Oklahoma has one more staff change this offseason.
Assistant head coach and outside linebackers coach Ruffin McNeil will be temporarily stepping away from football to go back to North Carolina to help take care of his 85-year-old father.
“This was one of the hardest decisions I’ve had to make,” McNeill said in a press release by Oklahoma football. “But in the end, being near my dad was a necessary choice. Right now I need to be a son again and I need to help my brother and other family members take care of my dad, who is battling significant health issues. This is not retirement for me. I still want to coach in some form or fashion. But right now that can’t be the case. My focus needs to be on my dad back in North Carolina.”
McNeil came to Oklahoma a week after head coach Lincoln Riley was announced as the head football coach in 2017. He spent one year at Virginia in 2016 as the assistant head coach and defensive line coach before making the move to Norman, Oklahoma.
Riley and McNeil connected during Oklahoma head coach’s early years at Texas Tech from 2003-09. McNeil then made Riley his offensive coordinator when he was hired at East Carolina in 2010, and the two spent six years together until 2015.
It was Riley’s first full opportunity as an offensive coordinator.
“Ruffin means so much to me and to my family, and his family means so much to him,” Riley said in a press release from Oklahoma football. “I know his decision to leave OU was a very difficult one, but was one he felt he had to make.
“We go back a long, long way. Hard to believe we’ve been together 15 of the last 17 years. I certainly owe him for helping shape me as a football coach, but I’ll always be more appreciative of the impact he had on shaping me as a person. He’s as genuine as it gets. I’m incredibly grateful for his mentorship and friendship, and for everything he’s done for me and my family. We wish him, his wife Erlene and their family the best of luck as they return home.”
McNeil started his tenure at Oklahoma as the defensive tackles coach in 2017 and the beginning of 2018 before becoming the interim co-defensive coordinator when Mike Stoops was let-go as the defensive coordinator after the first OU-Texas game in 2018. For defensive coordinator Alex Grinch in 2019, McNeil moved to coaching the outside linebackers as well as still holding the title as an assistant head coach.
“The word ‘fantastic’ does not begin to describe my three years at OU working for Lincoln and this administration,” McNeil said in the press release by Oklahoma football. “And I need to include the fans, as well. They’ve been absolutely wonderful. And it’s more than football. It’s family. Lincoln and (his wife) Caitlin and their kids are family to me. All of the football staff and players here are family to me. These three years have been among the best of my life.
“I absolutely loved working for Alex Grinch and with the other coaches. I absolutely loved all my players here. The championships were great and the playoff appearances were great, but the relationships were greater. That’s what I’ll miss about OU the most. I loved where I worked and I loved the people I worked for. And not one day felt like work. Not a day.”
Riley said in the release that the search to fill McNeil’s vacancy is already underway.
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