Stoops speaks out...in a real strong way :)

[Collier11]

Stoops insists Sooners are OK

by: DAVE SITTLER World Sports Columnist
2/3/2008

BOB STOOPS HAS a succinct message for those trying to do a Mark Twain-type number on his Oklahoma football program.

"We aren't going away," the Sooners' coach said in a recent telephone interview.

Stoops' defiant stance will be breaking news to those forecasting both short- and long-term doom for the Sooners following a series of events last month.

The January negativity surrounding OU started with the Fiesta Bowl loss to West Virginia. It grew louder when some recruiting services dropped OU's class out of their top 10, and became a roar after three of the Sooners' best underclassmen announced they were forgoing their senior seasons to enter the NFL Draft.

Most figured wide receiver Malcolm Kelly wouldn't be back for the 2008 season. But the early departures of linebacker Curtis Lofton and cornerback Reggie Smith were as stunning as OU's 48-28 bowl loss on Jan. 2 to the Mountaineers.

The alarmists went to work when word of Lofton and Smith joining Kelly came out within days after the Fiesta Bowl. They were quick to predict that the Sooner Magic that former coach Barry Switzer created and Stoops rekindled was about to pull a vanishing act.

Twain, who famously and happily refuted reports of his death as being "greatly exaggerated," gained a kindred spirit in Stoops when the Sooners' boss heard and read the dire comments.

"Are we going away because of all of this? Are you kidding me?" asked Stoops, who then promptly answered his own questions: "Hell, no."

The fortune of OU's future took another positive turn last week when the NCAA announced it had granted a hardship waiver to OU defensive end John Williams.

The 6-foot-5, 229-pound Williams' injury-plagued career bottomed out in last season's fourth game. Williams, who had battled his way back into the lineup after numerous injuries, was playing at a high level when he suffered a torn left Achilles tendon against Tulsa.

Some of Williams' teammates broke into tears on the sideline of H.A. Chapman Stadium when they learned the popular senior was lost for the season. But those tears gave way to smiles last Tuesday when Williams learned the NCAA had awarded him a rare sixth year of eligibility.

Those dark January days will be pushed even further aside this week when Stoops holds his first press conference since immediately after the loss to West Virginia.

Stoops is scheduled to meet the press on Wednesday to discuss recruiting. That's the first day those players who have made verbal commitments to schools can make it official by signing letters of intent.

While the naysayers dwelled on OU's fourth straight BCS bowl loss, the three juniors bolting early for the NFL, and reports of a recruiting slippage, Stoops and his staff had rebounded nicely by late Jan uary with another crop of highly regarded prospects.

The Rivals.com recruiting service ranks OU's class at the best in the Big 12 and fifth nationally. That rating could climb if another blue-chip prospect or two decides in these final days to sign with the Sooners.

Stoops appears to have addressed both immediate and future needs with this class. He answered the departure of Kelly, Lofton and Smith by signing quality prospects at all three positions.

"Of course it was a blow to lose those (juniors)," Stoops said. "The places we're most thin are at linebacker and in the secondary, so those guys leaving definitely made it tough on us.

"But we have other good players, and we'll work even harder (this spring) to get them more snaps and get them ready to play. That's what makes it exciting."

Instant help could be on the way with three junior-college linebackers in J.R. Bryant of Garden City (Kan.); Mike Balogun of Lackawanna (Pa.); and Butte (Calif.) safety David Sims.

Stoops has also attracted high school prospects at the three positions vacated by the early departures. Along with the junior-college signees, the incoming freshmen will join an OU squad that already has several candidates primed to compete for the jobs vacated by Lofton, Kelly and Smith.

"Those three guys would have helped make us strong," Stoops said. "But that's OK; we'll still have 11 guys available on both sides of the ball when we line up.

"And in the end, we'll be fine. Trust me, we are not going away."

