By JOHN E. HOOVER Sports Columnist on Jan 2, 2013, at 1:06 PM Updated on 1/02 at 1:09 PM
LAS COLINAS, Texas — Fame and fortune hasn’t changed Bob Stoops. Not really.
Anyone who thinks Stoops’ success as head coach at Oklahoma has turned him into an egomaniac probably doesn’t grasp who he is and where he came from.
In reality, Stoops is every bit as self-assured today — call it cocky if you want, but I think it’s an inborn, chip-on-your-shoulder type of toughness — as he was as a skinny wide receiver at Cardinal Mooney High School back in Youngstown, Ohio, or as an overachieving All-Big Ten safety at Iowa, or as a first-year assistant at Kent State, or as a defensive coordinator at Kansas State, or as the next big thing at Florida.
This season, Stoops (149) overtook Bud Wilkinson (145) for second place in all-time victories among OU’s coaching royalty. Bud Wilkinson! He’ll catch Barry Switzer (157) probably next year (even Stoops’ worst teams win eight games).
A win over Texas A&M in the Cotton Bowl on Friday would be career victory No. 150.
Only 11 currently active coaches have 150 career wins.
And in the 143-year history of college football, only 51 men have coached 170 victories. The newest member of that club is K-State’s Bill Snyder, one of Stoops’ mentors.
Stoops is maybe two seasons away from that achievement.
“I never had imagined doing that,” Stoops told me Wednesday. “I’m not the type of person that operates in that way. I have high expectations, but I don’t sit there envisioning things like that. I’m more of a day-to-day, week-to-week, month-to-month, trying-to-get-better type of guy.”
Stoops never set out to achieve long-term greatness. With him, it’s a daily habit that has simply accumulated.
“In our business, you can’t look to see what might happen in fifteen years, but more so day to day,” he said. “I don’t think about all of that; right now I am thinking about Kevin Sumlin and Texas A&M here in a few days.”
On Tuesday, New Year’s Day, Stoops got for his annual $200,000 salary boost, and on June 1, he’ll receive an additional “stay bonus” of $700,000. The extension he signed in 2011 — eight years, $39.4 million — brings his 2013 compensation to $4.55 million.
He also got significant incentive bonuses this season: $71,500 for playing in a non-BCS bowl, $55,000 for finishing in the Top 15 of the Bowl Championship Series standings and $88,000 for winning (or, in this case, sharing) the Big 12 championship, a total of $214,500.
Northern Illinois’ ascension into the BCS field over OU, however, cost Stoops what would have been a $110,000 bonus for playing in a BCS game (a difference of $38,500). Also, OU finished 11th in the BCS standings. Had the Sooners ended up one spot higher — they were .0102 behind No. 10 South Carolina — Stoops would have received an $82,500 bonus (a difference of $27,500).
So, in the pocketbook, just like on the field, it was a good year for Stoops, but it could have been better — $66,000 better.
But just like Stoops isn’t counting wins, he’s probably not counting money. He’s driven by maintaining a standard of excellence that Wilkinson set and Switzer met.
“It is difficult,” Stoops said. “There are ebbs and flows to all programs. You look over the last fourteen or fifteen years, we have been fortunate to maintain a strong level of championships and bowl games. I credit a great administration. We have a great president in David Boren, a great athletic director in Joe Castiglione, who has given us great support. I’ve had great assistant coaches, like Kevin Sumlin. We have had good solid players. Fortunately, I believe we have done it the right way.”
FINANCIAL TERMS OF BOB STOOPS' CONTRACT
2012: $4.55 million
$325,000 (base salary)
$3.325 million (unrestricted private funds)
$200,000 (additional stay benefit, payable withing 45 days of Jan. 1, 2012)
$700,000 (stay bonus, payable June 1, 2013)
2013: $4.55 million
$325,000 (base salary)
$3.525 million (unrestricted private funds)
$700,000 (stay bonus, payable June 1, 2014)
2014: $4.95 million
$325,000 (base salary)
$3.725 million (unrestricted private funds)
$700,000 (stay bonus, payable June 1, 2015)
$200,000 (additional stay benefit, payable withing 45 days of Jan. 1, 2014)
2015: $4.95 million
$325,000 (base salary)
$3.925 million (unrestricted private funds)
$700,000 (stay bonus, payable June 1, 2016)
2016: $5.15 million
$325,000 (base salary)
$4.125 million (unrestricted private funds)
$700,000 (stay bonus payable June 1, 2017)
2017: $5.15 million
$325,000 (base salary)
$4.125 million (unrestricted private funds)
$700,000 (stay bonus payable June 1, 2018)
2018: $5.15 million
$325,000 (base salary)
$4.125 million (unrestricted private funds)
$700,000 (stay bonus payable June 1, 2019)
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