OU Hires 2 QB Coaches

[OU Guy]

This is great to see:

Brent Venables Adds to Oklahoma Offensive Staff With Two Hires
Two new additions to the quarterback room, both young and fast-risers in the coaching industry, will help new offensive coordinator Seth Littrell's transition.

John E. HooverDec 11, 2023 9:51 PM EST

Oklahoma coach Brent Venables has apparently begun the process of restocking his offensive staff.

Venables has hired two offensive support staffers in Jack Lowary from Tennessee and Ty Hatcher from Texas A&M, both of whom will work with quarterbacks.

The news was first reported by Rivals network site OUInsider.com, and confirmed by an OU source Monday night.

Lowary and Hatcher have both updated their Twitter bios to reflect their new positions, and both hires are expected to be formally announced soon.

Venables replaced offensive coordinator Jeff Lebby by elevating offensive analyst Seth Littrell to offensive coordinator. With assistant QB coach Matt Holocek now coaching quarterbacks full time for Lebby at Mississippi State, Lowary will fill that spot on Venables’ staff.

Lowary hails from Huntington Beach, CA. He played the 2015 at Long Beach City College, then played three years at Missouri under Barry Odom as Drew Lock’s backup. The Tigers’ offensive coordinator at the time was former Sooners QB Josh Heupel.

When Kelly Bryant transferred to Missouri from Clemson at the end of the 2018 season, Lowary decided to skip his final season of eligibility and transitioned to a student assistant role at Mizzou.

“He was kind of an assistant coach last year,” then-offensive coordinator Derek Dooley told The Kansas City Star in 2019. “He had his trial with Drew. He really helped Drew a lot. He was sort of a student-coach last year, now he’ll be a graduate coach and one day he’s going to be a full-time great coach. He understands ball, he asks the right questions. I think Drew looked up to him. Drew leaned on him.”

“He’s got that coaching factor,” former Tigers QB Micah Wilson told the Star in 2019. “He’s naturally a coach. Even since he was playing. He’s on top of everything, the perfect coaching point to give somebody.”

When Heupel got the head coaching job at Tennessee, he hired Lowary to assist with quarterbacks. In Knoxville this season, Lowary answered directly to former Sooner QB and UT offensive coordinator Joey Halzle.

“The guys I have working with me in the quarterback room, Mitch (Mitello) and Jack (Lowary), are amazing,” Halzle said in August. “They do a great job, trust them completely and wholeheartedly.”

Hatcher joins Venables’ staff as a graduate assistant after working for Jimbo Fisher in College Station last season.

Hatcher was a dual-threat quarterback at Bessemer Academy in Hueytown, AL, and played three seasons for his father, Chris Hatcher, at Samford University before joining the A&M staff.

OU offensive analyst Matt Wells remains a candidate for other coaching jobs around the country.

https://www.si.com/college/oklahoma/foo ... -two-hires

[Oklahombre]

Lowary has 1 year of eligibility left. Maybe we have our backup QB...Joking

Looks like some good coaches.

[RussC]

But they are off-field coaches only? Like, academic classroom settings only?

[OU Guy]

But they are off-field coaches only? Like, academic classroom settings only?

Good question. One thimg I found:

But what exactly is an analyst? What do they actually do?

There's really no firm definition of what an analyst is in the NCAA rulebook; the position is created out of a loophole.

Analysts fall under a category of coach that isn't considered "countable" by the NCAA, which means that although they are prohibited from directly coaching players or going on off-campus recruiting trips, there is no limit on how many analysts a program can have on staff — a major complaint for programs with smaller budgets.

Essentially, analysts are tasked with the responsibility of creating detailed gameplans that traditional coaches don't have the time to do themselves.

[Fly]

Good stuff OU Guy, stuff as that is so important to know.I wondered about who was going to over see the QB,s.

Fly

[JoeSooner]

Is JP Losman still around? I think he had some sort of player personel job, whatever that means.

I don't know how much that 'analyst' role is really enforced, you see those guys down on the sideline all the time, I doubt anyone's policing what they do in practice, kind of pointless distinction anyway in my mind. But I suppose it's supposed to keep the wealthier programs from hiring 30 coaches.

[Brisket]

I like that the one guy has experience in Heupel's offense. Will help with game prep.

[Triple Option]

I suppose it's supposed to keep the wealthier programs from hiring 30 coaches.

I'm not sure it's worked. OU's official page (https://soonersports.com/sports/footbal ... h=football) currently shows 12 coaches and 30 support staff. Now, most of those support staff seem to be in administrative roles, but I counted 13 that seem to be pretty directly involved in the football part (player personnel, recruiting, analysts, ga's, etc.). So, maybe not 30, but 25. Plus 4 more in "Sports Performance," whatever that means.

[OU Guy]

Here’s an article from 2017 but it does great in explaining what they do. And its a lot.

Analysts provide manpower and brainpower to football powers
TAMPA, Fla. (AP) — They are the coaches behind the coaches, pouring over hours of video and logging plays. They spot trends and make suggestions. Their work produces the building blocks of a game plan.

They have duties similar to graduate assistants, but without having to juggle all that school work. They have titles such as quality control coach, administrative assistant and analyst. Analyst was Steve Sarkisian's job at Alabama until a week before the biggest game of the season when he was promoted to offensive coordinator .

