out is a liar.
A look at recent college football history shows that this will likely give Oklahoma a boost in recruiting in the short-term, but that something entirely different might await the program in the long-term.
Keep your shovels handy, Sooners. It might not take long before they're needed.
No. 2 – For the record …
My guess is that many Oklahoma fans will scream bloody murder at the thought of Riley being labeled as a major question mark by the publisher of Orangebloods and that at least three dozen Sooners will flood my Twitter mentions with comments about "the worm turning."
For those that don't know or remember,
I wrote a column back on 9/10/09 that detailed how the Longhorns had flipped roles with the Sooners over the course of the 12 months that led to Oklahoma losing to BYU in the season-opener of the 2009 season. If it's been too long for you to recall what the world looked like in the aftermath of that loss to BYU, I'll let the words of former OU offensive coordinator Kevin Wilson remind you of the vibe that existed.
"It was a total morgue," Wilson told the Oklahoma media a couple of days removed from the loss. "It was a concern. I was a cheerleader for 10 minutes: 'We're winning. Open your eyes. Get a little spunk here. Let's go! This is why we practice hard, for great games. Let's go!’"
* A month later, the Longhorns won for the fourth time in five years against Stoops and Co.
* Three months later, the Longhorns won the Big 12 title with a perfect season, while the Sooners fell into the land of the unranked.
* A month later, the Longhorns played for a national title.
* A month following the national title game, Texas signed a higher-rated recruiting class on the national level for the fourth time in five years.
I realize that the state of Oklahoma is one of the worst states in our nation when it comes to education, so I'll help spell it out for them ... all those things above ... this is what the worm turning looks like.
The problem for Texas is that after the worm turned, it jumped into a bottle of Tito's and drowned itself for the next seven seasons. I would suggest that the worm turned back over again, but that's not exactly what happened. The burnt orange worm overdosed. No question about it.
However, to suggest that the worm never turned means that you have to ignore all of the context of what was written, when it was written and what happened in the first 12 months after it was written.
No. 3 – Biggest takeaways from the Rivals Challenge ...
These are the things that stood out from the Rivals Challenge in Indianapolis this weekend:
a. Houston Lamar defensive back D'Shawn Jamison is an absolute must-have. While his teammate Anthony Cook receives all the glory at Lamar High these days, Jamison doesn't take a back seat to anyone and he proved that this weekend by taking home DB MVP honors among a stacked set of national prospects that worked out in Indy.
b. Top UT wide receiver target Brennan Eagles solidified his position as one of the top must-haves of any prospect in the state. Running a 4.590 laser-timed 40-yard dash is no joke. In fact, when you consider his size and frame, his time deserves a "wow."
c. You can make a case that Louisiana star OL Kardell Thomas might be the most important out-of-state prospect in the entire 2019 class for the Longhorns. His 24 reps of 225 pounds on the bench press is pretty damn unheard of for a high school junior.
He good.
d. Might be time for Texas to offer Houston Lamar defensive tackle Josh Landry.
e. I'm a huge fan of Leon O'Neal, but you can't run in the 4.9s and rank as a national top 50-75 prospect. A clear line between O'Neal and other in-state safeties B.J. Foster and Caden Sterns was created this weekend.
No. 4 – In case you missed it ...
Texas assistant coaches Stan Drayton and Drew Mehringer engaged in a 45-mile bike ride this weekend, and the top running back prospect on the Texas 2019 recruiting board took notice.
No. 5 – The machine rolls on …
Speaking of what's taking place on social media, What the Texas football program continues to do in the medium is next level.
Here's one of the latest videos, which spotlights junior defensive back Kris Boyd.
No. 6 – Buy or sell …
BUY or SELL: When we eventually find out the real reason Stoops abruptly retired it's something that tarnishes his legacy?
(Sell) The guy was an enabler of abusers of women. His legacy has been tarnished for a while.
BUY or SELL: The lack of big time players in the trenches ends up keeping the Longhorns from winning a NC in the next five years?
(Sell) The program is nowhere near the kind of position where it can point to one area of the team and suggest that it's the thing that will keep Texas from winning a national title. Winning national titles is much more difficult process than many Texas fans want to acknowledge. Hell, the first thing that needs to happen is finding a quarterback who can rank in the top 25 nationally because nothing is happening on a national level until that occurs and once it does occur, I'm guessing the offensive line play will look better by default.
BUY or SELL: We beat USC?
(Sell) The good news is that Tom Herman gets his teams ready for big games. The bad news is that USC is better than Texas at just about every position on the field on paper, and that includes a monumental advantage at quarterback.
