Not even a month has passed since Lamar hired former Oklahoma football head coach John Blake to coach the defensive line.

Now, the Cardinals will be without him when they return from spring break.
The Buffalo Bills have confirmed Tuesday morning that they hired Blake to the same position on Rex Ryan’s staff. Ryan was defensive coordinator under Blake at Oklahoma in 1998, Blake’s last season before he was fired.

“We have agreed to terms with John Blake to become our new defensive line coach and I believe he will do an excellent job in working with the talented players we have at that position,” Ryan said in an article on buffalobills.com. “John is a heck of a coach who has worked with many outstanding players and made them better. He endured a difficult time in his career a few years back, but has moved forward with his life and put that behind him.”
Lamar has not announced Blake’s departure, and Cardinals head coach Ray Woodard did not immediately return a phone call seeking comment.

Ryan was apparently referring to Blake’s return to the college game with Lamar from a three-year show-cause penalty stemming from an investigation into players’ relationships with an agent he worked for. The NCAA reportedly determined Blake received personal loans from the late Gary Wichard and failed to disclose them to North Carolina and misled NCAA investigators, leading him to resign from North Carolina as its D-line coach in September 2010. The show-cause penalty took effect in March 2012.

Blake’s hire to Lamar’s staff was one of the biggest splashes Woodard made during the offseason, as it signaled his return to the college game. He was one of three new assistants hired, along with defensive coordinator Trey Haverty and secondary coach Willie Mack Garza.

“He is a valuable addition to our team, and I can draw on his experience as well,” Woodard said Feb. 16, when Blake’s hire was announced.

Blake went 12-22 with the Sooners from 1996-98 before his firing, which made way for Bob Stoops’ arrival. He also coached at Tulsa from 1987-88, was D-line and linebackers coach at OU from 1989-92 under Gary Gibbs and at Mississippi State, Nebraska and North Carolina from 2003-10, coaching defensive lines at each stop.

He has NFL coaching experience with the Dallas Cowboys (1993-95) under Port Arthur native Jimmy Johnson and former Sooners head coach Barry Switzer.

Now, he’s back in the league in Buffalo. And Woodard is back to the drawing board looking for his fourth hire this offseason to help with Haverty’s 4-2-5 formation, a change from the three-man front the Cardinals used under Craig McGallion.

Lamar has held three practices and return to practice Monday, when classes resume.