In his quest to improve Oklahoma’s offense, Bob Stoops found a new offensive coordinator that looks a lot like his previous one.
After letting Josh Heupel, a former Oklahoma quarterback under, among others, Mike Leach, Stoops has hired Lincoln Riley away from East Carolina. Riley, of course, played at Texas Tech under Leach.
Please help me welcome @LincolnRiley & his family to the Sooner Nation!
— Bob Stoops (@OU_CoachStoops) January 13, 2015
There are differences, of course. Whereas Huepel did all but one year of his coaching in Norman – and that year was spent under Mike Stoops at Arizona – before ascending to the offensive coordinator role in 2010, Riley has five seasons of play calling experience under his belt. The Pirates finished as high as eighth and as low as 66th nationally in scoring offense in Riley’s five seasons behind the wheel. Oh, and one thing Riley specialized in: throwing the ball. East Carolina finished 11th or higher three times in his five seasons, and ranked third this year at nearly 372 yards per game. Their 637 pass attempts were the second most in college football this season.
East Carolina threw at least 40 passes in all but two games last season. The Pirates threw 60 passes three times in 2014 #Sooners — Jason Kersey (@jasonkersey) January 12, 2015
Lincoln Riley’s run/pass breakdown at ECU… 2010: 358/632. 2011: 397/524. 2012: 459/488. 2013: 463/565. 2014: 433/637. #Sooners
— Guerin Emig (@GuerinEmig) January 12, 2015
Oklahoma still has a wide receivers position to fill following the departure of Jay Norvell. The Oklahoman also reported longtime defensive assistant Bobby Jack Wright will step away from the field this year.
