Stoops and Snyder: A classic moment
Published: 10/25/2008 7:55 PM
Last Modified: 10/25/2008 7:55 PM
MANHATTAN, Kan. – Before it all began, Bob Stoops and Brent Venables stood in the mouth of Kansas State's giant purple PowerCat, shaking hands and laughing and nodding and smiling with former K-State coach Bill Snyder.
The Masterminds of the Miracle in Manhattan were together again.
"I saw coach Snyder for a good long time, he and his son Sean," Stoops said after his Sooners dispatched the team formerly coached by Snyder 58-35. "It was good to catch up and visit. We visited for quite a while."
While Stoops made his postgame comments on the hydraulic ramp attached to the back of OU's impressive equipment truck, his wife, Carol, stood nearby, as she often does. To the Stoopses, this was not your typical Big 12 road game.
"I do have special emotions here," Stoops said. "I'm very fond of this place. It was a great time in my wife and my life. I loved working with coach Snyder and all the people here. Still have great friends here who mean a lot to me. You don't spend seven years somewhere totally investing everything you have to try and build it and not care about it. So I still do. And I always wish 'em luck."
That's probably why OU didn't score a hundred points on Saturday. The Sooners had 55 at halftime and still missed an extra point and botched a 2-minute drill. Had those gone well, OU would have received the second-half kickoff looking to score its 70th point.
Instead, Stoops likely asked Kevin Wilson to slow things down on offense, and Wilson said his offense runs so well so fast that when they try to slow down, they tend to stumble. That's why OU got only three points in the second half.
Stoops loved the victory, but when he's reached Snyder's age, he'll look back not on all the yards or points or even the victory. He'll probably reflect on his time spent at midfield before the game with his mentor.
"I told him still one of my favorite – including Big 12 championships, national championships, whatever – one of my favorites in my life is when we beat North Texas here (to end a massive losing streak)," Stoops said. "Come from behind in the last minute to win, I'll never forget it. I'd never been somewhere where you needed to win so bad. It helped get us started."
– John E. Hoover
Written by
Guerin Emig
Sports Writer
