Oklahoma Fires Defensive Coordinator Mike Stoops

Oklahoma fired defensive coordinator Mike Stoops on Monday after the Sooners struggled to stop Texas during their first loss of the season.

Ruffin McNeill, the assistant head coach and defensive tackles coach, will be the defensive coordinator for the rest of the season.

The No. 11 Sooners (5-1) lost 48-45 on Saturday, allowing 501 yards to the Longhorns in Dallas.

McNeill was defensive coordinator at UNLV from 1997 to 1998, and at Fresno State in 1999. He later served in that same role with Texas Tech from 2008 to 2009 before taking over as head coach at East Carolina from 2010 to 2015.

Riley brought McNeill to Oklahoma as assistant head coach before the 2017 season. Riley's confidence in McNeill played a role in the decision to fire Stoops.

Riley was McNeill's offensive coordinator at East Carolina.

Bob Diaco will move from defensive specialist to coach the outside linebackers. He has been defensive coordinator at Cincinnati, Notre Dame and Nebraska and was the head coach at Connecticut from 2014 to 2016.

Stoops had been defensive coordinator since 2012, when his brother, former Sooners coach Bob Stoops, hired him. It was Mike Stoops' second stint working as an assistant for his brother. Before serving as Arizona's head coach from 2004-11, he was co-defensive coordinator for Oklahoma and his brother from 1999-2003.

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