Tulsa World: Stoops studying on break

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Stoops studying on break

By DAVE SITTLER World Sports Columnist
Published: 7/30/2008 2:10 AM
Last Modified: 7/30/2008 2:15 AM

WITH OKLAHOMA coach Bob Stoops having less than a week before his players arrive for fall camp, I figured he would be on a golf course when he answered his cell phone Tuesday morning.

While football is his passion and profession, golf and bocce are the games Stoops loves to play these days.

You won't find many bocce courts in Oklahoma, so Stoops usually doesn't find a game of bocce unless he is back home in Youngstown, Ohio, where he has played the ancient sport since childhood with family members and lifelong buddies.

Stoops tries to return to Youngstown each June for the annual Golden Cardinal Bocce Social, which raises funds for his high school, Cardinal Mooney. He was there last month, helping his older brother Ron run the event.

"It's a great game, a lot of fun," Stoops said of bocce, which dates back to the Roman Empire and apparently is a cross between lawn bowling, curling, marbles, croquet, shuffleboard and several other sports. "It's big in Youngstown."

Finding a game of golf is never a problem in golf-crazy Oklahoma. So, with his 2008 OU team scheduled to report for duty on Sunday, I thought Stoops might be squeezing in a final round at Oak Tree Country Club in Edmond or Southern Hills Country Club in Tulsa (two of his favorite tracks) or some other course before putting away the sticks until next spring.

So it was a surprise to discover that Stoops was sitting in the backseat of a taxi in Jackson, Miss., when he took my call yesterday while simultaneously asking the cabbie for directions to Millsaps College.

A small school (1,200 students) associated with the United Methodist Church, Millsaps College is also home to the New Orleans Saints' preseason training camp.

Stoops was scheduled to meet with the rest of his staff at Harper Davis Field, home field of the Millsaps Majors. New Orleans coach Sean Payton invited the Sooner coaches to spend two days in the Saints' camp, giving them full access to practices and meetings.

A year ago, Stoops and his assistants spent time in the New England Patriots' camp at Gillette Stadium in Foxborough, Mass.

"I like to watch the drills and the pace of practice," Stoops said.

A former defensive coordinator, Stoops spends most of his time in NFL camps watching that side of the ball. Ironically, he will be studying the work of Saints' defensive coordinator Gary Gibbs, the former OU linebacker who was the Sooners' head coach from 1989 to 1994.

Stoops and Gibbs have been friends for several years. But it was OU offensive coordinator Kevin Wilson's association with Payton that opened the door for the Sooners to visit the Saints.

Wilson was on the same staff with Payton at Miami (Ohio) University for the 1994 and 1995 seasons. Payton moved on to work for three NFL teams, including the Dallas Cowboys offensive coordinator job from 2003 to 2005, before taking over in New Orleans in 2006.

"We can always get into (NFL) camps," Stoops said. "But it helps that I know Gary (Gibbs) and a lot of our coaches are good friends with Sean Payton."

Stoops undoubtedly will spend some time visiting Saints' offensive tackle Jammal Brown. He often uses Brown as an example when he talks to OU players who are thinking about leaving college for the NFL after their junior seasons.

Brown, the former Lawton MacArthur High School standout, almost left OU early. But Stoops convinced the 6-foot-6, 313-pound Brown that he could dramatically improve his stock in the draft if he played for the Sooners as a senior.

Projected as perhaps a third-round choice after his junior season, Brown took Stoops' advice. A year later, after he was named the nation's top offensive lineman when he won the 2004 Outland Trophy, Brown became a multimillionaire when the Saints selected him in the first round as the 13th overall pick.

But Stoops will spend the majority of his time as a student. He will soak up any information that will make him a better coach.

"You always get little ideas and some fundamental drills or coaching points," Stoops said. "We may pick up a blitz that fits what we do (defensively), and it's the same thing offensively.

"You're always looking for some new wrinkles."

So instead of studying putts, Stoops will study the game that has opened doors for him to play some of this country's finest golf courses. Now if he could just find a bocce court in Oklahoma. By DAVE SITTLER World Sports Columnist

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texasbill, (7/31/2008 7:56:21 AM)

Is he not the real deal. great job coach stoops!! this is aman that sets an example. oklahoma is very lucky

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