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Report: Oklahoma to Hire Recruiting Director

Brent Venables has decided to bring in Jolie Ale to replace Lee Davis as the Sooners on-campus recruiting director, according to a report.

John E. Hoover

Report: Oklahoma to Hire Recruiting Director
Report: Oklahoma to Hire Recruiting Director /
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Brent Venables has reportedly moved forward with a vital hire to Oklahoma’s football recruiting efforts.

OU plans to hire Jolie Ale as Director of On-Campus Recruiting, according to a report Monday from Sooners Illustrated’s Collin Kennedy.

Ale will replace Lee Davis, who announced her resignation on Jan. 9 and is now an Assistant Athletic Director and Football Executive Operations and Recruiting Director at Central Florida.

Ale is a 2019 graduate of USC and received her Master's degree in Public Diplomacy from USC in 2022. She worked in the Trojans’ football recruiting department from 2017-20, according to her LinkedIn profile. She then worked at Utah as the Utes’ Director of On Campus Recruiting for three years before returning to So Cal in community relations with the Los Angeles Chargers.

The position has gained prominence in the last decade as major college football programs navigate the ongoing changes in recruiting and personnel retention.

OU is on its way to the Southeastern Conference while trying to stay ahead of the NIL curve and land impact players from the NCAA Transfer Portal.

At OU, the Director of On Campus Recruiting has been in charge of the planning and coordination of on-campus visits for recruits and their families, including official visits and unofficial visits, among other duties.

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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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