Stoops was asked on his radio show about fans complaining after beating Texas

[SoonerPride]

He said "that's Oklahoma football, baby!"

Then the crowd erupted in cheers and applause.

He went on to say he'd rather be criticized after a win than praised after a loss.

[swardboy]

We are so freakin' spoiled.

[KantoSooner]

Yes, we are.
On the other hand, we're not off base to ask WTF? when our team does a Jekyl and Hide routine at least once a season.

[badger]

he's such a good sport

[olevetonahill]

The Monster demands to be Fed.

[badger]

I just read a passage on Tom Osborne talking about how impatient Nebraska fans got in the 70s getting beaten by Barry Switzer Sooners over and over and seeing OU collect national titles when Ozzy got Nebbish none (at the time).

Oh, if only the Huskers knew what they were going to endure after that last little hurrah in 2001 title game. Them and Miami both. Probably never thought their football dynasties would end.

Enjoy it while it lasts, fellow Sooner fans. You're gonna miss it when it's gone

[delhalew]

Yes. And the monster requires more than a win.
The Monster fills it's belly on the kind of focused play befitting a championship team.
No one ever said it was fair. It is Oklahoma.

[KantoSooner]

It's a simple thing. I require OU to win the next game, and each successive game, by ever increasing margins. At some point, all other universities will terminate their football programs and submit, in perpetuity, to the Sooners.

At that point we declare ultimate victory and drink.

As I said, it's simple. Will I get what I demand? Probably not; but it's always good to have clear, easily defined goals.

[manateepower]

We are so freakin' spoiled.

Meh. How spoiled are we really?

Havn't won a title in 14 years. Hell, havn't won a conference title in four, and Only one meaningful bowl win since 2003.

I know we are better than most, but we also put in more money and effort than most, so it is not exactly the greatest accomplishment of all time when you win more than most.

I love stoops, and frankly, I love his retort, but we havn't been elite in about a decade.

[BoulderSooner79]

I love stoops, and frankly, I love his retort, but we havn't been elite in about a decade.

Incorrect. But the spoiled don't know they're spoiled, so that's okay.

[Sooner91ATL]

I take his response as yet another veiled swipe at the pokey boys. their moral victory against fsu.

It's also been my theory for a while that Stoops has killed the monster. Or at least tricked it into dormancy. He's kept the monster drunk on big 12 championships and BCS appearances, while the title is elusive. other coaches were fired for not bringing home the bacon - heck Gibbs had a winning record and got kicked out. True, Stoops' teams have performed at a relatively consistently high level overall, maybe commensurate or a little above where he has recruited. But the monster has not claimed him which is a bit of a surprise since the last championship was 14 years ago, and the last few years have seen a palpable decline in the product on the field. This nearly equals the previous drought between championships of 15 years, which saw four Sooner coaches. Stoops is the monster tamer.

[yankee]

I love stoops, and frankly, I love his retort, but we havn't been elite in about a decade.

Well, that's a silly statement.

[badger]

we havn't been elite in about a decade.

Two Heismans, countless Big 12 titles and several berths to the national title game isn't elite? Dear lord the 90s dark ages must have been especially rough on you :P

[KantoSooner]

I thought I'd inject some factual info, so I strolled over to Stassen for some data. Using a frame of 2000-Present (arbitrary, but still pretty much 'The Present Era') and ranking according to winning percentages, I got the following top ten:

Boise
OU
tOSU
LSU
Tex
Oregon
TCU
USC
VaTech
GA

Flow-duh was No. 11 and 'Bammer? No. 20.

Yes, yes, the quality of opposition, you cry! And, yes, we can see Nickie Satan's perambulations, perhaps. But to say that OU has not been relevant is a wee tad of an exaggeration, I think.

[jkjsooner]

Meh. How spoiled are we really?

Havn't won a title in 14 years. Hell, havn't won a conference title in four, and Only one meaningful bowl win since 2003.

I count two BCS wins since 2003. In fact, we're on a two BCS game win streak. I guess UCONN doesn't count for you.



I know we are better than most, but we also put in more money and effort than most, so it is not exactly the greatest accomplishment of all time when you win more than most.



I love stoops, and frankly, I love his retort, but we havn't been elite in about a decade.

Three national title games in the last decade. Two of the three were hard fought games which were contested well into the fourth quarter.

