On Bob Stoops' staff, you have to be able to recruit and you have to be able to coach. Not much different than other staffs except Stoops and OU have that juice. Considering how much Oklahoma has won, if you can do those two things, you can write your own ticket. Gundy is about ready to be a head coach. At 36, he is a 13-year assistant coaching veteran, all but one of those tutoring running backs. The younger brother of Oklahoma State head coach Mike Gundy might be ready to move up. Why not?
As a former Sooners quarterback, Gundy has done pretty well for himself. Entering his 10th year at OU, Gundy has coached a Heisman finalist (Adrian Peterson, 1,925 yards in 2004) and won a national championship in which undersized Quentin Griffin helped OU. Two years later, Griffin ran for 1,884 yards. The next sensations are sophomore DeMarco Murray, who ran for 764 yards and 13 touchdowns as a freshman, and junior Chris Brown (611 yards). How do they do it? Ball security is one reason. In 2001, OU backs didn't fumble after the third game. They didn't lose a fumble in 2002. In 2003, they lost only two fumbles. Gundy has helped produce a 1,000-yard rusher four years in a row. Not bad resume fodder.
Five others to consider:
Eddie Gran, Auburn: We'll see how Gran does with Auburn switching to a spread offense but somehow we sense he'll succeed. In the Tigers' old hammerin' ground game, Gran produced all-SEC backs Carnell Williams, Kenny Irons, Rudi Johnson and Ronnie Brown.
Fred Jackson, Michigan: The only Lloyd Carr assistant retained by Rich Rodriguez -- technically Jackson was rehired a day after being fired -- the 17-year veteran at Michigan has coached five all-Big Ten running backs and success should continue. Rodriguez ran a power running game out of his spread option at West Virginia.
Todd McNair, USC: In McNair's second season, Reggie Bush won the Heisman. That same year (2004) LenDale White helped form the first pair of 1,000-yard USC rushers in a season. USC began the 2007 season with one of the deepest stable of tailbacks ever.
Andre Powell, Clemson: Tommy Bowden knew what he was doing when he hired Powell in 2007. The veteran assistant had coached future NFL backs Tiki Barber, Thomas Jones and Willie Parker. When he got to Clemson, he inherited C.J. Spiller and James Davis.
John Settle, Wisconsin: Do Wisconsin running backs make the coach or do the coaches make the running backs? Along with his position coach, P.J. Hill goes into this third year in Wisconsin. With almost 2,800 yards in two seasons, Hill is the next great Badgers runner.
