Stanford hires Oklahoma DL coach Diron Reynolds to same position
Oklahoma defensive line coach Diron Reynolds is taking the same position under Stanford coach David Shaw, according to sources.
This past season had been Reynolds’ first at Oklahoma after spending 2014 as a defensive assistant at Stanford. Reynolds’ family had remained in California since his hiring by the Sooners last February.
Oklahoma was sixth in the FBS this past season in sacks (3.08 per game) under Reynolds while advancing to the College Football Playoff semifinals for the first time. Reynolds replaces legendary former Stanford defensive line coach Randy Hart, who Reynolds worked under in 2014.
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Hart retired Tuesday after 46 years as a full-time assistant, including the last six with the Cardinal. Prior to Stanford, the highly regarded Reynolds was assistant defensive line coach for the NFL’s Minnesota Vikings from 2009 through 2013.
He was the Miami Dolphins’s defensive line coach in 2007 after five seasons as a quality control assistant under then-Indianapolis Colts coach Tony Dungy. That included the Colts’s Super Bowl victory during Reynolds’ final year.
Before the NFL, Reynolds was Indiana’s defensive tackles coach in 2001 and outside linebackers coach at his alma mater, Wake Forest, from 1999 through 2000. He was also a graduate assistant for the Demon Deacons from 1997–98 following two seasons as an assistant as well as a strength and conditioning coach at Brookland-Cayce High School in Cayce, S.C.
Reynolds was a linebacker at Wake Forest from 1990–93. Stanford won the Pac-12 championship and the Rose Bowl this past season en route to a 12–2 record under Shaw.
Shaw has a sparkling 54–14 record in his five seasons with the Cardinal, winning the Pac-12 title in three of those years.