[Youngsooner]

Nice article

Glad to know he didn't say we ARE going away, thats a relief :)

[MextheBulldog]

Silly, Jenni-like article...

[Collier11]

Nice article

Glad to know he didn't say we ARE going away, thats a relief :)


Thats what I was thinking!

[usmc-sooner]

I'd like to know who these people are that thinks OU is going away, I don't think there's anyone out there who doesn't expect them in the top 10 the next couple of years.

[Breadburner]

I'd like to know who these people are that thinks OU is going away, I don't think there's anyone out there who doesn't expect them in the top 10 the next couple of years.

Idiot tabloid reporters.....

[yermom]

"Bob Stoops leaving Oklahoma for Martian League, takes record astronomical salary 42 Trillian Space Bucks"

[Youngsooner]

"Bob Stoops leaving Oklahoma for Martian League, takes record astronomical salary 42 Trillian Space Bucks"

With that kind of cash he could buy earth

[76soonergrad]

I like that he has juco defensive players coming in. That has really helped us over the years.

Plus, imagine his recruiting spiel..."With the defensive players leaving, you may have a chance to start on this team." Or get playing time.

Hope they are a hungry bunch. I don't care what the recruiting class is rated. Let's get it back in the fall.





____________________

[Rogue]

Wow, I'm so glad to see John Williams is coming back again. Guy has had the worst luck and plays hard when he's healthy.

[MamaMia]

The Rivals.com recruiting service ranks OU's class at the best in the Big 12 and fifth nationally. That rating could climb if another blue-chip prospect or two decides in these final days to sign with the Sooners. That, along with the great players we already have, making their minds up to obtain a 'never give up, in your face' attitude, will make us absolutely unstoppable.

[58sooner]

Definately not going away! Good to hear Stoops spell it out for the mass media!

[JLEW1818]

Well what else was he suppose to say, we are going to suck?

Go sooners!

[bluedogok]

I could care less what Rivals and other recruiting services have to say, most of the time they are off the mark anyway. I want some damn players who want to work and are hungry and not a bunch of primadonas who feel like they're owed something. It seems there are very few superstar type players like AD who are both highly rated and hungry, I would much rather have a "maybe great" guy who is hungry and plays with a chip on his shoulder than a malcontent with all the talent in the world and pouts.

[KantoSooner]

Were I Bob, the temptation would be overwhelming to come out and say,

"With our demoralizing bowl loss and the devastating departure of key players, OU will suck. Probably forever. I will become withdrawn and intend to coach from a fetal position on a stretcher all next season. All of my assistant coachs agree with me and will show up dead drunk to all games. Pizz off and die."

and then just walk off. Let 'em spin that.

[Animal Mother]

Damn it! We're not going away? I'll have to buy a hazmat suit so I can fish my Sooner jackets and hats and 10 shirts and my flag and my socks and 20 year old newspaper clippings and 154 tickets stubs out of the freakin' landfill in Fort Worth.

[SanDiegoSoonerGal]

"Are we going away because of all of this? Are you kidding me?" asked Stoops...


Yikes, did he HAVE to parrot Gumby?

Where are we at as a society today?

:D

[DangTire]

Fluff and stuffing. He's had this particular rap going since Mike left and has yet to deliver anything but mediocrity on defense and blow out losses at really really really bad times.

[goingoneight]

An irritable Stoops is generally the best Stoops we can ask for here. Think about OUr biggest wins over the years and what was said about Stoops and OU prior to the win.

Red October, people had us double-digit dogs against UT, KSU and Nebraska. Stoops and OU put together one of the most if not most impressive 3-game streaks in CFB history by winning all three in double digits a piece.

Florida State was supposedly the greatest dynasty ever and we were supposed to just surrender the #1 by default because of Big, Bad Bobby Bowden's "greatest offense in CFB history." Jeff Ferguson ended up being FSU's MVP for that game by scoring their two and only points as we topped them in impressive fashion.

