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New Oklahoma TE coach gets 3-year, $1.53 million contract

Joe Jon Finley's contract is expected to be approved at this week's Board of Regents meeting in Oklahoma City
John E. Hoover|
New Oklahoma TE coach gets 3-year, $1.53 million contract
New Oklahoma TE coach gets 3-year, $1.53 million contract

The University of Oklahoma Board of Regents is expected to approve a three-year, $1.53 million contract for new Sooners assistant football coach Joe Jon Finley at a this week’s regents meeting in Oklahoma City.

The school posted the meeting agenda on its website Tuesday afternoon.

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Finley, 36, a former OU tight end under Bob Stoops, is head coach Lincoln Riley’s latest hire to the 10-man staff. Finley will coach tight ends and H-backs for the Sooners.

He was hired Jan. 19 at his alma mater after coaching tight ends last year at Ole Miss, in 2019 at Texas A&M, and from 2016-18 at Missouri.

Finley’s annual salary matches the 2020 compensation figure of Dennis Simmons, who was promoted to assistant head coach this offseason, and is behind the 2020 salaries of defensive coordinator Alex Grinch ($1.8 million), co-offensive coordinators Bill Bedenbaugh ($810,000) and Cale Gundy ($580,000).

Riley and the rest of the OU staff are expected to receive raises and contract adjustments when the regents meet again in June.

OU assistant salaries

What Oklahoma football assistant coaches made in 2020

  • Alex Grinch, defensive coordinator/safeties: $1.8 million (up from $1.4 million)
  • Bill Bedenbaugh, co-offensive coordinator/offensive line: $810,000 (up from $750,000)
  • Cale Gundy, co-offensive coordinator/inside receivers: $580,000 (up from $535,000)
  • Shane Beamer, assistant HC for offense/tight ends/H-backs: $540,000 (up from $470,000); Beamer is now head coach at South Carolina
  • Dennis Simmons, associate HC/outside receivers: $510,000 (up from $450,000)
  • Roy Manning, cornerbacks: $470,000 (up from $425,000)
  • Calvin Thibodeaux, defensive line: $435,000 (up from $375,000)
  • Brian Odom, inside linebackers: $435,000 (up from $375,000)
  • Jamar Cain, defensive ends/outside linebackers: $435,000 (Ruffin McNeill made $570,000 in 2019)
  • DeMarco Murray, running backs: $350,000 (Jay Boulware made $470,000 in 2019)

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John E. Hoover
JOHN E. HOOVER

John is an award-winning journalist whose work spans five decades in Oklahoma, with multiple state, regional and national awards as a sportswriter at various newspapers. During his newspaper career, John covered the Dallas Cowboys, the Kansas City Chiefs, the Oklahoma Sooners, the Oklahoma State Cowboys, the Arkansas Razorbacks and much more. In 2016, John changed careers, migrating into radio and launching a YouTube channel, and has built a successful independent media company, DanCam Media. From there, John has written under the banners of Sporting News, Sports Illustrated, Fan Nation and a handful of local and national magazines while hosting daily sports talk radio shows in Oklahoma City, Tulsa and statewide. John has also spoken on Capitol Hill in Oklahoma City in a successful effort to put more certified athletic trainers in Oklahoma public high schools. Among the dozens of awards he has won, John most cherishes his national "Beat Writer of the Year" from the Associated Press Sports Editors, Oklahoma's "Best Sports Column" from the Society of Professional Journalists, and Two "Excellence in Sports Medicine Reporting" Awards from the National Athletic Trainers Association. John holds a bachelor's degree in Mass Communications from East Central University in Ada, OK. Born and raised in North Pole, Alaska, John played football and wrote for the school paper at Ada High School in Ada, OK. He enjoys books, movies and travel, and lives in Broken Arrow, OK, with his wife and two kids.

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