It has been quite the week for surprise college coaching news

Random notes:

▪  Talk about out of the blue.

In totally unexpected news Wednesday, The Oklahoman’s Berry Tramel broke the news that Oklahoma football coach Bob Stoops, brother of UK head coach Mark Stoops, was retiring. All Bob Stoops did was go 190-48 in 18 seasons and win a national championship.

That followed unexpected news Monday when Ohio State announced that Thad Matta was no longer the basketball coach of the Buckeyes. Matta won 337 games at Ohio State and took the Buckeyes to a pair of Final Fours.

Stoops, who is to be replaced by 33-year-old offensive coordinator Lincoln Riley, is apparently leaving of his own accord. He not only returned the Sooners to national prominence — people forget Oklahoma experienced five straight losing seasons before he became head coach — but kept OU near the top of the national rankings year after year. Eleven times the Sooners finished in the Associated Press’ top 10 with Stoops as head coach.

Matta’s departure was apparently not completely voluntary. You wonder if things would have turned out differently for Matta had his Buckeyes, as the No. 1 seed, not been upset by No. 4 seed Kentucky in the 2011 East Region semifinals in Newark, N.J.

And hey, the week isn’t over yet.

▪  There is absolutely no reason to complain about Kentucky basketball’s non-conference schedule. Kansas. North Carolina. Virginia Tech. UCLA. Louisville. West Virginia. It’s plenty tough, especially for a team so young.

Considering the SEC should be even better next season, after a surprisingly strong NCAA Tournament showing, Kentucky’s entire slate should be challenging.

▪  I’ve covered many events, but few matched the organic enthusiasm last weekend at Cliff Hagan Stadium for UK baseball in its win of the Lexington Regional.

▪  That said, measures could be taken to speed up the game. One: Limit the number of trips to the mound by coaches/catchers/infielders, etc.

▪  Scooter Gennett had hit 38 career home runs before the Cincinnati Reds’ utility man hit four in one game on Tuesday night.

▪  Kentucky Derby winner Always Dreaming isn’t running in the Belmont Stakes. Preakess winner Cloud Computing isn’t running in the Belmont Stakes. Breeders’ Cup Juvenile winner and Preakness runner-up Classic Empire isn’t running in the Belmont Stakes because of a foot abscess discovered Wednesday. I like the chances of Kenny McPeek-trained Senior Investment.

This will be the second consecutive year in which the three Triple Crown races will feature three different winners.

▪  Classic Empire’s connections indicated Wednesday the colt will likely run, if healthy, in the Haskell. Considering that Irish War Cry, the Belmont morning line favorite at 7-2, is expected to run, what with owner Isabelle de Tomaso being the daughter of the race’s namesake, the Haskell could have a terrific field.

▪  Will Louisville basketball coach Rick Pitino receive a suspension from the NCAA isn’t as much of a question as how many games will the suspension last.

▪  Slowly, but surely, it sounds like NBA scouts are coming around to the realization that De’Aaron Fox is a better prospect that Lonzo Ball. The draft is June 22nd, by the way.

▪  Hat tip to Corey Price (@coreyp08 on Twitter), who points out only two schools were among the 16 remaining in this year’s NCAA Tournaments in men’s basketball, softball and baseball — Florida and Kentucky.

▪  Kentucky’s opening football opponent, Southern Miss, is ranked No. 81 in the Orlando Sentinel’s countdown to the 2017 season.

▪  I’m guessing that, wherever he might be right now, North Carolina State catcher Andy Cosgrove just pointed toward the third base umpire to see if the check swing was a strike. Just out of habit.

This story was originally published June 7, 2017 at 4:59 PM with the headline "It has been quite the week for surprise college coaching news."