I was finishing lunch with a friend last Wednesday at Albert G’s when a man stopped by the table.
“You’re the newspaper writer who played for the Whippets, aren’t you?” he said. “I was on an old rival of yours. The Panthers. We played you Saturday mornings down at Boulder Park.”
What a rush. The Whippets vs. the Panthers. Jules Emig’s north siders vs. Tom Bray’s southies as soccer exploded across Tulsa in the late 70s.
“The Green Country Soccer Association,” my man said. “Remember those patches on our jerseys?”
Yup. And cleat checks before games, orange slices at halftime and Kurtis Blow on the boom box in the car ride home.
What do the kids say today? “Game recognizes game.”
Pretty cool that the Panthers and Whippets still recognize each other all these years later.
Now you know my highlight from last week. As for others ...
This made me think
Last December after Oklahoma State defensive coordinator Jim Knowles left for Ohio State, Mike Gundy explained: “We offered him the highest package that anybody’s ever had around here, and we got outbid considerably. We have a limitation here to a certain extent to keep everybody kind of tied into the same salary scale.”
Knowles made $800,000 while coaching OSU’s defense to new heights last season. The Cowboys reportedly were willing to raise him to $1.3 million annually.
Instead, Knowles accepted Ohio State’s $1.9 million offer, a bump from the $1.4 million previous Buckeyes defensive coordinator Kerry Coombs received.
OSU replaced Knowles with Auburn defensive coordinator Derek Mason and will pay him $1.1 million next season.
It’s a lesson in Econ 101, college football style.
And now it comes with Ohio State’s side of the story.
“From the middle of last year all the way to after that ‘team up north’ (Michigan) game, (Ryan Day) and I had consistent conversations about ‘What do we need to do with the defense?’” Ohio State athletic director Gene Smith said during a press conference last Wednesday. “When he had his clarity, I told him, ‘Go find him. Go find that guy ...’
“After that ‘team up north’ game, he was out recruiting, calling me almost every night talking about candidates. He ultimately narrowed it down to Jim. We looked at his compensation and what was out there. And I said, ‘Hey, we’ve gotta do what we’ve gotta do.’
“Fortunately I had the support of the president, and we went to where we went.”
It is the highest Ohio State has ever gone to pay an assistant coach.
Oklahoma State rose from its 247Sports 2018 ranking of No. 34 to a revised position of No. 22. That reflects well on Mike Gundy and his staff.
OU dropped from its 2018 ranking of No. 9 down to No. 34. Not as flattering for Lincoln Riley and his crew.
Now for a sidebar to Olson’s re-ranking that could serve as an annual Signing Day warning about hype ...
The Sooners had the No. 1 offense in FBS in 2017, the Cowboys were No. 2. Gundy and Riley should have loaded up on can’t-miss 2018 offensive firepower based on their scoring and yardage totals alone.
Well ...
OU did sign tight end Brayden Willis and kicker Gabe Brkic, a solid multi-year contributor and a Groza Award contender.
The Sooners’ other offensive signees in ’18: quarterback Tanner Mordecai, running back T.J. Pledger, receivers Jaquayln Crawford, Jaylon Robinson and Kundarrius Taylor, and linemen Brey Walker and Tramonda Moore. Walker is the only one in that group still at OU.
OSU signed Spencer Sanders in 2018. He is about to enter year four as Cowboys starting quarterback. That’s a bullseye.
OSU also signed future starting linemen Hunter Woodard, Bryce Bray and Hunter Anthony, though Bray transferred to Tulsa after one season and Anthony transferred to Nebraska last month.
The rest of the Cowboys’ offensive players from that class: running back Jahmyl Jeter, receivers CJ Moore and Jonathan Shepherd, Cowboy backs/tight end Braden Cassity (actually signed as a defensive end) and Jake Ross, and linemen Tyrese Williams and Jacob Farrell. Cassity is the only one from that group still at OSU.
Again, the Cowboys made pretty decent hay with their overall 2018 signing class. Aside from Sanders, though, it didn’t translate to offense. Strange given OSU’s offensive glow at the time.
It translated even less at OU. Even stranger given what Riley was doing then.
This made me laugh
Jocelyn Alo tied Lauren Chamberlain’s all-time NCAA softball home run record Sunday morning for Oklahoma with No. 95 against Texas State.
I thought back to the Sooners’ pre-2018 season press conference at the Lloyd Noble Center, when Alo was more like a myth, a teenaged freshman hitting machine we had heard about but hadn’t yet seen.
Paige Parker had seen her hit.
Remember, Parker was coming off back-to-back national championships as OU’s ace pitcher at the time.
When somebody asked about Alo during the Q and A, it wasn’t what Parker said in response, it’s how she looked — like she had just seen a ghost.
This made me cry
Alexandra Trusova skated her Olympic routine last Thursday to The Stooges’ “I Wanna Be Your Dog.” That alone should have earned her the gold medal. I mean, I was slam-dancing around the living room off the furniture as she flew around the ice.
Trusova took silver instead and burst into tears.
I bawled right along with her.
A look at OU, OSU and TU football transfers announced during the 2022 offseason
OL Hunter Anthony
DL Noah Arinze
OL Cade Bennett
CB Jarrick Bernard-Converse
QB Davis Beville
OL Dante Bivens
OL Jason Brooks Jr.
CB C.J. Coldon
OL Casey Collier
WR Sam Crawford Jr.
WR Marcellus Crutchfield
WR Isaiah Epps
S Pat Fields
QB Dillon Gabriel
OT Tyler Guyton
WR Jadon Haselwood
WR JJ Hester
QB Shane Illingworth
WR Cody Jackson
RB Dezmon Jackson
DT Jayden Jernigan
NT Jeffery Johnson
DL Deven Lamp
DL Jonah La'ulu
DB Gabe Lemons
LS Jake Mann
DL Ian Marshall (walk-on)
S Tanner McCalister
CB Latrell McCutchin
OL McKade Mettauer
OL Monroe Mills
LB Jamal Morris
DB Trey Morrison
OL Prince Pines
DL Jaxon Player
WR Matt Polk
QB Spencer Rattler
DE/OLB Nathan Rawlins-Kibonge
LB T.D. Roof
WR Jonathan Shepard
OL Darrell Simpson
TE Austin Stogner
WR Haydon Wiginton (walk-on)
QB Caleb Williams
WR Mario Williams
OL Tyrese Williams
OSU's Mike Gundy on transfer portal
Sooners WR Jalil Farooq on former OU quarterback Caleb Williams: 'He made a decision, I made mine.'
Former Oklahoma State defensive coordinator Jim Knowles speaks at the 2021 Broyles Award ceremony Dec. 7 in Little Rock, Ark. Knowles was announced as defensive coordinator at Ohio State Dec. 8.