One thing about Stoops that invites criticism (unfairly IMO)

[jkjsooner]

Stoops generally is outwardly extremely confident in our teams. Unlike some coaches who always want to temper expectations, Stoops accepts high expectations. He built this program by convincing guys that they were better than they were (in some cases). He wants his players to play with confidence so he almost always instils confidence and sets the team's goals very high.

I suspect that this year Stoops knew where our weaknesses were but he's not about to back away from the challenge of being preseason #1. He wants to get the best out of his players and fostering confidence is one tool to do that.

I love it that Stoops accepts these challenges. We need to be honest. We have too many weaknesses to be preseason #1. I'd bet $100 Stoops knew this but he's willing to take the challenge and accept the criticism if we can't live up to the expectations.

After living through the Gibbs years where it seemed our coaching staff wanted nothing more than to convince everyone our team wasn't as good as the fans thought they should be, I'm happy we have a guy who instills confidence - even if that leaves us with the impression that they underachieve from time to time.


Let's be realistic. We've dominated Big 12 championships. While we haven't won the most titles, we've been the most consistent team in division 1 through Stoops' tenure. I hate watching Bama, Florida, and LSU bring home championships as much as the next guy but all in all we've got it pretty good. Unlike those guys we also have a very loyal coach - not a program jumper like those guys have/had. Meyer already jumped from Florida. Saban's proven over and over that he has no loyalty whatsoever.

We have it pretty good.

[Stooper]

I agree 100%. If and that is a big if, we would have made 2 PT. conversion, we would be saying that Stoops has his mojo back. Everyone is dogging Harris and Stoops timeout, but to me the biggest mistake in the game was Shead on the false start.

[OUinFLA]

I agree 100%. If and that is a big if, we would have made 2 PT. conversion, we would be saying that Stoops has his mojo back. Everyone is dogging Harris and Stoops timeout, but to me the biggest mistake in the game was Shead on the false start.

Problem with that part is, that BU still had the same amount of time after the 2 pt conversion as they did with the 1 pt. They still might have scored the winning td.

[the-rover]

Problem with that part is, that BU still had the same amount of time after the 2 pt conversion as they did with the 1 pt. They still might have scored the winning td.

Yeah, you can be sure Stoops wouldn't have called a timeout.

[badger]

Stoops has it pretty good too. He gets $5 million for getting to the fiesta bowl and big 12 titles, a sweet recruiting spot near the state of texas and fairly tame in-conference competition many years.

So ya we are lucky to have him... but he is just as lucky to have ou

[pappy]

Stoops generally is outwardly extremely confident in our teams. Unlike some coaches who always want to temper expectations, Stoops accepts high expectations. He built this program by convincing guys that they were better than they were (in some cases). He wants his players to play with confidence so he almost always instils confidence and sets the team's goals very high.

I suspect that this year Stoops knew where our weaknesses were but he's not about to back away from the challenge of being preseason #1. He wants to get the best out of his players and fostering confidence is one tool to do that.

I love it that Stoops accepts these challenges. We need to be honest. We have too many weaknesses to be preseason #1. I'd bet $100 Stoops knew this but he's willing to take the challenge and accept the criticism if we can't live up to the expectations.

After living through the Gibbs years where it seemed our coaching staff wanted nothing more than to convince everyone our team wasn't as good as the fans thought they should be, I'm happy we have a guy who instills confidence - even if that leaves us with the impression that they underachieve from time to time.


Let's be realistic. We've dominated Big 12 championships. While we haven't won the most titles, we've been the most consistent team in division 1 through Stoops' tenure. I hate watching Bama, Florida, and LSU bring home championships as much as the next guy but all in all we've got it pretty good. Unlike those guys we also have a very loyal coach - not a program jumper like those guys have/had. Meyer already jumped from Florida. Saban's proven over and over that he has no loyalty whatsoever.

We have it pretty good.

So he's college football's less mouthy rex ryan?

[agoo758]

We got it great. We wouldn't be as dissapointed going 11 years without a title if we didn't come so close to it all the time. Stoops is a great coach, and it is only matter of time before we get a couple more!

[Red]

We got it great. We wouldn't be as dissapointed going 11 years without a title if we didn't come so close to it all the time. Stoops is a great coach, and it is only matter of time before we get a couple more!

Took the words from my mouth. This. ^

[Crimsontothecore]

Stoops generally is outwardly extremely confident in our teams. Unlike some coaches who always want to temper expectations, Stoops accepts high expectations. He built this program by convincing guys that they were better than they were (in some cases). He wants his players to play with confidence so he almost always instils confidence and sets the team's goals very high.

