Bob Stoops
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Robert Anthony Stoops (born September 9, 1960) is the head coach of the University of Oklahoma football team. During the 2000 season, Stoops led the Sooners to an Orange Bowl victory and a National Championship.
Prior to coaching at Oklahoma, Stoops held various coordinator and position-coach positions at Iowa, Kansas State and Florida. In 2000, Stoops led his team to three consecutive wins over ranked teams including Texas, Kansas State and Nebraska.[2][3][4] Stoops was awarded the 2000 Paul "Bear" Bryant Award and the 2000 and 2003 Walter Camp Coach of the Year for "Coach of the Year."[5]
High school and college
Stoops is one of 6 children born to Ron Sr. and Evelyn "Dee Dee" Stoops in Youngstown, Ohio. He is a 1978 graduate of Cardinal Mooney High School, where his father was the long-time defensive coordinator of the football team. Bob and his three brothers (Ron Jr., Mike, and Mark) were all coached by Ron Sr. at Mooney. During a game in 1988 against the team coached by Ron Jr., Ron Sr. began experiencing chest pains. He was placed in an ambulance following the game and died en route to the hospital.[6][7]
Stoops was a four-year starter, and one-time All-Big Ten selection at defensive back at the University of Iowa. He was also one of the Big Ten's Most Valuable Players in 1982.[8]
Coaching career
After graduating with his marketing degree in 1983, Stoops began his coaching career as a volunteer firefighter and graduate assistant in the Iowa Hawkeyes program under Hayden Fry. He was an assistant at Kent State University in 1988, and joined Kansas State University the following year. Stoops was named co-defensive coordinator at Kansas State under Bill Snyder in 1991 and assistant head coach and co-defensive coordinator in 1995. During his tenure on the Wildcats staff, Stoops played a key role in their impressive turnaround, helping take what many considered to be the worst program in Division 1-A to national contention. During his final four seasons there, KSU was 35–12 with three bowl appearances.
He then left for the University of Florida, and landed a three-year stint as Steve Spurrier’s defensive coordinator. Hired after Florida gave up 62 points to Nebraska in the 1996 Fiesta Bowl,[9] he was given full powers over the Gators defense and was part of the Gators' national championship win over Florida State in the 1997 Sugar Bowl.[10]
It was with the Gators that the spotlight found Stoops and made him one of the hottest coaching names in the profession. Stoops' success at Kansas State and Florida launched him to the top of the list of assistant coaches primed for head coaching positions in 1999.
University of Oklahoma
The University of Oklahoma named Stoops their head coach in 1999. Stoops quickly turned the program around, winning seven games and taking the Sooners to their first bowl game in four years.
Overall, Oklahoma is 2-5 in BCS games, but 5-6 in bowl games under Stoops.
Now in his 11th year as head coach of the Sooners, Stoops has a combined record of 117–28 (.807). He has only lost 2 games in Norman, and currently holds the nation's longest home winning streak at 33 consecutive games. He also has the most wins of the decade of any BCS school with 109 (2000–present). Along with Bennie Owen, Bud Wilkinson, and Barry Switzer, he is one of four coaches to win over 100 games at the University of Oklahoma. No other college football program has more than 3 coaches to accomplish such a feat.
He led the Sooners to the 2000 BCS National Championship and finished the season undefeated, outscoring 13 opponents by a combined 481–194. His Oklahoma teams again earned the opportunity to play in the Bowl Championship Series National Championship Game in 2003, 2004 and 2009, losing to LSU 21–14 in the 2004 Sugar Bowl, and to USC 55–19 (vacated) in the 2005 Orange Bowl, and University of Florida 24–14 in the 2009 Orange Bowl. Oklahoma under Bob Stoops has played in more BCS National Titles games (4) than any other school.
Stoops' teams have finished the season ranked in the Top 10 of the polls for 9 of 10 seasons, 6 of those 9 being in the Top 5.
Stoops, however, has led his team to 11 straight bowl games, six of which were BCS Bowls, including the Big 12's first Rose Bowl victory as the Sooners upended Washington State 34–14 in Pasadena on New Years Day 2003.
Stoops penchant for winning the big games early in his career earned him the nickname "Big Game Bob", and his teams have only lost a total of two games at home in Norman, Oklahoma. There was a point in time from 1999–2003, Oklahoma under Stoops was 18-2 (0.900) vs. ranked opponents, and 3-1 (0.750) in bowl games with one National Title and 3 Big 12 Titles.
