While Jayhawks wage civil war, Sooners carry on civilly
Published: 9/23/2009 9:50 PM
Last Modified: 9/23/2009 9:50 PM
I see where members of Kansas' football and basketball teams spent the last 24 hours reenacting that late-70s movie "The Warriors." Apparently, the term "student-athlete" has been replaced by "student-degenerate" up in Lawrence. Real nice, fellas.
I got to thinking that the only time I've ever really seen Oklahoma football and basketball players mingling on campus is at the occasional OU soccer game. Seems they get along pretty well. Maybe it's a trickle down from the two head coaches.
Seems Bob Stoops and Jeff Capel get along very well.
Less than two months after he was hired, Capel was asked by the Blue Devil Nation Web site if he was worried about coaching in the shadow of OU football.
"No. I think it is a plus," he answered. "I have never coached at a school that had football. At OU, football is a culture of its own and I embrace that. It helps us when 86,000 people are seen with a passion for a sport. I get along with Coach Stoops. He is helpful to me, despite the fact that he doesn't have to be."
For proof, consider something basketball recruit James Johnson told OUHoops.com just three weeks ago: "We actually interrupted Coach Stoops’ big meeting and he came and shook our hands. We introduced ourselves and Stoops took us on a tour of the facilities himself. I mean, he left a film meeting to do that so it was pretty neat.”
Last February, Capel went on the ESPN show "PTI." Co-host Dan LeBatard asked him, "Is there any part of you that prefers being second even on your own campus, that you like that you can be in the shadows (of the) insanity of your football team?"
"I love it. I absolutely love it," Capel responded. "Number one, I'm a huge football fan. And to be at the premier football program in the country, and to have a chance to have a relationship like I have with Bob Stoops... I mean, football is the front door of everything we do. Because of that, and because of how great our program is, it gives all of us incredible resources. And I certainly love that."
It's not like Capel, Stoops, Willie Warren and Sam Bradford meet for lunch at the student union every day. And I'm not naive enough to think there have never been any dust-ups between OU athletes over the years.
But it sure seems the football-basketball dynamic is working a little better in Norman than in Lawrence, where the Jayhawks would rather punch each other out than cheer each other on.
-- Guerin Emig
Written by
Guerin Emig
Sports Writer
