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Bob Stoops and two former OU players on College Football HOF Ballot

By Chip Rouse

NORMAN, OK - NOVEMBER 15: Head coach Bob Stoops of the Oklahoma Sooners runs onto the field before a game against the Baylor Bears November 15, 2003 at Memorial Stadium in Norman, Oklahoma. The Sooners won 41-3 to stay undefeated at 10-0. (Photo by Brian Bahr/Getty Images)
NORMAN, OK - NOVEMBER 15: Head coach Bob Stoops of the Oklahoma Sooners runs onto the field before a game against the Baylor Bears November 15, 2003 at Memorial Stadium in Norman, Oklahoma. The Sooners won 41-3 to stay undefeated at 10-0. (Photo by Brian Bahr/Getty Images) /
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Bob Stoops is on the ballot for the 2021 class of the College Football Hall of Fame, and he’s bringing along two of his former players on the same ballot.

It all seems appropriate, especially given that this year marks the 20th anniversary of Oklahoma’s 2000 national championship team, coached by Stoops.

Joining OU’s winningest football coach on the HOF ballot are two players from that top-ranked team that defeated Florida State 13-2 for the BCS national championship: quarterback Josh Heupel and safety Roy Williams.

Stoops’ teams won 190 games and 10 Big 12 championships in his 18 season on the Oklahoma sidelines. In addition to playing in the 2000 BCS National Championship game, the Sooners made three other appearances in the national championship game under Stoops in the BCS era as well as an appearance in the College Football Playoff in his penultimate season as the Sooner’s head coach in 2015.

Three Oklahoma quarterbacks who played under Stoops won the Heisman Trophy (Jason White in 2003, Sam Bradford in 2008 and Baker Mayfield in 2017) and two others (Heupel in 2000 and Adrian Peterson in 2004) were Heisman runner-ups.

The Sooners posted a record of 20-5 in the two seasons Heupel was the starting quarterback. He was a consensus All-American in 2000.

Heupel later served on Stoops’ coaching staff for nine season, working with the quarterbacks and from 2011-2014 as the Oklahoma offensive coordinator. After brief assistant coaching stints at Utah State and Missouri, Heupel became the head coach at Central Florida in 2018.

Williams was named a First-Team All-American in 2001 and was awarded the Bronko Nagurski Trophy and Jim Thorpe Award in the same year as the best defensive player and best defensive back, respectively, in college football.

The All-American safety was a first-round pick, the eighth player taken overall, of the Dallas Cowboys in the 2002 NFL Draft. He played seven seasons with the Cowboys and two with the Cincinnati Bengals in a nine NFL seasons and was a five-time Pro-Bowler.

The three Oklahoma Sooners are among 85 overall nominees (78 players and seven coaches) on the College Football Hall of Fame ballot for the class of 2021.

Voting is done by more than 12,000 National Football Foundation members and current Hall of Famers.

A player must have been recognized as a First-Team All-American on an NCAA sanctioned list and becomes eligible for consideration 10 years after his final college season. Coaches become eligible for HOF nomination three seasons after retirement and must have coached for at least 10 seasons and 100 games, with a winning percentage of .600 or higher.

The 2021 class will be announced early in 2021. The official induction ceremony will be held in New York City on Dec. 7, 2021.

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