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Oklahoma Sooners set to make even more changes in their football program's front office

Originally posted on A to Z Sports | By Justin Churchill | Last updated May 26, 2025 7:29 PM ET

The Oklahoma Sooners are obviously trying to get with the program when it comes to the new world of college football. You may like it, love it, or hate it, but this is what it is now, and it doesn't feel like it will change anytime soon.

So, they are getting guys in their front office who somewhat know how to deal with that, while also getting people who have done the recruiting side of things at the highest levels possible. The recruiting has to get better, and they seem to know that.

So, they hired someone from UCLA, per George Stoia from On3.

OU is hiring UCLA’s director of player personnel Stacey Ford to its front office staff. @mzenitz had it first.

He previously worked with Ben Arbuckle at Washington State. And he got his start in the business as a scouting intern for the Raiders. https://t.co/lm8M2d5pKL
— George Stoia III (@GeorgeStoia) May 26, 2025

Sooners hire UCLA’s director of player personnel Stacey Ford

Stacey Ford became UCLA’s director of player personnel in March 2024 under head coach DeShaun Foster. A Los Angeles native, Ford previously served as Washington State’s director of recruiting for two years and coached at Warren High School in Downey, California, leading the team to undefeated regular seasons and league titles from 2019 to 2021.

He also coached at Cathedral High School and worked as a scout intern for the Las Vegas Raiders, formerly the Oakland Raiders, in 2016. His experience in recruiting, coaching, and scouting helped UCLA manage its roster and recruit in the Big Ten. His move to Oklahoma reunites him with offensive coordinator Ben Arbuckle from Washington State.

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A former linebacker at Tuskegee University, Ford uses his playing and coaching background to connect with athletes. The Sooners are trying to build up their front office with names and faces that are modernized to this current evolution of the college football world.

They did that with Jim Nagy, the former Executive Director of the Senior Bowl and former NFL scout. Now, they are grabbing another guy who has worked with large sums of NIL value, like getting Nico Iamaleava on campus. And, it helps that he has scouted in the NFL as well.

This article first appeared on A to Z Sports and was syndicated with permission.

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