Oklahoma will be looking for an offensive coordinator this winter, and one oft-mentioned name is a familiar one.
Cale Gundy is a former All-Big 8 quarterback at Oklahoma in the 1990s who was an original member of Bob Stoops's Sooner coaching staff and never left. The living connective tissue from the Stoops era, to the Lincoln Riley era, to the Brent Venables era, the line from OU's fight song "Boomer Sooner" I'm a Sooner born and Sooner bred and when I die, I'll be Sooner dead might as well be written about him. Gundy served a variety of roles during his 20-plus years on staff, but every championship won, national award achieved and offensive record broken by a Sooner this century has Gundy's fingerprints in one way or the other.
Gundy abruptly resigned before the 2022 season but remains in Norman, working part-time in media while also having his hands in other business ventures. In an appearance on The Oklahoma Breakdown podcast, Gundy was asked about his name being tossed around by fans to become the next offensive coordinator and/or re-join the staff in some capacity.
"Everyone that I talk to I'm like, 'No, I ain't doing it. I'm enjoying what I'm doing right now.' I love what I'm doing, I'm kind of enjoying life a little bit. But I miss the players, I miss coaching, I miss being around the guys. I miss teaching them 24 hours a day, I miss coaching them how you handle yourself around people, how you handle yourself in meetings, how you handle yourself in the dorms," Gundy said.
Gundy said his name bubbling up has put him in an uncomfortable spot, given that he either coached, worked with, or coached and worked with virtually every member of OU's current staff. The hosts of the podcast, Gabe Ikard and Teddy Lehman, are former Sooners themselves who also rubbed shoulders with Gundy.
"It's tough in one area because my guys, Seth Littrell -- I coached him, loved him to death, love the family -- Bill (Bedenbaugh), Joe Jon, DeMarco, it's hard when (he's mentioned for the offensive coordinator job). I don't like it," he said. "Those guys know what it is, social media. I'm content with what I'm doing right now."
That said, Gundy was critical of Oklahoma's offensive approach thus far. And how could he not be, given that the Sooners are last or next-to-last in every major offensive category in SEC play? He was most critical of Oklahoma not employing a trained quarterbacks coach on the on-the-field staff; former OC Littrell held the title of quarterbacks coach, but had never held the title of on-field quarterbacks coach previously.
Kevin Johns is now OU's co-offensive coordinator and quarterbacks coach after handling the position at Indiana, Western Michigan, Memphis and Duke.
"I know Kevin Johns a little bit; I'm glad that there's a guy who's been a quarterback coach in a lot of different places in his career that is coaching the guys. You've got to have a quarterback coach coaching your dudes," he said. "You've got to. You can't have anybody else."
Gundy also reiterated much of what we laid out earlier in the week: that Venables's career rests on nailing the OC hire, that many of the "hot" names bandied about lack long-term experience, and that the next hire may require saying goodbye to Hall of Fame O-line coach Bill Bedenbaugh.
"You just can't sit here and say, Who's having success this year? You better find out if he's had success three years ago, five years ago, seven years ago, eight years ago. Is he a guy whose teams continually got better? Just don't go look at somebody who all of a sudden got good this year.
"Here's the other deal," Gundy continued. You bring an offensive coordinator in, they typically like to bring in one or two of their own guys. An OC typically likes to bring his offensive line coach. What are you going to do with Bill Bedenbaugh if that happens? This offensive coordinator may come, but if you're going to tell him he can't bring his O-line coach, then he's going to say, 'Well, I'm not coming.'"
At 4-3 on the season, Oklahoma must beat a ranked team to avoid missing a bowl game for the first time since 1998 and enduring its second losing season in three years under Venables. The Sooners visit No. 18 Ole Miss on Saturday (noon ET, ESPN) and close with No. 21 Missouri, No. 15 Alabama and No. 8 LSU in succession after hosting Maine next week.
As always, stay tuned to The Scoop for the latest.