Inside the walls of Sooner Nation, King Stoops has but one golden rule
Published: 8/29/2011 1:16 PM
Last Modified: 8/29/2011 1:16 PM
NORMAN — Every time a castle crumbles in another kingdom, residents of Sooner Nation should be thankful the walls to their palace remain strong.
With some of college football’s most venerable programs under siege from the NCAA armies — gleaming realms like USC, Ohio State, Miami and even a fringe football monarchy like North Carolina — Oklahoma fans should raise a goblet to their king, Bob Stoops.
Stoops was asked during the Big 12 coaches teleconference on Monday about avoiding prolonged attacks from the NCAA.
“I don't know, we've had our issue way back in 2006,” Stoops said, a reference to Rhett Bomar, J.D. Quinn and Big Red Sports and Imports that landed the Sooners on two years probation. “We're not immune to it, either. I don't want to act like we're any better than anyone else.
“But I will say, and I'm sure other teams do, our guys are well-educated and understand what's right or wrong. To think they don't, that's not right. They do. And our policy has been — and we set that precedent back in 2006 when we removed our starting quarterback from the team the day we started camp, and a starting guard — that if you knowingly are going to jeopardize our program and knowingly are going to violate our rules, then you're not going to be here. You'll find another place to go play. We feel what we're about is bigger than any one or two individuals. That includes me. They know that. We'll go on and continue to win championships around here whether you're here or not. That year we removed our quarterback in 2006, we went on and won the Big 12 championship. Our guys understand that's how it will be.”
At the Sooner Caravan stop in Tulsa back in June, our Dave Sittler asked Stoops if college football was having a bad year. Stoops said no. I stepped in and gave a handful of aforementioned illustrations otherwise, then asked Stoops the exact same question again. He didn’t budge then, and he didn’t when he was asked a similar question on Monday.
“I think so much of today's world, just because it's reported, and then there isn't anything proven, it's said to be so. Sometimes that's not the case,” Stoops said. “I can remember when we had that incident back in 2006, everybody said the whole thing was, this is just the tip of the iceberg. Well no it wasn't. That was all it was, two individuals. And it wasn't an iceberg.
“I think so much of it is blown up before we know. But there have always been violations, let's face it. They go all the way back to the SMU days and before that. There's just a lot more media and everything is talked about 10 times as much because there's more coverage. But we'll still have a national champion this year, and we'll still have bowl games, and it'll be followed with great interest. It won't go away.”
On ESPN’s All Access program, “Training Days,” players made fun of Stoops’ hard line in the sand — you knowingly break the rules here, you’re done — but they’d do well to pay attention.
Insiders say the day Bomar sat across the desk and lied to Stoops, Stoops was angrier than he’s ever been about anything. That's saying a lot.
His kingdom, the one he salvaged from the failures of previous coaches, the one he’d made great again on so many different levels, had been soiled and was under attack once more.
Stoops is no saint. But he knows he is building a legacy at OU. That’s important to him. When it comes to NCAA infractions, he is unbending. His justice is swift and severe.
Figuratively speaking, Bomar’s head now sits on a pike outside the castle gates.
It’s a painful tale, but one Stoops often retells.
For any player who enters Stoops’ realm, there is no better example than that to follow the rules.
— John E. Hoover
Written by
John E. Hoover
Sports Columnist