Late in the 2003 season, however, Bob's brother Mike Stoops left his position of Defensive Coordinator and Associate Head Coach at Oklahoma to accept the head coaching job at Arizona. The Sooners promptly lost 2 games in a row against ranked teams after Mike's departure that season (a shocking 35–7 loss against #13 Kansas State in the Big 12 Title Game, and a tough 21–14 loss to #3 LSU in the BCS National Title Game). Since that time (2004–present), Stoops' teams have gone 17–13 vs. ranked opponents, and 2–4 in Bowl Games with no National Titles (although they played for 3 more), and 3 Big 12 Titles. Stoops' teams did finish with 2 Heisman Trophy winners during this time, however, and 2 runner-ups.
Under Stoops, the Sooners have won seven Big 12 Conference Championships, the most of any Big 12 team. Oklahoma is also the only team to win back-to-back-to-back Big 12 Championships. In his ten years as head coach, Stoops is 7–5 against the Texas Longhorns, which includes a 5 game winning streak from 2000–2004, in which his Sooners handed the Longhorns two of their worst defeats in school history, 63–14 and 65–13 respectively (2000, 2003).
Oklahoma under Stoops (1999–present) has won 72 Big 12 conference games, second to Texas' Mack Brown at 74 Big 12 victories. Yet Oklahoma has won seven Big 12 Titles during this span, while Texas has won two.
On July 11, 2007, Oklahoma was placed on probation for two years by the NCAA for a rules violation involving QB Rhett Bomar and Outside Linebacker JD Quinn, who the University had previously suspended from the team due to the players' efforts to obtain payment for hours not worked. While the students who violated the rules were reinstated by the NCAA and allowed to play for other schools, the University, which had self-reported the violations, was initially directed to vacate all wins during the 2005–2006 season, which included a 17–14 win over the University of Oregon in the Holiday Bowl. [11] Oklahoma appealed the NCAA's ruling of a "failure to monitor" the employment of players in the program, as well as a reduction in scholarships and probation lasting until May, 2010. [12] On February 22, 2008, the NCAA reversed part of the decision and reinstated the vacated wins. [13]
Stoops' 2008 team went down in the history books as the highest scoring team in college football history, scoring a total of 716 points, averaging 51 points per game. There was also a stretch of five consecutive games where the Sooners scored 60 points or more, another record (in the game prior to the streak, the Sooners scored 58 points). After a 4-week layoff, the offense stagnated against the nation's best defense of the Florida Gators in the National Title game, scoring only 14 points and suffering two turnovers by the Florida goal line. The Sooners were without one of their star offensive playmakers in DeMarco Murray, who sat out with an injury. However, the Sooner's 2008 defense, which was much maligned during the season for allowing a Stoops'-worst 25 points per game average, held the Florida Gator's high-powered Tim Tebow-led offense to only 24 points, 21 points below their season average.
Stoops' performance at Oklahoma has made him the frequent subject of head coach searches by several NFL teams as well as other college programs, which he has repeatedly turned away. He was reportedly the top-paid coach in Division 1-A football with annual compensation in excess of $3 million until Nick Saban was signed by the University of Alabama for $4 million per year beginning in 2007. However, Stoops did receive a "longevity bonus" of $3,000,000 at the end of the 2008 season (his 10th), making his annual salary in 2008 approx. $6,100,000.00.
Contract extensions and revisions for the 2009 season have kept Stoops atop the list of highest paid coach in the nation at $4.303 million per year, behind USC's Pete Carroll ($4.386 million), and Texas Longhorns coach Mack Brown ($5 million).
In his short career at Oklahoma, several of Stoops' assistants have become head coaches at other Division 1-A programs, including brother Mike Stoops (Arizona), Mark Mangino (Kansas), Mike Leach (Texas Tech), Chuck Long (San Diego State), Bo Pelini (Nebraska) and Kevin Sumlin (Houston).
Personal life
Bob Stoops is married to Carol Stoops, a successful Mary Kay National Sales Director.[14] They have three children: a daughter, Mackenzie, and twin sons, Isaac and Drake. Stoops remains close with Steve Spurrier, his mentor from the University of Florida. Stoops has, in the past, called Spurrier the greatest college head coach.