BUY or SELL: At least 20 percent of Herman's recruiting success so far can be attributed to the team's social media presence?
(Buy) Yes, the social media presence is that important.
BUY or SELL: Tom equals Mack's total conference championships within the next five years?
(Buy) The departure of Bob Stoops has opened that door wide open.
BUY or SELL: My hope is Texas to the SEC, buy or sell that Texas admin/Belmont will actually consider that as a landing spot?
(Sell) I can't find a single person that matters at Texas that sees the SEC as a viable option. The Big 10 is the favorite if the Big 12 eventually collapses.
BUY or SELL: Texas has a chance to land Jamison, Green and Cook in this class?
(Buy) Absolutely. We're talking about one of the best DB classes in the history of the program, potentially.
BUY or SELL: Farrah > Bo Derek?
(Buy) And it's not even close ...
No. 7 – Something that occurred to me over the weekend …
With a 1.15 ERA in 31.3 IP (57K/13BB), Corey Knebel has emerged as the best former Texas player in Major League Baseball this season.
The next closest is likely Brandon Belt, who was batting .237 with 11 home runs entering Sunday.
Kind of shocking.
No. 8 – Kevin Durant's place in NBA history ...
Earlier in the week, I was having a conversation on Orangebloods Radio with Tony Jones of the Salt Lake Tribune and he observed that in his estimation, Kevin Durant was quickly climbing the ladder of among all-time greats as perhaps the greatest pure scorer in the history of the game and perhaps the second-best player of his generation.
In fact, Jones, who I view as one of the best reporters covering the NBA today, mentioned that he believed that Durant has emerged as a better player than Larry Bird. Understand that he wasn't saying that Durant's resume is better than Bird's, just that he believes Durant is a better player.
I'll admit, my jaw kind of dropped a little (or a lot) because Bird is one of the guys that I view as one of the top 10 players we've ever seen play basketball.
So, I started to think about it a little ... what does the conversation look like? Without Durant in the picture, what does the top five look like?
1. LeBron James: 27.1 points, 7.3 rebounds, 7.0 assists, 50.1/34.2/74.0 splits, 205.4 win shares, 27.0 PER, 3 rings, 4 MVPs and 11X first-team All-NBA
2. Larry Bird: 24.3 points, 10.0 rebounds, 6.3 assists, 49.6/37.6/88.6 splits, 145.8 win shares, 23.5 PER, 3 rings, 3 MVPs and 9X first-team All-NBA
3. Julius Erving: 24.2 points, 8.5 rebounds, 4.2 assists, 50.6/29.8/77.7 splits, 181.1 win shares, 23.6 PER, 1 ring, 1 MVP and 5X first-team All-NBA
Let's just stop there because those three represent the holy trinity of small forwards, with all due respect to the likes of Elgin Baylor, Rick Berry, etc..
Let's assume for the sake of conversation that the Warriors win the NBA title this week and Durant takes home MVP honors, which he is favored to do.
Here's what his resume looks like: 27.2 points, 7.2 rebounds, 3.8 assists, 48.8/37.9/88.2 splits, 119.8 win shares, 25.2 PER, 1 ring, 1 MVP and 5X first-team All-NBA.
While Durant still has some resume building to do, there's no getting around the fact that he's in the conversation right now as the second-greatest small forward. While Bird was a better rebounder and creator for others, Durant is a seven-foot scoring machine the likes the league has never seen before and he's emerged as an defender/rim protector in the last few years, an area that you could argue that he surpasses Bird and Erving in.
You can argue that Durant hasn't surpassed any of the top three at this point, but at the age of 29, he's knocking on the door and it's safe to him in the Top 20 of all-time players at this moment.
No. 9 – Eternal Randomness of the Spotty Sports Mind …
... I have to believe the Warriors are going to respond to what happened in game four in a big way in game five.
... In honor of Rafa Nadal's 10th French Open Championship, I am paying homage today by picking all wedgies for the next 24 hours.
... New England's new Super Bowl ring has 283 diamonds in it ... yanno ... because 28-3. Man, can you imagine the haunting regret for every member of the Falcons that is never able to return to the Super Bowl in an effort to rectify history?
... Vegas has the Patriots/Cowboys as the most likely Super Bowl this year. You'll forgive me if I don't have real hesitation for one of those two teams.
... Watch out, Mickey Mantle, the kid is coming for you.
... Pretty sure I don't want to see James Rodriquez at Chelsea.
... It's Happening!
No. 10 – And finally …
I haven't been to the movies in a good while.
Fill in the blank for me... the summer movie I HAVE to see is _______.
Stargazing: Ranking the Top-8 wide receiving corps in college football