I suspect that this year Stoops knew where our weaknesses were but he's not about to back away from the challenge of being preseason #1. He wants to get the best out of his players and fostering confidence is one tool to do that.

I love it that Stoops accepts these challenges. We need to be honest. We have too many weaknesses to be preseason #1. I'd bet $100 Stoops knew this but he's willing to take the challenge and accept the criticism if we can't live up to the expectations.

After living through the Gibbs years where it seemed our coaching staff wanted nothing more than to convince everyone our team wasn't as good as the fans thought they should be, I'm happy we have a guy who instills confidence - even if that leaves us with the impression that they underachieve from time to time.


Let's be realistic. We've dominated Big 12 championships. While we haven't won the most titles, we've been the most consistent team in division 1 through Stoops' tenure. I hate watching Bama, Florida, and LSU bring home championships as much as the next guy but all in all we've got it pretty good. Unlike those guys we also have a very loyal coach - not a program jumper like those guys have/had. Meyer already jumped from Florida. Saban's proven over and over that he has no loyalty whatsoever.

We have it pretty good.

You obviously haven't been paying attention to the experts opinions here. Stoops is just a complacent rich coach who doesn't give two hoots about having a good team anymore. All he cares about is making sure his friends have good paying jobs on his staff. He's arrogant, defensive, in denial, and couldn't coach his way out of a wet paper sack. He enjoys a secure, cushy job and annual raises for doing absolutely nothing! He has won an average of 11 games a year, played in 7 BCS bowls, won a national title, had 2 Heisman winners and 7 conference titles...and he acts like everything is just peachy! The truth is, we haven't even won a conference title in nearly a year..UNACCEPTABLE! This program needs some major changes!

[soonercoop1]

Stoops generally is outwardly extremely confident in our teams. Unlike some coaches who always want to temper expectations, Stoops accepts high expectations. He built this program by convincing guys that they were better than they were (in some cases). He wants his players to play with confidence so he almost always instils confidence and sets the team's goals very high.

I suspect that this year Stoops knew where our weaknesses were but he's not about to back away from the challenge of being preseason #1. He wants to get the best out of his players and fostering confidence is one tool to do that.

I love it that Stoops accepts these challenges. We need to be honest. We have too many weaknesses to be preseason #1. I'd bet $100 Stoops knew this but he's willing to take the challenge and accept the criticism if we can't live up to the expectations.

After living through the Gibbs years where it seemed our coaching staff wanted nothing more than to convince everyone our team wasn't as good as the fans thought they should be, I'm happy we have a guy who instills confidence - even if that leaves us with the impression that they underachieve from time to time.


Let's be realistic. We've dominated Big 12 championships. While we haven't won the most titles, we've been the most consistent team in division 1 through Stoops' tenure. I hate watching Bama, Florida, and LSU bring home championships as much as the next guy but all in all we've got it pretty good. Unlike those guys we also have a very loyal coach - not a program jumper like those guys have/had. Meyer already jumped from Florida. Saban's proven over and over that he has no loyalty whatsoever.

We have it pretty good.

He needs to realize he needs to make coaching changes. His Defense has been **** every season but one for the last 6 seasons. His special teams have been average since Hayes left. Stoops needs to realize he needs to feed the monster. OU will never win another MNC with the current coaching staff.

[ocsooner]

The truth is, we haven't even won a conference title in nearly a year..UNACCEPTABLE! This program needs some major changes!

Kick the bum out. Any coach who can't win 2 a year is worthless.

We need to hire Urban Myer or Saban NOW!!!

[Aries]

Yeah, you can be sure Stoops wouldn't have called a timeout.

You can also be sure Baylor wouldn't have handed off on the first play of their drive.

[StoopTroup]

Problem with that part is, that BU still had the same amount of time after the 2 pt conversion as they did with the 1 pt. They still might have scored the winning td.

Since we know what happened it's easy to discerned that.

I think we just made lots of mistakes and turnovers throughout the game and as always when you do that you allow a Team like Baylor to hang around till there's a few minutes left in the Game and sometimes they take advantage of bad officiating and the opportunity to upset you. It's exactly what happened. It was as much an Offensive letdown as Defensive that Day and Baylor was good enough to pull off an upset against our Team who was not only hurting with key players out....but making huge mistakes. It wasn't the first time we've done this this year but most times our much more talented Team has been able to come out of the locker room for the 2nd half and just kick ***. At this point we've had two losses because of various letdowns and we have a really disappointed bunch of fans again.

Life goes on. Beat The Cyclones!

