Stoops was anxious about coming to OU
Published: 11/17/2007 6:31 PM
Last Modified: 11/17/2007 6:31 PM
LUBBOCK, Texas – It's an hour from kickoff at Jones AT&T Stadium, which affords a little time for reflecting on the wit and wisdom of OU coach Bob Stoops.
Earlier in the week, Stoops was asked questions about his assistant coaches, particularly on how he counsels them in regards to job searches.
He took the opportunity to recount some of his feelings when he was hired at OU in December 1998. Keep in mind, these aren't exactly feelings that Stoops goes around talking about all the time.
"I'm on the job here a few weeks, and the state of the program, I think you could say, wasn't very good," he said. "My thinking at the time was, 'What have I gotten into?' "
OK, this is my fourth year on the Oklahoma football beat, and I've never heard Stoops say anything remotely close to that. For the five years before that, I closely followed most of what he said on record. I don't recall Stoops ever saying that during his transition time between Florida and Oklahoma, he had cold feet.
"I went back at Christmastime, and my car dealer, Rick Rundle, a good buddy of mine, picks me up at the airport, and it's an hour drive back, and I said to him, 'Rick, I'm afraid I've ruined my life,' " Stoops said. "All of it was just so hectic. You know, all that comes with it. Just, 'Wow.' "
That sounded like Stoops showing his vulnerability, his natural human frailties. Again, a first for me. Personally, I like Stoops. I have great respect for his ability to coach. We once played golf together, and he coached me to a 25-foot putt and later on a 260-yard drive in the middle of the fairway. If you've ever seen me play golf, then you now realize what a good coach the man is.
I'm just saying, he very, very seldom reveals such intimate feelings to the public, and almost never does so to the press. It was a refreshing conversation.
"I guess that (trepidation) was my initial feeling," Stoops said. "But then of course, you get over that within a month and you get back to work and now you've got your staff together – at that point, I still hadn't had my staff all together – but then once you do, you start to see, 'All right, now this is more what I thought it'd be.' "
Earlier in the day he said Steve Spurrier had told him he didn't think he could get the OU job, that first-year athletic director Joe Castiglione would probably hire a proven head coach instead of a hot young coordinator. Stoops also said he loved working for Spurrier, loved being Florida's defensive coordinator, loved living in Gainesville with his wife and young children. But seeing the mess that John Blake had left behind, he said, made it even more difficult to leave.
"Oh just everything," he said. "Facilities, talent, perception of everything, even the perception trying to recruit. There wasn't a lot that was positive. And you just left something that was incredibly positive. So it took time to grow into that. Once you come back after Christmas, the staff was intact, then it started to (feel like), 'All right, this is what I need to be doing.' "
– John E. Hoover
Written by
Guerin Emig
Sports Writer
