It always seemed like Stoops DNA and OU DNA were like blood relatives, but apparently not.
Chip Brown of Horns247 reported on Monday that Mark Stoops, the brother of former longtime Oklahoma coaches Bob and Mike Stoops, will join the Sooners' Red River rival Texas Longhorns' staff as a special assistant to head coach Steve Sarkisian. Mark Stoops was just made available for the first time in 13 years after getting fired as Kentucky's head coach.
Mark Stoops, brother of Bob Stoops, joins Steve Sarkisian's staff
Sarkisian has made a habit of hiring washed up college football coaches, especially defensive minds, after getting cast out by their longtime employer. Most recently, Will Muschamp was named Texas' new defensive coordinator. Muschamp had head coach positions at Florida and South Carolina, but was last on Georgia's staff with various titles throughout the past five seasons.
According to Brown, Stoops' role will be similar to when Texas added Paul Chryst and Gary Patterson to the staff. Patterson was the first to enter this role for Sarkisian in a similar situation as Stoops. Patterson was fired after 22 seasons as TCU's head coach, then after realizing he probably couldn't have a career in country music, he headed to Texas, which was still in the Big 12 with the Horned Frogs at the time.
Patterson was in Austin for just one season, then took a year off before going to Baylor as a consultant for only six months. After another season off, Patterson was just hired by Lincoln Riley to be USC's defensive coordinator, solidifying he's no longer considered a good defensive coach.
These are desperation moves by Sarkisian in hopes one of these old minds can conjure something up to help him reach expectations in Texas with a consistently loaded roster. There are also no limbs coming from Sarkisian's coaching tree as he continues to hire veteran coaches.
Mark Stoops has actually never made a career stop in Oklahoma despite his brothers working a combined 30 seasons there. Bob is still around the program. Mike was part of Mark's Kentucky staff before recently joining Ole Miss as a defensive analyst. When both were made available this offseason, it seemed like the perfect time for at least one of them to join Brent Venables' OU staff.
Instead, though, both brothers will plan against the Sooners in 2026 with SEC rivals, and hopefully Bob will have all the family bragging rights by Thanksgiving.