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His Peers Still Believe Bob Stoops Has ‘Big Game’ Prowess

By Chip Rouse

Sep 12, 2015; Knoxville, TN, USA; Oklahoma Sooners head coach Bob Stoops celebrates with wide receiver Jarvis Baxter (1) after defeating the Tennessee Volunteers in double overtime at Neyland Stadium. Oklahoma won 31-24. Mandatory Credit: Jim Brown-USA TODAY Sports
Sep 12, 2015; Knoxville, TN, USA; Oklahoma Sooners head coach Bob Stoops celebrates with wide receiver Jarvis Baxter (1) after defeating the Tennessee Volunteers in double overtime at Neyland Stadium. Oklahoma won 31-24. Mandatory Credit: Jim Brown-USA TODAY Sports /
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Bob Stoops may not be the first choice of coaches you would want to go with if you had one game to win, but he clearly is up there with the best of them.

Dec 31, 2015; Miami Gardens, FL, USA; Oklahoma Sooners head coach Bob Stoops reacts against the Clemson Tigers in the second quarter of the 2015 CFP Semifinal at the Orange Bowl at Sun Life Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Kim Klement-USA TODAY Sports
Dec 31, 2015; Miami Gardens, FL, USA; Oklahoma Sooners head coach Bob Stoops reacts against the Clemson Tigers in the second quarter of the 2015 CFP Semifinal at the Orange Bowl at Sun Life Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Kim Klement-USA TODAY Sports /

That was the question that ESPN.com posed to 45 head coaches from Power Five conferences to find out which head coach they would most trust and want to go with to win that one big game.

There was one caveat to this survey question, though. The coaches could not select Nick Saban. The survey administrators felt that he would be the obvious choice, so to make the results more interesting and thought-provoking, his name was excluded from the survey to, as they put it, “prevent a landslide.”

Even though he is the winningest coach in Oklahoma football history, and has the best winning percentage of any active coach in the FBS against ranked opponents, Stoops has been vilified by fans and media alike in recent years for not coming through in the big games like he once did.

Stoops’ peers at the other major programs, however, still believe in the Oklahoma head coach to get the job done in big-game situations.

“When they have the talent, he (Stoops) can coach the big game with the best of them.” — An SEC coach who preferred to remain anonymous”

With Saban off the ballot, so to speak, Ohio State’s Urban Meyer was the coaches’ top choice as the man they would most trust on the sidelines to win that one big game. Not surprisingly, though, Meyer’s best support came from other Big Ten coaches.

OU’s Stoops was among six other high-profile head coaches who received multiple votes.

One of Stoops’ supporters was Mark Dantonio of Michigan State. “He’s willing to take chances,” Dantonio said about the OU head coach in an interview with ESPN.com’s Adam Rittenberg. “He surrounds himself with good players, and he’s a guy that’s been in the big games before and understands how to win ’em.”

An SEC coach had this to say about Stoops: “When they (Oklahoma) have the talent, he can coach the big game with the very best of them.”

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