[jkjsooner]

He needs to realize he needs to make coaching changes. His Defense has been **** every season but one for the last 6 seasons. His special teams have been average since Hayes left. Stoops needs to realize he needs to feed the monster. OU will never win another MNC with the current coaching staff.

I don't agree with the last sentence but I do agree that our defense has been disappointing the last few years. I think that has as much to do with personnel as anything. Top to bottom we just don't have the talent we had 6 or 7 years ago.

I think some of the talent problems simply come down to not get the recruiting breaks. It literally boils down to decisions made by a handful of 17 year olds.


I'm not against criticism of the coaches. When you make $5 million a year you can handle it. However, we can't say that for $5 million a year Stoops owes up national titles every few years because, like it or not, those salaries are getting more and more common. Coach's salaries are following the same trend that CEO salaries are following. They're all overpaid andn it's arguable that none of them are really worth the absurd salaries.

[Sooner70]

Tend to agree witn jkjsooner. Guess things are sorta relative. I can tell you for sure, the people down here in Texas admire & I think sorta fear Stoops and his staff....immensely.

Texas is supposedly the king of CFB (or at least acts thataway) in this part of the country. A program who's financial sheet would be the envy of many companies. A coach who's the darling of the media (vs Stoops who is really sorta a porcupine) and who can get any 5 star recruit he wants from the plentiful bounty of the excellent Texas HS FB factories . Heck, he can afford to allow the most highest rated quarterback in the USA transfer to another school and still have someone to readily fill in. He gets siblings of great UT Players to come to Austin. Yet (as Richard Justice,,,,Houston Chronicle sports writer) says today ,".. the once invincible Longhorns have lost 11 of 19 games since last season's 3-0 start, and could end up losing with losses to A&M ad Baylor. They're 5-10 in the Big 12 the last two seasons, and unless their QB play improves, Texas isn't going to beat many good teams..."

Texas will be back, no doubt. However, even with losses to TT and Baylor, I'll stay a Sooner, and until something tells me different, I'm still a Stoops fan also. He's one of the best things that's ever happened to OU Football.

[Okie35]

Problem with that part is, that BU still had the same amount of time after the 2 pt conversion as they did with the 1 pt. They still might have scored the winning td.

You never know if Baylor would've given up after being down to us. We would've had more momentum and the Baylor would've had more pressure on them. The fact it was a tie game changed everything.

[soonercastor]

Meh, only this year did he embrace those expectations. He hadn't been doing that the previous years.

[the-rover]

You can also be sure Baylor wouldn't have handed off on the first play of their drive.

Yes, but could we be sure that OU could have handled the kickoff after Baylor scored?

[HAMTTX]

The truth is that the game should not have been close. Honestly, ask yourself, do you think Baylor plays with LSU? Alabama? Oregon? No and that is what hurts. I said it early in the year in between the FSU game and Missouri game. There is a intensity level that floats up and down each week. If our defense plays with the intensity as they did against FSU we do not lose to anybody. But we cannot not. Why? I don't know. That is something coaches are supposed to identify and correct. Yet this staff struggles with it. I do not think it is effort, or scheme, no it's some intangible that Bob has not yet put his finger on. He of course would correct it if he could identify it. As it stands now we will have a difficult time playing anyone in the top 10 or 15 because our defense would allow the opposition scores when we need stops.

[Crimsontothecore]

The truth is that the game should not have been close. Honestly, ask yourself, do you think Baylor plays with LSU? Alabama? Oregon? No and that is what hurts. I said it early in the year in between the FSU game and Missouri game. There is a intensity level that floats up and down each week. If our defense plays with the intensity as they did against FSU we do not lose to anybody. But we cannot not. Why? I don't know. That is something coaches are supposed to identify and correct. Yet this staff struggles with it. I do not think it is effort, or scheme, no it's some intangible that Bob has not yet put his finger on. He of course would correct it if he could identify it. As it stands now we will have a difficult time playing anyone in the top 10 or 15 because our defense would allow the opposition scores when we need stops.
That's not the truth, it's just your opinion. And we don't know how Baylor would fare against LSU, Bama, or Oregon in Waco because they won't play there. You're just living off assumptions. The truth is Baylor has a really really good QB and they haven't lost a home game all season. Am I happy with the loss? of course not, but people like you are irrational to expect undefeated season after undefeated season and no upsets...EVER! I swear there isn't a coach that ever lived that could meet the expectations of some of you people.

[tulsaoilerfan]

Stoops should use the old Lou Holtz method and always talk about how bad his team sucks lol

[OUInformant]

Yeah, Stoops is a great coach.

But who really doesn't think that our defense and special teams are total mush? We won't win another championship in the near future as long as those things aren't better.