Capel Fired

Well, Jefff Capel's firing has actually inspired me to hit the blog again. Here are ten things I think you think I think:

1. First, let me say that I liked the Jeff Capel hire after Kelvin Sampson's flight to Indiana.
2. Second, it didn't look like it was working out.
3. Do you know when the last time was that OU had two losing seasons in a row? It was 1965-66 and 1966-67 seasons when Coach Bob Stevens led them to 11-14 and 8-17 seasons. They lost to Hardin-Simmons by 11. At home.
4. The last time OU went two years in a row without winning 20 games? 1996-97 and 1997-98 when the program was transitioning from the run and gun style of Billy Tubbs to the rebound and foul style of Kelvin Sampson.
5. I read yesterday where Blake Griffin is upset OU fired Capel. I don't blame him. Capel is not stupid. He had a once in a generation player in state, and successfully recruited him to Norman. He then managed to keep him there for two years, which parlayed Capel into an extension after the 2008-09 season, where they went 30-6. The only problem is, the boosters failed to extend Griffin's contract.
6. Seriously, Capel's biggest mistake wasn't not paying Griffin under the table, it was failing to build on Griffin as a cornerstone for a program for years to come.
7. For example, Billy Tubbs came to OU in 1980. Dave Bliss had ridden the backs of Terry Stotts and Al Beal to a deal at SMU. Tubbs redshirted a couple of players (Charles "Big Time" Jones and Raymond Whitley has a medical year) and suffered through a 9-18 season (they lost to Ohio Northern in Norman), and recruited some Juco help in the form of David Little and Jan Pannell for the 1982 season. He recruited and redshirted a kid named William Tisdale, older brother to Wayman Tisdale. The 82 team went 19-10 through the regular season and conference tourney, then went 3-1 in the NIT. They had regular season losses to Oklahoma City, Western Illinois and Tulsa.
8. Wayman came in 1982. The Sooners went 24-9, 29-5 and 31-6 in the three years Wayman was at OU. However, in those three years, Billy built a program. The roster was left with Tim McAlister, SJC Trojan great Anthony Bowie, David Johnson and Dave Sieger. In the offseason he added Stacey King, Ron Roberts and Tony Martin. The next year he added Mookie Blaylock and Harvey Grant. The three years after Tisdale left, Tubbs Sooner squads went 26-9, 24-10 and 35-4. That 35-4 team was agruably one of the better teams of the 1980s, it had lottery picks Harvey Grant, Mookie Blaylock and Stacey King on it. Tubbs only had one non-20 win season after Tisdale left, the 15-13 season before he and the administration tired of one another and he bolted to TCU.
9. The Sooner basketball program of today has serious issues...a) it now must compete with the Thunder for basketball dollars (and the Thunder is winning this competition handily); b) the school has never really gotten basketball fever - that awesome team of 1987-88 only averaged 9,521 home attendance; c) the arena is old and has no atmosphere whatsoever; d) many people just buy the Sooner hoop tickets for the Sooner Priority points for football games and give the tickets away; e) there's no remotely marquee player to build on for next year.
10. From 1909-1921, Bennie Owen coached both football and basketball for the Sooners. The team won 69.8% of its games in that period. The school named the football field after him. Let's go back to those days. Let's hire the Head Visor to coach some hoops, raze the Lloyd Noble, build Stoops Stadium and a basketball dynasty.