Oklahoma
NC State job feels like McNeill returning home
Tom Shanahan Jul 7 2020By TOM SHANAHAN Ruffin McNeill’s 36-year college coaching career includes stops at 10 programs – with return stints at two, Appalachian State and East Carolina – yet taking his first job at N.C. State somehow feels like a homecoming. McNeill, one of the most respected and liked...
Spartans finish where left off five years ago
Tom Shanahan Apr 2 2020We’re stranded in a basketball wasteland, left longingly to wonder how the 2020 NCAA basketball tournament would have turned out. And, tragically, it’s all necessary for life-and-death reasons – the COVID-19 pandemic. Well, with plenty of time to ponder the possibilities, let’s...
Bryant myth overlooked Greg Pruitt and more
Tom Shanahan Dec 31 2019#DUFFY Forty-four Michigan State Underground Railroad facts--- Why do I write so much debunking the myths and fiction surrounding Bear Bryant and the 1970 USC-Alabam game? The answer is simple: History has failed to properly credit College Football Hall of Fame coach Duffy...
Charlotte Touchdown Club award gets it right
Tom Shanahan Dec 24 2019#AFAN (Air Force/Army/Navy) stories: My series is about more than academy football players. These stories are about future officers selflessly committed to serving their country during a seemingly endless war on terrorism. There are only 0.5 percent Americans making up the...
Birdow is soaring with Falcons at Air Force
Tom Shanahan Oct 3 2019#AFAN (Air Force/Army/Navy) stories: My series is about more than academy football players. These stories are about future officers selflessly committed to serving their country during a seemingly endless war on terrorism. There are only 0.5 percent Americans making up the...
McNeill and Riley redefine the old boy network
Tom Shanahan Aug 31 2019The decade-long coaching bond linking Ruffin McNeill and Lincoln Riley is — on its surface — a typical old-boy network story. McNeill twice appointed Riley as his offensive coordinator. When Riley was named a head coach, he hired McNeill.And you say, So what?Head coaches...
ECU reaches out to Ruffin McNeill to honor him
Tom Shanahan Aug 18 2019During the offseason, East Carolina offensive coordinator Donnie Kirkpatrick went to Oklahoma to pick the brain of Sooners’ head coach and former Pirates’ assistant Lincoln Riley.But Kirkpatrick also had another assignment on the trip: Patch up the school’s relationship...
Doomsday predictions for option are premature
Tom Shanahan Oct 12 2018“The option is still revered at certain high schools, but – despite the zeal of some coaches – the once venerated scheme has been languishing at the college level for years. Now rule changes may doom it there too.” – Sports Illustrated, Oct. 8, 2018 issue. By Tom...
Army faces Oklahoma in throwback affair
Tom Shanahan Sep 19 2018Army’s trip to face No. 5-ranked Oklahoma Saturday represents an interesting throwback game. The reasons are beyond simply that the schools last played in 1961, with the Sooners winning 14-8 in a marquee event at the old Yankee Stadium. In those days, the Black Knights routinely...
Jordyn Adams may have edge on Kyler Murray
Tom Shanahan Jun 10 2018College football and pro baseball fans quickly recognized and connected Kyler Murray as having a choice to make once the Oakland A’s selected him with the ninth pick of last week’s Major League Baseball draft.Click here for AllSportsDiscussion linkAfter all, he’s Oklahoma’s...