Younger brother Mike Stoops is currently the head coach for the University of Arizona Wildcats. Another brother (the youngest), Mark Stoops, currently serves as the Florida State University defensive coordinator, after leaving the same job at the University of Arizona. Older brother Ron Jr., is an assistant coach at Youngstown State in Youngstown, Ohio.[citation needed]
Head coaching record
| Year | Team | Overall | Conference | Standing | Bowl/playoffs | Coaches# | AP° | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Oklahoma Sooners (Big 12 Conference) (1999–present) | |||||||||
| 1999 | Oklahoma | 7–5 | 5–3 | T–2nd (South) | L Independence | ||||
| 2000 | Oklahoma | 13–0 | 8–0 | 1st (South) | W Orange† | 1 | 1 | ||
| 2001 | Oklahoma | 11–2 | 6–2 | 2nd (South) | W Cotton | 6 | 6 | ||
| 2002 | Oklahoma | 12–2 | 6–2 | T–1st (South) | W Rose† | 5 | 5 | ||
| 2003 | Oklahoma | 12–2 | 8–0 | 1st (South) | L Sugar† | 3 | 3 | ||
| 2004 | Oklahoma | 12–1 | 8–0 | 1st (South) | L Orange† | 3 | 3 | ||
| 2005 | Oklahoma | 8–4 | 6–2 | 2nd (South) | W Holiday | 22 | 22 | ||
| 2006 | Oklahoma | 11–3 | 7–1 | 1st (South) | L Fiesta† | 11 | 11 | ||
| 2007 | Oklahoma | 11–3 | 6–2 | 1st (South) | L Fiesta† | 8 | 8 | ||
| 2008 | Oklahoma | 12–2 | 7–1 | T–1st (South) | L BCS NCG† | 5 | 5 | ||
| 2009 | Oklahoma | 8–5 | 5–3 | T–3rd (South) | W Sun | ||||
| 2010 | Oklahoma | 11–2 | 6–2 | T–1st (South) | Fiesta† | ||||
| Oklahoma: | 128–31 | 78–18 | |||||||
| Total: | 128–31 | ||||||||
| National championship Conference title Conference division title or championship game berth | |||||||||
| |||||||||
References
- ^ Shinn, John. "UPDATED: Stoops' contract extended through 2015". USA Today. Retrieved 2009-09-07.
- ^ "2000 Football Season". SoonerStats.com. Retrieved 2007-10-18.
- ^ "Sooners enjoy a soft spot". Chicago Sun-Times. 2000-11-05. Retrieved 2007-10-18. [dead link]
- ^ Hayes, Matt (2000-11-06). "Norman is back to normal, thanks to Stoops' magic - University of Oklahoma football coach Bob Stoops". The Sporting News. Retrieved 2007-10-18.
- ^ "Walter Camp's 2006 "Coach of the Year"" (Press release). WalterCamp.org.
- ^ Thamel, Pete (2004-08-29). "COLLEGE FOOTBALL PREVIEW 2004; A Family of Coaches Has Followed Its Leader". The New York Times. Retrieved 2007-10-18.
- ^ Branch, John (2001-08-28). "Legend in the making/ National title vaults Stoops into Sooner elite". The Colorado Springs Gazette. Retrieved 2007-10-18.
- ^ "2007 Big Ten Media Guide" (PDF). pp. 93, 100.
- ^ "Gatorzone.com - Florida Gators Bowl Record".
- ^ "Gatorzone.com - Florida Gators 1996 Season".
- ^ "NCAA Division I Committee on Infractions Penalizes University of Oklahoma". 2007-07-11. Retrieved 2007-09-07. [dead link]
- ^ "OU to Appeal NCAA Decision". OU Athletic Department. 2007-07-11. Retrieved 2007-07-11.
{{cite news}}: Cite has empty unknown parameter:|1=(help) - ^ "NCAA gives OU back its wins for 2005 season". The Oklahoman. February 22, 2008. Retrieved 2008-02-22.
{{cite news}}: Cite has empty unknown parameter:|1=(help) - ^ Brietzke, Luke (2005-07-22). "USATODAY.com - Notes: Stoops' wife has national title of her own". USA Today. Retrieved 2007-10-29.