OU Parts Ways With Jackie Shipp, Hires New O-Line Coach

The Oklahoma coaching shakeup continues.

News 9 sports director Dean Blevins confirmed that OU has parted ways with long-term defensive line coach Jackie Shipp as of Tuesday.

Shipp has been a part of the Sooners' staff since Bob Stoops took over in Norman in 1999.

This is the second domino to fall in the past two days after offensive line coach James Patton left on Monday to join former OU offensive coordinator Kevin Wilson at Indiana.

Shipp, who also played for the Sooners as a linebacker, holds the all-time OU record for tackles in a single game with 22 and tackles in a single season with 189 in 12 games. He is second in career tackles to Daryl Hunt.

Oklahoma's defensive line play has slipped in recent years, as has the quality of recruits Shipp and the Sooners have lured to Norman. The Sooners lost all of their primary tackles from last season. Although Shipp and the Sooners wound up signing four tackles, OU was far behind schedule in recruiting quality prospects as late as December.  

Sources indicate one candidate to replace Shipp is Mike Tuiasosopo. The 46 year old from American Samoa has coached DL at Arizona the past seven seasons. Tuiasosopo was hired by Mike Stoops and coached under him for five seasons before Stoops was let go by the Wildcats.

Meanwhile, OU has already replaced Patton with a new offensive line coach on Tuesday.

The Sooners are hiring Bill Bedenbaugh, who has spent the past two seasons on Dana Holgorsen's staff at West Virginia, where he has built a reputation as an excellent recruiter in addition to his o-line coaching duties.

Bedenbaugh already has a relationship with the Stoops family, having worked under Mike Stoops at Arizona from 2007-10. He also worked for Mike Leach at Texas Tech from 2000-06.

Bedenbaugh played his college football for Leach at Iowa Wesleyan and has been in coaching the past 17 years. His first job was also in Oklahoma, where he coached the offensive line at Oklahoma Panhandle State in 1995.