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Oklahoma Hires J.R. Sandlin as Director of Player Personnel and Recruiting

Sandlin is an Alabama native and has a significant background in recruiting and coaching throughout the Southeast.
John E. Hoover|
Oklahoma Hires J.R. Sandlin as Director of Player Personnel and Recruiting
Oklahoma Hires J.R. Sandlin as Director of Player Personnel and Recruiting

Oklahoma apparently has hired J.R. Sandlin as its director of player personnel and recruiting.

Sandlin made the announcement Thursday on Twitter.

Drew Hill just finished his eighth season as OU’s director of player personnel. An OU spokesman told SI Sooners that Hill is remaining on OU’s support staff. The university hasn’t made an official announcement yet regarding specific titles under new coach Brent Venables. As of Thursday afternoon, the Twitter bios of both Hill and Sandlin currently include "director of player personnel."

Under Hill, OU’s recent efforts have piqued the school’s profile in the eyes of recruits. The Sooner staff under Lincoln Riley and Annie Hanson produced social media campaigns and other branding ideas that in many ways have set the standard nationally. Hanson joined Riley last month at USC.

At OU, Hill has overseen scholarship distribution and also has served as liaison for NFL scouts as well as the point man for OU’s walk-on program. According to his bio in the 2021 OU media guide, Hill also helped direct players in their off-field efforts with strength and conditioning coaches and academic coordinators.

Sandlin spent the last eight years as recruiting coordinator, tight ends coach and senior executive head coach under John Grass at FCS Jacksonville State. Grass and JSU mutually agreed in November to part ways after he went 72-26 with six Ohio Valley Conference championships.

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Listen to Sandlin on the FNF Coaches Talk Podcast

Among the coaches Sandlin worked with at Jacksonville State was Venables’ new defensive line coach and recruiting coordinator, Todd Bates, who played at Alabama in the early 2000s.

According to Sandlin’s bio at Jacksonville State, he previously served as recruiting analyst at Notre Dame under Brian Kelly in 2013, director of recruiting for four months under Butch Jones at Tennessee in 2012, and was on the recruiting staff under Nick Saban at Alabama from 2011-12.

Sandlin hails from Tuscaloosa, AL, played tight end at Central Florida from 2005-07 and became a UCF recruiting specialist in 2008-09. He also spent time as a high school coach in Alabama.

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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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