Tulsa World: Sooner stability

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Sooner stability

Oklahoma coach Bob Stoops (center) speaks to reporters Wednesday during Big 12 Football Media Days in Kansas City, Mo.CHARLIE RIEDEL/Associated Press

By DAVE SITTLER World Sports Columnist
Published: 7/24/2008 2:10 AM
Last Modified: 7/25/2008 1:39 AM

Correction
This story incorrectly stated when athletic director Joe Castiglione was hired by the University of Oklahoma. He was hired in 1998.

Stoops says administrative consistency pays off

KANSAS CITY, Mo. — As Bob Stoops listened to the questions fired at him Wednesday during the Big 12 Conference's football media days, the Oklahoma coach arrived at one conclusion.

"I'm getting old," he said.

Old? Stoops turns 48 in September, but the daily workout schedule he follows religiously has left him looking more like 38. Even at 48, Stoops has not hit middle age in the real world.

But when it comes to the volatile world of coaching, especially in the cutthroat Big 12, Stoops has become somewhat of an elder statesman as he prepares for his 10th season at OU.

Mack Brown is the only Big 12 coach who has seniority on Stoops. The 2008 season will be Brown's 11th at Texas.

"It's hard to believe it's been 10 years," Stoops said. "It's really pretty special that in those 10 years I've had the same president (David Boren) and the same athletic director (Joe Castiglione)."

The Stoops-Castiglione-Boren team has returned the magic to Sooner football over the past decade.

Boren hired Castiglione away from Missouri in 1988. A year later, Castiglione lured Stoops away from his job as Florida's defensive coordinator. The result has been one of the best eras in OU's tradition-rich history: a 97-22 record, five Big 12 championships and a national title in 2000.

"It's not often anymore that you have the same president and athletic director for 10 years," Stoops said. "And that's a big factor for me (staying at OU)."

Stoops' remarkable run of success and his longevity with the Sooners prompted many sportswriters and sportscasters at the three-day media event at the Marriott Hotel to seek out Stoops, asking him to compare several aspects of the conference this season to past years.

For example, Stoops was asked repeatedly about the Big 12's claim that this is "the year of the quarterback" in the conference. Those inquiring minds wanted to know if Stoops could recall a Big 12 season when the league was this loaded at the game's most important position.

"Maybe I should grow a beard to show you my gray hair," Stoops joked.

It isn't just his firsthand knowledge of the league's history that has Stoops feeling a bit like a graybeard. As he looks around the conference these days, he sees three head coaches who once were on his OU staff: Texas Tech's Mike Leach, Kansas' Mark Mangino and Nebraska's Bo Pelini.

Leach and Missouri coach Gary Pinkel are next in the Big 12 in terms of seniority. Both men are entering their seventh season at their respective universities.

Stoops and Brown are partly to blame for the Big 12's coaching turnover. The league has three rookies this season in Pelini, Baylor's Art Briles and Texas A&M's Mike Sherman. In addition to dominating the Big 12, Stoops and Brown each have won a national title.

But Stoops knows he also resides in a "what have you done for me lately" world. He has spent the offseason answering questions about why OU suddenly cannot win a BCS bowl game. Last season's loss to West Virginia in the Fiesta Bowl was OU's fourth straight loss in a BCS bowl.

Stoops shrugs off the criticism he has taken from frustrated OU fans who do not like watching their beloved Sooners lose bowl games to teams like Boise State. He believes those disgruntled supporters make up a tiny portion of OU's extensive and rabid fan base.

Brown, who also appeared at Wednesday's final day of the Big 12 press conferences, said he found it hard to believe that anyone could fault Stoops' work at OU.

"I think Bob is doing as good a job as anybody in the country," said Brown, who is 3-6 against Stoops in the Red River Shootout. "And if he ever decided to leave, it's going to be hard for anybody to take his place, because they are not going to be able to do what he's done. The next guy is going to be following a guy who is legendary."

The vast majority of the Sooner Nation hope Stoops stays at OU until he retires. When Stoops was asked yesterday if he could envision staying another 10 seasons in Norman after this one, he said, "I don't know. We'll see. I love where I work, and it's exciting going to work every day.

"So I could see it, yeah. But we never know what the world gives you."

Stoops said he has turned the offseason criticism into a positive by using it as motivation. And the challenges he faces in his 10th season still get him as pumped up as he was that first year in charge of the Sooners.

The media touched on a few challenges that Stoops must address this season: Replacing three talented juniors who left early for the NFL, making sure quarterback Sam Bradford does not experience a sophomore slump after an outstanding freshman season, installing a no-huddle offense that is productive, and breaking that BCS bowl losing streak.

"It's always exciting for me this time of the year," Stoops said, "You've got a whole new group of guys, because we are always losing players (to the NFL and graduation)."

The times are guaranteed to remain exciting at OU if the Sooners do not lose Stoops. He needs to stick around until he can say he is getting old, and the description fits.

That is more like 68, coach. Shoot, at 48, you are just getting started. By DAVE SITTLER World Sports Columnist

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Johnny Bananas, (7/24/2008 11:30:19 AM)

Check out Bewwy Twamel up there in the front row. He'd be under the table if Stoops gave him a chance. What a homer. Thank you Tulsa World for your fair take on state sports.

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