Tulsa World: Stoops recalls protege's path

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Stoops recalls protege's path
Leach came to the Big 12 via OU's lack of offensive lure.

By GUERIN EMIG World Sports Writer
Published: 11/11/2008 2:15 AM
Last Modified: 11/11/2008 3:02 AM

Listen to a Q&A with Bob Stoops about OU’s kickoff coverage, the Texas Tech game and more.

Leach came to the Big 12 via OU's lack of offensive lure.

NORMAN — While everyone is looking ahead to the Oklahoma-Texas Tech showdown Nov. 22, (word is, there could be an Owen Field press box overflow with all the national media attending) Bob Stoops spent part of his Monday reminiscing.

The topic: Texas Tech coach Mike Leach, who Stoops hired away from Kentucky to coordinate his first offense at OU in 1999.

"I had competed against Kentucky at Florida," said Stoops, the Gators' defensive coordinator from 1996-98. "At the time, Hal Mumme was there running that offense, but I knew Mike had been with him for a good number of years. And I just knew how challenging it was going against that offense when we were at Florida."

In Stoops' last year in Gainesville, Kentucky came to The Swamp and lit up Stoops' pass defense, ranked fourth nationally at the time, for 406 yards and three touchdowns. The Gators survived, 51-35, simply because they outscored the underdog Wildcats.

"I'd seen how they played against everybody, really, in the league," Stoops said. "So I started thinking, 'Hey, that would be a great way to start here.' That was a reason (to hire Leach), the way they worked the ball.

"The second reason was we didn't really have a quarterback on campus. And bringing Mike here with that style of offense, I felt, would attract quarterbacks, being that Tim Couch had just finished up for them."

Couch became the No. 1 overall pick in the 1999 NFL Draft.

"In that recruiting class, we got Josh Heupel, Nate Hybl and Jason White at once, and they all were great players for us," Stoops said. "So those were the main reasons. I felt, also, it was different. In the Big 12, there wasn't anyone else working the ball that way. I felt it would be kind of a unique and different style for us that hopefully we could take advantage of."

Leach and Mumme's offense set six NCAA records and 41 Southeastern Conference marks in 1997-98. But leaving Lexington for Norman was a no-brainer for Leach.

"Hal and I always had a great relationship, but Oklahoma had a great program," Leach said Monday. "It was exciting to combine what we did offensively with what Bob Stoops did defensively."

So Leach joined the Sooners and helped change the course of both OU and the Big 12 Conference.

"Fortunately, it all worked out," Stoops said.

Guerin Emig 581-8355
guerin.emig@tulsaworld.com By GUERIN EMIG World Sports Writer

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sidster, Tulsa (11/11/2008 12:51:02 PM)

Well OU fans, you're going to wish Leach was still at OU, because Tech is coming to whip that secondary defense of OU. All you bandwagon fans, get ready to boo the Sooners.

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