Staff Rumors 11/28

According to a couple of different sources, both DeMarco Murray and Joe Jon Finley have been offered positions at Mississippi State. There's an expectation on the MSU end that they'll know within the next day or two if one or both of Murray and Finley will be joining Lebby's staff.

On the OU side of things, sources we speak with are also waiting to hear a decision from Murray and Finley, and the sense is that from there we'll have clarity about the direction Venables will go with the OC hire.

The general feeling is that hiring from within still remains the most likely option for Venables at this point. One reason that sources on the OU end have been expecting Emmett Jones to be named co-OC goes back to discussions between Jones and Venables when Jones was hired about the succession plan in the scenario where Jeff Lebby left the program. The exact details of those discussions aren't known, but there's a sense that if Jones is not elevated during this process it could prompt him to be more open to opportunities outside Norman.

We're still hearing that candidates such as Sean Lewis and others are likely to be seriously considered as well. We'll continue to monitor and report as more info becomes available.