The Best of Lincoln Riley and Alex Grinch

OU coaches spoke Friday during a virtual coaches luncheon with the Citizens Advisory Board of Cleveland County

Practice has been paused. The opener is up in the air. The conference schedule is not set. For that matter, the entire college football season could be in jeopardy.

But on Friday, before the latest virtual shutdown, before news from around the country about cancellations and spring football, Oklahoma coaches Lincoln Riley, Alex Grinch and Shane Beamer spoke at a virtual luncheon to benefit the Citizens Advisory Board of Cleveland County’s Child Welfare Unit.

OU coaches have not been made available for comment since practice began on July 31. The CAB online event required purchase of a ticket to attend, and several local media who cover OU, such as the OU Daily, The Oklahoman, SoonerScoop and The Athletic, filed reports.

Here are highlights from those reports:

• Riley: “It’s been an adjustment, because we pride ourselves on our organization and communicating with people so people have time to plan and use all the talents they have here and get our players, our team, in the best position to improve and be ready for what’s upcoming. That part is different. We’re changing day-to-day. There are times at 7 or 8 at night where we don’t know if we are practicing the next morning. But it’s part of it. Again, we’re trying to attack it with a positive mindset and kind of embraced the changes of the new challenges. I think it will be a new test of the culture of your team and the ability to adapt and overcome. This entire season is going to be a test to that.”

• Grinch: “We tell them all the time, ‘Slow kids don’t play. Don’t be a slow kid. Fast dudes only. ‘ That doesn’t just mean 40 times, it’s how you play.”

• Grinch: “We talk to the guys about setting your mind before your mind sets you. If you're in that 7-8 o’clock range (at night), as you're describing it, and saying, ‘Well tomorrow will probably be an off day’, then you're probably not gonna be in the right mindset when that text comes along saying, OK we're gonna attack the field at 8 a.m. … One of the communications with the guys is just that. Set your mind to have the best practice of your life the following day, and then if we’ve gotta back off that, certainly, we will. But that's 2020. I don’t think that’s going away anytime soon.”

• Riley: “Like everybody’s lives right now, (having the players back is) definitely different. We’re trying to adjust seemingly day to day. And there’s a lot of challenges within that like any other challenge. You either let those challenges consume you (or) you get up, you adjust and you do something about it and keep trucking on. … That’s been our mentality here with our staff and our players, and our guys have done a great job. ... We’ve had to look at every single thing we do in this program, down to the smallest details, and everything has had to be adjusted. … We’re up to the challenge and the team (has) responded well. We’ll be looking forward to just continuing to get better through this time and be ready to play whenever they tell us it’s time to play.”

• Beamer: “(Coach Riley) and I were talking about it the other day. ... On offense specifically, we obviously lost a lot of people. Having the offensive line coming back is huge for us, but we have a new quarterback, a lot of new faces at receiver, new guys in the backfield at running back. (We have) a deep position at the tight end position. We’re just really excited about the competition and being able to see these guys get out there and how things shake out.”

• Grinch: “A year ago, I don’t know that you have a defense. You have plays. You have calls. And you have guys certainly making attempts to execute at a high level. … By this stage a year ago, (you have) progress from spring, most certainly, but as you watch the film at the end of the day, you see signs of a defense, of a package, of guys running to the football. Guys with the intent of making plays and those things. But I wouldn’t call it a defense yet. Something that kind of developed over time, as you got through fall camp, and then in a lot of ways, too, from a trust standpoint, until you do it on a Saturday together.”

• Grinch: “We take a lot of pride in this. One of the things from a leadership standpoint, you say, ‘If I didn’t show up to practice today, could the kids function?’ I think sometimes the ego says, ‘Obviously if I’m not out there, then the whole thing’s gonna go (bad). They’re not gonna be able to line up.’ The point being, if you have a defense, if you have a package, if you establish a standard — again, believe me, I’m showing up every day — but the point being is, there’s a defense when the kids can do it. When the kids can run a practice if they needed to. There’s an excitement that comes with that.”

• Grinch: “Until you get on the field and you start stacking practices and all those things, the intangibles that come in a leadership role are gonna show themselves as we go through this thing. … We’ve got a long way to go to call ourselves an elite defense, but I would not want to go back to Year 1.”

• Grinch: “The last couple weeks, having the chance to call yourself a football coach again, actually getting on the field and those things — that’s been really good to get around the guys. We’ll enjoy every day that we’re able to do it.”

• Riley: “We’re not even in the same meeting rooms as we normally are. We are meeting in huge areas as much as we can. Our team meetings are in the weight room on a huge turf area. Everybody is spread out even more than six feet. We are meeting all throughout this facility so we can social distance. That’s just one small example of some of the changes that have had to happen.”

• Riley: “Our guys have done a great job. We are the only football program in the country over the last month that hasn’t had a positive COVID test (before one was announced late Saturday night). I think the expectations of that staying the same throughout all these months are probably not realistic, but what a tremendous job by our staff. (Head athletic trainer) Scott Anderson and his group, all the organization that’s had to go on, we’ve had to look at every single thing that we do in this program down to the smallest details. Everything has had to be adjusted.”

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