OU Texas 2001... the 2000 game was supposed to be a fluke, right? Chrissy Simms had Mike Stoops "on notice" and TFRW ran his mouth all off-season and all season leading up to yet another big Sooner victory. Did we mention we did it with OUr backup quarterback?

Iowa State and magicman Seneca Wallace? Texas A&M looked to make it 2-in-a-row against us in 2003, Les Miles "they're not that great, let 'r rip!!! pre-game, 2004 when Dunce Young and Michael Huff both guraranteed victories and got shut out for the first time in something like a decade for UT... Pretty much all of 2005 and 2006 we were disrespected and fought tremendous adversity to winning seasons and a conference title. Miami's Calais Campbell's quoting "you'll see after we win in Norman next Saturday that we're back."

It doesn't matter the opponent, we are a tremendous football club when we're backed into a corner under Stoops. Look no further back to the BIG 12 CCG if you don't want to review his entire resume in Norman.

Eu contrair:
"Unstoppable" Oklahoma drops a Bed-lame loss in 2001.
In 2002, aTm heard all week long about how they "just can't win" on their home field against us.
2003's "greatest team of all time" lost both championship games
2004's "wer're gonna FINISH" didn't work out so well
Heisman front-runner AD was supposed to romp and stomp TCU
That's not even the half of all the underdog and Goliath roles we've played since Stoops has been here.

[goingoneight]

Fluff and stuffing. He's had this particular rap going since Mike left and has yet to deliver anything but mediocrity on defense and blow out losses at really really really bad times.

So does 99.4% of the rest of the country on a yearly basis.

[SanDiegoSoonerGal]

"That was my bother Mike,





Hmmmm. Freudian??? or a simple misspelling??? :confused: :D

[DangTire]

So does 99.4% of the rest of the country on a yearly basis.

So you're saying he's a part of the "other" 99.4% instead of the .6% that actually means it? You've finally come to your senses.

[LRoss]

I'm a long way from Norman . . . did anybody hear the "roar" of negativity about the future of OU football? Had there been any real concern about the recruiting class? All I've seen/heard has had OU a probably top 5 team going into next year. I guess if that qualifies as a "roar of negativity" then the bar's been set good and high, no?

[goingoneight]

So you're saying he's a part of the "other" 99.4% instead of the .6% that actually means it? You've finally come to your senses.

Once again, someone enters a battle of wits unarmed. The 99.4% of the rest of the country has the same goal and yet no single coach has won the MNC more than once this decade. So you and your "fire Stoops" brigade may know... we can't win them all.

[Collier11]

Stoops is a Top 5 coach in the country period, if you think otherwise you are rediculous...name me one other coach other than Carrol that has had their team in the BCS 6 out of 8 years??? Sure, we lost more than half of those and lost two by blowout and one by upset but the fact is we have dominated a Top 3 conf in the nation for 8 years and have just come up short, look at the middle of Lord Switzers career, we will be fine....We are OU and dont forget it!!!

[goingoneight]

It seems to me that in these recent bowl games, Oklahoma has taken the exact same mentality toward the game the Oklahoma FANS have.

We thought that the KSU game was a fluke and that we could tear LSU a new one. Close game, but no moral victories, losing OUr DC hurt us at season's end and no momentum going into the game.

We thought the team had learned their lesson about sleep-walking and that they would destroy USC. They thought so, too. Look no furhter than OUr own Larry Birdine running his mouth about USC. And no, not the way Torrance Marshall did. He did it in an arrogant fashion, not in a hungered fashion. Attitude relflects leadership and vice-versa... we got owned. Let a few bad plays do us in. Didn't come within a mile of OUr potential.

Then came the Holiday Bowl. We as fans were in the same boat the players were mentally. There was all this talk about us being on a downward spiral and Oregon on the rise. We were 7-4 and supposedly going to finish 7-5 as one-loss Oregon was going to beat us. Everyone from players to coach to fan took offense to this and we scored a big upset considering the fact that we were very young and a patchwork Stoops team. We got a taste of what Stoops can do when he's an underdog. The OU team had been told all season long how bad they were and Oregon simply felt they were better by default.

