I’m not sure what the waiting period is for induction into the Oklahoma Sports Hall of Fame, or if there even is one, but I do know that Bob Stoops and Patty Gasso secured their inclusion long before now.
The two winningest coaches in Oklahoma athletics history, Stoops and Gasso between them have produced 22 Big 12 champions and five national champions in football and softball. On Monday, the two longtime Sooner coaches — Gasso is still coaching, 2019-20 will be her 26th season at OU, while Stoops retired in 2017 after 18 seasons on the Sooner sidelines –in deservedly took their place in the Oklahoma Hall of Fame.
The resumes of these two superstar coaches is as impressive as anyone in college coaching, both past and present.
Stoops returned Oklahoma football not just to respectability, but to greatness
Stoops took over an OU football program in 1999 that had lost its way, having suffered through four consecutive losing seasons. That had never happened at Oklahoma in the long and storied history of the Sooner football program. Stoops revived Oklahoma football and returned the Sooners back among the very best to play the game.
In just his second season as head coach, Stoops led Oklahoma to its seventh national championships. In his 18 seasons, the Sooners won 190 games, the most of any OU football coach. His home record alone at Gaylord Family — Oklahoma Memorial Stadium was a remarkable 101-9, and all 110 of those games were sellouts.
Stoops’ Sooner teams never had a losing season, winning 10 Big 12 championships, more than three times the next closest team (Texas with three) and posting 11 or more wins in 12 of his 18 seasons.
Oklahoma went to a postseason bowl in all 18 seasons Stoops was head coach. That included appearances in four BCS National Championship games (2000, 2003, 2004 and 2008) and one College Football Playoff appearance (2015).
Voted six times as Big 12 Coach of the Year and twice as National Coach of the Year. Stoops often said, “To be the best, you have to play the best,” and Oklahoma did not shy away from taking on the top teams in the college game. The Sooners were 60-30 against Top-25 teams during Stoops coaching reign. That .667 winning percentage was the best in the nation from 1999 through 2016.
Gasso already in the Softball Hall of Fame
No Oklahoma head coach has had a longer run or achieved greater success than Patty Gasso. She has posted a softball record of 1,260-333-2 (.791) in 25 seasons at Oklahoma. And she’s still going strong.
Oklahoma has never missed postseason play under Gasso, an incredible achievement in and of itself, and the Sooners have made 13 appearances in the Women’s College World Series. Of OU’s four national championships, four of them have come in the past six seasons.
Oklahoma was Gasso’s second stop as a head coach. She played at Long Beach (California) City College and coached there for five seasons before coming to OU. In the 22-year history of the Big 12 Conference, which began in Gasso’s second season as the Sooners’ head coach. Oklahoma has won 343 games (343-85, .801), more than any coach in Big 12 history.
The Sooners have won 12 Big 12 titles under Gasso, including the last eight in a row. Her OU teams have finished second or higher 20 different times in the 22-year history of the Big 12.
Four times under Gasso’s reign, the Oklahoma staff has been named the National Coaching Staff of the Year, and 12 times, including each of the last eight, she has been honored as Big 12 Coach of the Year.
In 2012, the Sooner head coach was named to the National Fastpitch Coaches Association Hall of Fame.
Stoops and Gasso may go down as the two greatest head coaches in the history of University of Oklahoma athletics. They were officially inducted on Monday into the state of Oklahoma Sports Hall of Fame, but their individual and collective accomplishments had ensured them a spot long before now.