The former Southern California coach will be calling plays for the Crimson Tide, replacing Lane Kiffin when No. 1 Alabama (14-0) faces Clemson (13-1) on Monday in the College Football Playoff national championship game.

"We'd still watch a lot of tape, still try to game plan, then offer up as much advice as I could to the game plan, then to the coaches," Sarkisian said Saturday. "Then it was more sit back and analyze how we were performing."

The NCAA allows just nine coaches to directly instruct players on the field during practice and games. Four graduate assistant coaches are also permitted. Those spots are generally held by aspiring coaches and they must be working on a graduate degree. They are allowed to work with players at practice and be on the field during games, but the bulk of their work is in the film room.

At powerhouse schools such as Alabama and Clemson support staffs have grown in recent years to include coaches who don't carry whistles. Sarkisian, who was fired by USC during the 2015 season, was hired by Alabama coach Nick Saban as an analyst earlier this year.

Former New Mexico coach Mike Locksley, who was most recently the offensive coordinator at Maryland, is also an offensive analyst for Alabama. As is Charlie Weis Jr., the son of the former Notre Dame and Kansas coach, and former Crimson Tide offensive lineman William Vlachos. Dean Altobelli, a former Michigan attorney who played for Saban at Michigan State, has been a defensive analyst at Alabama since 2010.

They generally make about $45,000 per year, at least at the start. Clemson's senior analysts make up to $90,000.

"You want to talk about the lifeblood of the operational football part, the X and Os part?" Alabama offensive line coach Mario Cristobal said. "They are essential and critical."

Alabama has nine analysts on staff. Clemson coach Dabo Swinney has five analysts, including senior offensive analyst Mickey Conn and defensive analyst Kyle Richardson.

Derrick Ansley was a graduate assistant for Saban in 2010 and '11 and rejoined the staff this season as defensive backs coach. He said many of the duties of a graduate assistant are similar to what analysts do. The analysts just have more time to do them.

"When I was a GA I had to break down the entire offensive opponent," Ansley said. "The details that we put into it is kind of what separates us a little bit."

What does an opponent run on third-and-4 or more? Against a four-man front? Against a three-man front? How about on third-and-3 or less? In the red zone? In their own end? All that type of information is gathered and given to position coaches, coordinators and the head coach.

"He's watching it all, but you come in and give him a little something he may have missed because you're studying that," Ansley said.

Alabama wide receiver Gehrig Dieter is a graduate transfer from Bowling Green. After spending two seasons at the Mid-American Conference school and one at SMU before that, Dieter could see the benefit of all the additional input.

"There's so many people on our staff any time you have a question it kind of gets answered," Dieter said. "Not that it doesn't at Bowling Green, but you just have so many eyes on you at all times so you kind of get the most accurate answers possible."

The other benefit comes when it is time to hit the recruiting trail. Only the nine full-time assistants can recruit.

"We get done playing Florida in the SEC championship game, immediately we're on the road recruiting," Alabama defensive coordinator Jeremy Pruitt said. "Well, somebody's got to be breaking down Washington, Ohio State, Clemson. Those guys do a job from a breakdown standpoint so when you walk in they can hand it to it you and say, 'Hey, this is kind of what these guys do.'"

Clemson co-offensive coordinator Tony Elliott said the Tigers' analysts are as involved in the game plans as any staffer and their input during games can be vital.

"The great thing about it is they're just an extension of your eyes," Elliott said. "They understand what the game plan is. They understand what the adjustments are. They understand the things that cause us problems."

Ultimately, all these extra staffers give programs such as Alabama and Clemson more people to do more tasks more efficiently.

"Manpower," Ansley said.

And brainpower.

https://www.usatoday.com/story/sports/n ... /96295640/

[RussC]

Bottom line: they are supposed to interact with other coaches—not players directly. But there really is no enforcement, as others have said.

[OU Guy]

Bottom line: they are supposed to interact with other coaches—not players directly. But there really is no enforcement, as others have said.

Except Michigan, they went overboard and stole signs and helped on gameday. I guess thats the red line in sand lol.

[captnop]

It's my understanding the rules have changed and analysts are allowed to work with the players in practice. Hence Skalasky working with the LB's. I know there are some differences, just not sure what. I think they aren't allowed to coach during a game.. so they can say good job or whatever, but in game coaching falls on the coaching staff.

[AllSooner]

Out of curiosity, what are analysts paid now? Looks like in 2017 it was $45,000 to $90,000.

[soonerindallas]

But they are off-field coaches only? Like, academic classroom settings only?

Good question. One thimg I found:

But what exactly is an analyst? What do they actually do?

There's really no firm definition of what an analyst is in the NCAA rulebook; the position is created out of a loophole.

Analysts fall under a category of coach that isn't considered "countable" by the NCAA, which means that although they are prohibited from directly coaching players or going on off-campus recruiting trips, there is no limit on how many analysts a program can have on staff — a major complaint for programs with smaller budgets.

Essentially, analysts are tasked with the responsibility of creating detailed gameplans that traditional coaches don't have the time to do themselves.

Seems like it is a big loophole. I saw that Alabama has more "analytst" than you can count.

[Brisket]

Seems like it is a big loophole. I saw that Alabama has more "analytst" than you can count.

Yes. That's all part of Saban's "Coaching Rehabilitation Program." Sark is a graduate of that plan. Analyst in '16; OC '19-20.

Other graduates: Butch Jones, Billy Napier, Jeremy Pruitt, and our very own Moops.