2006, we got screwed! We were supposed to be so much better! But, but! Look what we did! We won the BIG 12!!! We bitched and bitched until we couldn't bitch anymore and Boise State beat us in a historic upset story. :mad:

But, but... we learned OUr lesson in 2007!!! If not for an injury to OUr Qb, we'd be in New Orleans beating Ohio State!!! We got jobbed again! We didn't feel we deserved to be in freaking Glendale, we want it all!!! So what if we lost five starters, we were miles ahead of a team that actually won their last BCS Bowl, right? WRONG. We might be more talented on a good day, but we again played arrogant Goliath's role. Was there even half of the buzz surrounding this game as there was against Miami, Texas or Missouri both ties in 2007? No. In fact, every Sooner I know took kind of an "oh, well" mentality towards making the Fiesta Bowl. No one seemed to care. Think that mentality doesn't make it into the heads of the players? Think again if you don't. They'll sugar-coat and coach-speak with the ebst of them, but the team that played WVU didn't play with any fight or will when compared to their previous efforts. Thee offense caught it's breath eventually, but the defense took absolutely no charge of the game when it was called to do so. Add a few bad breaks like the onsides kick and the interception, and you have another blowout.

When the day comes that Stoops and OU enter a BCS game that means something to them personally like the BIG 12 Title did against Missouri running their mouths about giving the game away, I'll have faith in us winning. But next time we're in a BCS game we're predicted to win by a mile, I'm not counting on anything more than what we've seen from the rest of the unmotivated squads.

Imagine if we made the MNC next year if you will. Say we meet up with Georgia and all we heard about is SEC speed and strength. Say Matt Stafford calls the BIG 12 overrated and ESPN doesn't give us a fighting chance. Say the National perception of OU going into this game is that we cannot win it if we tried. Say the sports world is chalking up another Sooner choke. I'll bet you we stand a much better chance in that ideal matchup than we do against someone who is good that we can't get motivated for.

Seriously, did anyone get anymore fired up for the Fiesta Bowl when Rodriguez bailed on them? Were they even excited in the first place? I like to see us win, and believe me I want to win every game I sit down to watch, but nothing to me really screamed that we needed either of these last two Fiesta Bowls. Sad, but true. We need motivation and something on the line.

[TheUnnamedSooner]

"Bob Stoops leaving Oklahoma for Martian League, takes record astronomical salary 42 Trillian Space Bucks"

Hopefully he doesn't owe any to pizza the hut.

[Sco]

Seriously, did anyone get anymore fired up for the Fiesta Bowl when Rodriguez bailed on them? Were they even excited in the first place? I like to see us win, and believe me I want to win every game I sit down to watch, but nothing to me really screamed that we needed either of these last two Fiesta Bowls. Sad, but true. We need motivation and something on the line.

Good post. I know I really could have cared less about the Fiesta Bowl. I was very apathetic about the game.

[stoopified]

Were I Bob, the temptation would be overwhelming to come out and say,

"With our demoralizing bowl loss and the devastating departure of key players, OU will suck. Probably forever. I will become withdrawn and intend to coach from a fetal position on a stretcher all next season. All of my assistant coachs agree with me and will show up dead drunk to all games. Pizz off and die."

and then just walk off. Let 'em spin that.:D

[GottaHavePride]

"Bob Stoops leaving Oklahoma for Martian League, takes record astronomical salary 42 Trillian Space Bucks"

How'd he get her away from Zaphod?

[PLaw]

This post deserves to stay on Page 1 for while - it was endanger of slipping off the page so I thought I would drive it back to the top of the stack.

BOOMER

[Crucifax Autumn]

This stack?

With both Hitchhiker's guide and Spaceballs references it does indeed deserve a bump.