Bill Haisten: Owasso’s Drew Frankenfield faces ‘business decision’ following coaching changes

On Dec. 6, Drew Frankenfield and his Owasso teammates were dealt a horrific disappointment — a 43-42 overtime loss to Bixby in a Class 6AI title-game classic. Today, Frankenfield and his family seek the clarity of knowing who will coordinate the Owasso offense and coach the quarterbacks in 2025.

Former Owasso coach Antonio Graham (now the Union head man) says Frankenfield had a tremendous working relationship with Rams offensive coordinator Zac Simmonds and QBs coach Dane Evans.

The results confirm that: As a 15-year-old, first-year varsity starter, Frankenfield completed 77% of his passes for 206 yards per game, with 35 TD passes against only six interceptions.

Bill Blankenship paused his retirement after one year and once again is the Owasso head coach. It is expected that Simmonds and Evans will be elsewhere next season. On Friday, Owasso defensive coordinator Jacques Washington was introduced as Jenks’ new defensive coordinator.

It is expected also that Josh Blankenship, fired in November by the Broken Arrow Public Schools after four seasons as the Tigers’ head coach, soon will be formally hired to coordinate the Owasso offense for his dad Bill Blankenship.

Tulsa County player movement has become more common since the 2022 switch of Shaker Reisig from Jenks to Union.

The stakes are high for Frankenfield and his family. Frankenfield has a chance to be heavily recruited at the highest level of college football, and with that comes the potential for heavy NIL compensation.

If Frankenfield were to switch high schools — either by moving to a different district or by executing an open-transfer move during the summer — it might influence talented playmakers to enroll at his new school and join forces with a 77% passer.

‘A lot to figure out’

“A lot has happened and it happened real fast,” said Todd Frankenfield, Drew’s father. “There’s still a lot to figure out.”

Since the midway mark of the 2024 season, there were whispers that Union head man Kirk Fridrich was looking at the possibility of taking a break from coaching.

Graham had been a Bill Blankenship-coached Union linebacker two decades earlier, and Graham’s wife currently is a Union educator, so it made sense that Graham would be targeted by Union if Fridrich were to step away.

Fridrich did step away during the week of the Owasso-Bixby championship game. Only a few minutes before Graham’s Dec. 10 news conference at Union, there was a press release from the Owasso Public Schools: Again, Bill Blankenship will coach the Rams.

Graham succeeded Blankenship in December 2023, and Blankenship succeeded Graham in December 2024.

When there was speculation that Graham would be recruited by Union if Fridrich resigned, there was chatter that the 42-year-old Simmonds was positioned for a promotion to the Rams’ head-coaching role.

Instead, at the moment of truth, the Owasso Public Schools enticed 68-year-old Bill Blankenship to return as the Rams’ coach. During his seven seasons at Owasso, Blankenship coached the 2017 and 2019 Rams to state titles.

On Saturday, Blankenship indicated to the Tulsa World that there are multiple Rams assistants who are expected to leave but haven’t yet submitted resignations. Presumably, Simmonds and Evans are among those assistants.

“We instructed Drew to let the dust settle and see where all of the (assistant coaches) eventually land,” Todd Frankenfield stated. “We’ll evaluate the situation and see. He doesn’t want to leave Owasso. All of his friends are there. It’s been a great community for us.”

“But,” Todd Frankenfield added, “there are also decisions to be made. These are business decisions, and Drew is prepared to make a business decision if that’s what needs to be done. We don’t want to go backwards, as it pertains to his development.

“We’ve been transparent. We’ve talked with both coach Blankenship and (had) some initial conversations with Antonio. (Neither Owasso nor Union) has officially announced their new coaching staffs, but we have a pretty good idea of who’s going where.”

The Blankenships

Josh Blankenship was on his father’s coaching staffs at Union and at the University of Tulsa. During the 2024 Broken Arrow season, Bill Blankenship was a Josh Blankenship consultant.

If Josh had remained the BA head man in 2025, Bill would have been a full-fledged staff member.

Josh Blankenship occasionally has been in the Owasso football building since Bill returned to the head coach’s office last month, and it feels inevitable that Josh soon will be formally named the Rams’ offensive coordinator.

On the subject of nepotism, and how there might be critics of Bill’s employment of Josh if or when it becomes official, Bill Blankenship said, “I think if you put his play-calling resume out there, everybody would want him. People get lost on the head-coaching (record). If you look at offensive production everywhere he’s been – including Adams State, which is pretty incredible – it speaks for itself. If you put all of his numbers down on a resume, it speaks for itself.

“I think people who don’t understand sports or business (might ask), ‘Why are there so many family connections in sports staffs?’ It’s because your butt is on the line, and you want people with you who get that. People you can trust. The people who believe you’re giving (jobs as gifts) – I understand why people see that, but those folks don’t understand the nature of competitive athletics.”

Bill Blankenship closed with this: “Nobody is going to keep their job because of their name.”

Simmonds and Evans

If Simmonds and Evans do leave Owasso as expected, their next employers get smart young coaches. The Rams were driven to the brink of a championship by a perfect complement to their Drew Frankenfield passing game: a phenomenal offensive line and 3,750-yard, 42-touchdown run game.

Simmonds attended Union and was coached by Bill Blankenship. Simmonds’ mother and Blankenship are cousins. Originally a quarterback, Simmonds switched to tight end and receiver because Bill Blankenship had a gifted son — Josh Blankenship — who also was a QB.

After playing football at SMU, Simmonds worked for two years in Washington, D.C. – for U.S. Sen. John Cornyn of Texas — before launching his coaching career at a Dallas-area private high school.

After two seasons on the Ada staff, Simmonds scored a nice role – the offensive coordinator role – on the Bill Blankenship Owasso staff in 2017.

Blankenship was the offensive play-caller during most of his 34 seasons as a head coach, but in 2023 he handed play-calling responsibilities to Simmonds.

In 2012, Evans was recruited by then-Golden Hurricane coach Bill Blankenship to TU. As a senior in 2016, Evans led the Hurricane to a 10-3 finish and became the program’s career leader in passing yards, total offense and TD passes.

After retiring from the Canadian Football League, the 31-year-old Evans joined the Owasso coaching staff in March – at which time he began to teach Drew Frankenfield how to walk, talk and perform like a big-time quarterback.

Monumental decision

Several area programs are attempting to finalize hires for key roles, but the two most talked-about staffs are those at Owasso and Union. Neither school officially has an offensive coordinator, and Zac Simmonds apparently is an elite free agent.

Because it appears that an impactful QB is studying his options, the most talked-about player is 6-foot-2, 185-pound Owasso quarterback Drew Frankenfield.

His father and older brother Tyler are about 6-5, so Drew should get taller.

Last week, Drew celebrated his 16th birthday by getting a driver’s license. This week, he’ll drive himself to school each morning.

The next few days of coaching movement may have an impact on where he drives to school each morning during his junior year.

“We love the idea of Drew finishing high school in Owasso,” Todd Frankenfield said. “It’s his decision. I’ll guide him, but, ultimately, he has to live it. It’s got to be his decision.”