Oklahoma defensive analyst now coordinator at high school program

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Former Oklahoma Soonersdefensive analyst Rufus Alexander will be coaching at the high school level in the state this year, and he’s far from the only former Sooner on a very familiar coaching staff.

Mount St. Mary’s High School in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma has made Alexander its defensive coordinator/DL coach for the 2026 season, according to head coach and former OU fullback J.D. Runnels. A former standout linebacker at OU from 2003 to 2006, Alexander had been a defensive analyst for the Sooners since 2022, but he left the program this offseason.

During his career at OU, Alexander was a three-time All-Big 12 performer, and he was the conference’s Defensive Player of the Year in 2006, the same year he was an All-American. After four years on Oklahoma’s staff as a defensive analyst, Alexander moving on to the high school ranks for 2026. He was previously Putnam City (Oklahoma) High School’s defensive coordinator in 2020.

Now, Alexander will work under Runnels, and they’ll be joined by former Sooners on the Rockets’ staff in RB coach Kennedy Brooks, OL coach Tavaris Jeffries, and asst. LB coach Jonathan Jackson.

The loss of Alexander is far from the only change on OU’s support staff this offseason. The movement started early, as Chief of Staff Woody Glass retired, and Oklahoma moved former strength and conditioning coach Jerry Schmidt into a role as Elite Performance Liaison. James Dobson, Schmidt’s top assistant, replaced him as Director of Sports Enhancement and Strength and Conditioning.

Further down the strength staff, Dobson hired Matthew Manninger as Associate Director of Performance, and he also needed a replacement for Reggie McGrew, another assistant strength coach, so he hired Dante Vasquez as Assistant Director of Sports Performance. Both Scott Kolok and Josue Matias return to fill out Dobson’s staff.

Outside of the strength staff, OU hired Molly Jacoby to replace the departed Jolie Ale as the Director of Recruiting. Caleb King-Kelly departed the SOUL team, so the Sooners brought back Josh Norman as Senior Director of SOUL Mission. In the scouting department, Oklahoma saw one of their scouting coordinators, T.J. Lynn, take a job at UCLA. He’ll be helping coach cornerbacks for the Bruins as a graduate assistant.

Head coach Brent Venables had plenty of work to do on his coaching staff this offseason as well. OU fired tight ends coach Joe Jon Finley, replacing him with Jason Witten. Cornerbacks coach Jay Valai left to join the Buffalo Bills, so the Sooners hired LaMar Morgan as his replacement. Oklahoma also saw running backs coach DeMarco Murray leave to join the Kansas City Chiefs, and hired Deland McCullough to replace him.

Venables’ stable of analyst will look a bit different this year as well. The promotions of Kevin Wilson (Assistant Head Coach for Offense), John Kuceyeski (quarterbacks coach), and Xavier Brewer (assistant secondary coach) are just part of the changes there. Defensive analyst Trent Simpson was hired by Alabama, so the Sooners replaced him with Aaron Cheatwood. Oklahoma also hired DeShawn Williams as a defensive analyst, and he should have a larger role with Alexander now gone. Additionally, the Sooners hired Stephen Copeland as a special teams analyst.

Of course, Oklahoma also has a new Vice President and Director of Athletics in Roger Denny, replacing Joe Castiglione, and there will be a new Board of Regents chair this year in Rick Nagel, who takes the place of Anita Holloway. Larry Naifeh, who was Castiglione’s right-hand man, is now the Special Assistant to the Athletics Director.

Despite all of those changes, Oklahoma Football’s alignment with Venables, Denny, Schmidt, university president Joseph Harroz Jr., Chair and Special Advisor to the President Randall Stephenson, and general manager Jim Nagy looks like a very strong group heading into the 2026 season. With no changes when it comes to the play-callers on both sides of the ball, and 67 returning players and 43 newcomers on the roster exiting spring ball, there’s a lot to like about where the Sooners could be headed this fall.

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This article originally appeared on Sooners Wire: Sooners DA now defensive coordinator at Oklahoma high school program

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