Stoops out as OU defensive coordinator
NORMAN, Okla. — Mike Stoops is out as Oklahoma 's defensive coordinator on the heels of the Sooners' 48-45 loss to Texas, according to multiple media reports.
Oklahoma athletic department spokesman Michael Houck said Sunday night that he could not confirm the reports.
The No. 11 Sooners (5-1) lost 48-45 to the No. 9 Longhorns on Saturday, allowing 501 yards to the Longhorns in the Red River Showdown at Dallas.
Stoops, 56, has been defensive coordinator since 2012, when his brother and former OU head coach Bob Stoops hired him. It was Mike Stoops' second stint working as an assistant for his brother. Before serving as Arizona's head coach from 2004-11, he was co-defensive coordinator for Oklahoma and his brother from 1999-2003.
The Sooners have struggled defensively the last two seasons, finishing 80th in 2016 and 82nd in 2017 in the country in yards per play allowed.
Oklahoma is off this week before returning to action Oct. 20 against TCU at Fort Worth.
Winningest coach dies at 91
John Gagliardi, who won more games than any other college football coach with his unconventional methods at a small Minnesota school, died Sunday, according to St. John’s University. He was 91.
A cause of death was not immediately known.
Gagliardi retired in 2012 after a record 64 seasons as a head coach, with 60 of those at St. John’s, an all-male private school in Collegeville, Minn.. Gagliardi finished with 489 victories, 138 losses and 11 ties, winning four national championships with the Johnnies. But he drew as much national attention to a school with fewer than 2,000 students with his laid-back approaches to the sport. His policy was to not cut any players from the roster and guide non-strenuous practices that never exceeded 90 minutes.
Gagliardi passed Grambling’s Eddie Robinson for all-time coaching victories with No. 409 in 2003 and again for all-time games coached with No. 588 in 2008. The major-college leader in wins is the late Joe Paterno, who finished with 409 at Penn State from 1966-2011.
The journey for Gagliardi began at Carroll College in Montana in 1949 when three conference titles in four years changed that school’s mind about dropping the sport. He then moved east to St. John’s, a Catholic institution founded in 1857 by Benedictine monks who came to minister to the influx of German immigrants in central Minnesota. Though Gagliardi — born in the mining town of Trinidad, Colo. — knew little about the school when he showed up, he soon found his niche.
During the hiring process, the monks asked him if he could beat rival St. Thomas and Gustavus, another conference foe.
“I had never heard of them,” Gagliardi said. “But I said, `Sure.’ ”
St. John’s went 6-2 and won the Minnesota Intercollegiate Athletic Conference in his first season — his first of 27 MIAC titles.
Neck injury ends Richards’ career
Miami wide receiver Ahmmon Richards will no longer be allowed to play football because of a disabling neck injury.
Richards will remain enrolled at Miami, and the university will honor his scholarship.
Richards said he is “extremely appreciative of the university's athletic training and medical staffs for diagnosing this injury.” School officials did not reveal specifics of the injury or how it happened.
Richards appeared in 21 games with the Hurricanes over parts of three seasons. He caught 74 passes for 1,382 yards and six touchdowns.