Bob Stoops stepping down as Oklahoma football coach after 18 seasons
By Chip Rouse
Bob Stoops, the winningest coach in Oklahoma football history, has announced he is retiring, effective immediately, after 18 highly successful seasons as head coach of the Sooners.
A few weeks ago, we pondered the possibility of Bob Stoops stepping away from coaching. That pondering turned to reality today.
The 56-year-old Sooner head coach has a record of 190-48 in his 18 seasons in Norman, 33 more wins than Barry Switzer, the second winningest head coach in OU’s storied football history. Stoops won a national championship in 2000, his second season at Oklahoma, and led his team to 10 Big 12 championships, seven more than the next closest conference team.
Stoops won more games at Oklahoma in his 18 seasons than any other Division I college coach. That included a winning record against the Sooners two biggest rivals. He was 11-7 against Texas and 14-4 in games with in-state Bedlam rival Oklahoma State.
Oklahoma sold out every home game the Sooners played under Stoops’ reign, 110 of them. Oklahoma was a remarkable 101-9 in those games.
While it is not surprising that Stoops would be interested in a change of environment after nearly two decades at the same institution, the timing and suddenness of the announcement is, frankly, surprising to me. The fact that this decision is effective immediately is the most curious part.
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Why not make it effective at the end of the coming season, which would allow time for an orderly transition? Is there something else going on here? Not sure, but it is sure to come out in the immediately days ahead.
In a statement released by the university and reported by multiple news sources, including USA Today, Stoops ruled out, or at least played down, health as the reason for the sudden announcement:
"“After 18 years at the University of Oklahoma, I decided to step down as the head football coach. I understand there has been some speculation about my health. My health was not the deciding factor in this decision, and I’ve had no incidents that would prevent me from coaching.“I feel the timing is perfect to hand over the reins. The program is in tremendous shape. We have outstanding players and coaches and are poised to make another run at the Big 12 and a national championship.”"
Stoops said he plans to remain in Norman and he is expected to remain with the university in some capacity, most likely as a special assistant to athletic director Joe Castiglione.
Just a couple of weeks ago, it was reported that Stoops and his wife, Carol, had purchased a second residential property on Chicago’s tony Gold Coast. Both are row homes, both priced at over $2 million, and sit right next to each other. At the time, we reported, somewhat in jest, that the longtime Oklahoma head coach might be planning for his departure from OU. Now it appears there was a lot more to this than simply coincidence.
Stoops planned to inform the team on prior to going public with the announcement.
A University of Oklahoma source told Oklahoma City Oklahoman sports columnist Berry Tramel that offensive coordinator Lincoln Riley would take over as the Sooners’ head coach.
Riley is considered one of the brightest, young offensive minds in college football and was almost assured of getting a head-coaching job in the next year or two. The concern has been that OU might lose him much sooner than later. It appears that concern has been mitigated.
It has not been made clear, though, if the advancement of Riley is a permanent move. The Oklahoma coaching job is one of the most prestigious in the country, and there is more than enough money there to bring in a top name in the game (Stoops was making an annual salary of $5.5 million).
And what about defensive coordinator Mike Stoops? What happens with him? Bob’s younger brother has head-coaching experience (at Arizona for eight years). Was he considered as his older brother’s replacement, or can we assume that he might be moving along with brother Bob?
Still many questions to be answered, not the least of which is how will this affect the incoming recruiting class, which was one of the top-10 in the country for 2017, as well as the eight verbal commitments currently in the Sooners’ 2018 class.