Is Bob Stoops planning out his exit from Oklahoma?

Ask anyone in or outside of the media who passionately follows college football to name the top active coaches in the game, the name Bob Stoops is generally one of the top five, and should be.

Stoops has been at OU for 18 seasons – 2017 will be his 19th. That is a lifetime in the world of college head coaches. Very few stay at one school for half that long, even if they manage to avoid the chopping block.

When those close to the Oklahoma football program are asked how long Stoops will remain coach of the Sooners, the consensus response is: “As long as he wants to be.”

That fairly well sums up the present job status of the winningest coach in OU football history and now the longest tenured. Last season, Stoops passed legendary Sooner head coach Bud Wilkinson, who coached Oklahoma for 17 seasons from the late 1940s to the early ’60s, but won 45 fewer games than Stoops’ 190 and counting.

Barry Switzer, who is still very close to the Oklahoma football program 28 years after he stepped down as head coach, won a total of 157 games in 16 seasons.

Several high-profile head-coaching jobs have come up during Stoops’ time at OU, including Florida, Ohio State and Notre Dame. But the Sooner head coach has professed repeatedly that he is very happy where he is.

And to be perfectly honest, there is no earthly reason he shouldn’t be. He is extremely well compensated and is the lead figure of one of the most iconic college football brands with some of the best facilities and resources in the sport.

Stoops, is the highest paid public employee in the state of Oklahoma, making $5.6 million in salary in 2016, according to the USA Today coaches salary data base. That ranks fourth among active head coaches.

More from Stormin in Norman

The Sooner head coach owns a large home in Norman reported to be valued at over $5 million.

Recently, several media sources, including the Chicago Tribune and Oklahoma City Oklahoman, reported that Stoops and his wife, Carol, had purchased a $2.25 million row home on Chicago’s Gold Coast (along the Lake Michigan coast line). The home is 5,500 square feet, with 4 bedrooms, 5 1/2 baths, a media room on the fourth floor and an elevator, among other amenities.

This is the second home the Stoops have purchased in the Windy City. They also own the home immediately next door to the one they just bought. They bought the latter property for $2.2 million in 2006.

According to an article in the Oklahoman, the home they just purchased had been on the market since 2015 and was initially priced at $2.98 million. The home was originally built in 1886 and rebuilt in 2006.

In an interview with an Oklahoma City publication in 2013, Stoops said that Chicago was his wife’s favorite city and that they loved to visit there.

You would think that after the purchase of the initial property on the affluent Chicago Gold Coast that rumors would have run rampant that the OU head coach was looking to move on, or at least was considering his options.

Only I don’t recall hearing much made of it at the time, and it would have been more timely and creditable at that time, given that he had only been at Oklahoma for eight years.

So what should be make of this latest news?

My take on the question: Absolutely nada.

Yes, that may be where Stoops and his wife ultimately retire to, possibly with other family members now that he owns a second property right next door. After all, they really like it in Chicago.

The bottom line is that the Oklahoma head coach of 18 seasons has made a boatload of money working and living in Norman, Okla., and is able to do with it pretty much anything he wants, including investing in real estate.

Next: 30 Best Games in Sooner Football History

How about stoking up this rumor and see what it sets off? What if the coach is just getting ahead of the curve for when Oklahoma leaves the Big 12 to become a member of the Big Ten? Bob, Mike, and the family would have a front row seat right in the heart of Big Ten country.

Just sayin’…