If a national title is a requirement to be elite then nobody outside the SEC was elite for a long time. (I'd call Texas elite when they played Bama and almost overcame the loss of their best player. I'd call OU elite when we hung with Florida without the guy who could have punched the ball in in the redzone. I'd call Oregon elite when they were 19-19 with Auburn with two minutes left in the game.)

I'd call winning 7 outright Big 12 championships and going 7-1 in the championship game as being elite.

[jkjsooner]

I remember the days when I worried about whether we were in the top 25 because you couldn't get highlights of the games on ESPN if you weren't in the top 25. I guess that's still the case but back then so few games were broadcast nationally so once I moved out of Oklahoma I would literally see 3 or 4 games a year.

We're no longer concerned about whether we're ranked. (How often have we been unranked under Stoops? I can remember one or two times.) That's pretty good.

[RUSH LIMBAUGH is my clone!]

It's a simple thing. I require OU to win the next game, and each successive game, by ever increasing margins. At some point, all other universities will terminate their football programs and submit, in perpetuity, to the Sooners.

At that point we declare ultimate victory and drink.

As I said, it's simple. Will I get what I demand? Probably not; but it's always good to have clear, easily defined goals.This line of thinking goes without saying, but...very well said.

[RUSH LIMBAUGH is my clone!]

I take his response as yet another veiled swipe at the pokey boys. their moral victory against fsu.

It's also been my theory for a while that Stoops has killed the monster. Or at least tricked it into dormancy. He's kept the monster drunk on big 12 championships and BCS appearances, while the title is elusive. other coaches were fired for not bringing home the bacon - heck Gibbs had a winning record and got kicked out. True, Stoops' teams have performed at a relatively consistently high level overall, maybe commensurate or a little above where he has recruited. But the monster has not claimed him which is a bit of a surprise since the last championship was 14 years ago, and the last few years have seen a palpable decline in the product on the field. This nearly equals the previous drought between championships of 15 years, which saw four Sooner coaches. Stoops is the monster tamer.Great post!

[jkjsooner]

other coaches were fired for not bringing home the bacon - heck Gibbs had a winning record and got kicked out. True, Stoops' teams have performed at a relatively consistently high level overall, maybe commensurate or a little above where he has recruited. But the monster has not claimed him which is a bit of a surprise since the last championship was 14 years ago, and the last few years have seen a palpable decline in the product on the field. This nearly equals the previous drought between championships of 15 years, which saw four Sooner coaches. Stoops is the monster tamer.

The number of years (roughly 15) is about all the period between 1985 and 2000 has in common with 2000 to 2014. We certainly haven't had three consecutive losing seasons or five consecutive seasons without a winning record in the latter period.

I don't think you want to compare Stoops's results to Gibbs. Gibbs never won a conference title despite there being only 8 teams in conference. Gibbs was 2-14-1 against Texas, Nebraska, and Colorado. He had even begun losing to KSU regularly towards the end (thanks in part to Snyder's recruitment of Oklahoma talent).

One thing I can say is that we had better defensive performances under Gibbs than lately under Stoops. However, I think you could probably say the same about most top level schools. Offenses simply challenge defenses a lot more than they did 20 years ago. (Definitely more variation week to week to adjust to.) All that said, if Stoops wanted to hire Gibbs back as defensive coordinator (assuming Mike left) I wouldn't be against it.

As for the monster not claiming Stoops: I think those in power realize how stupid it would be to get rid of him. He's been easily one of the most successful coaches in the decade. I sure hope we don't get stupid enough to think we can get a better coach.

Even at places who had guys who won titles, how many of those schools have fallen on hard times since? Florida hasn't done so great once Meyer left. USC hasn't done great since Carroll left. Mack Brown didn't do so great after his title. You never know when Saban is going to jump ship again. There's something to be said about having a successful coach who will stick around.

And, frankly, with a couple of breaks we could have had a couple of more titles. Stoops definitely brought teams together than were in position to win them. Who knows what would have happened with a healthy White in 2003. I think most OU fans would argue that with Murray we probably would have beaten Florida. In fact, I think we very well may have put a distance between us and Florida early which would have been hard for Florida/Tebow to handle. If we keep knocking on the door every few years sooner or later the breaks will fall our way.

Maybe we'll get LSU or Florida/FSU/Miami in Dallas for a change.

[Wishboned]

I take his response as yet another veiled swipe at the pokey boys. their moral victory against fsu.



I thought it was a swipe at this...

http://www.saturdaydownsouth.com/alabama-football/nick-saban-fans-expectations/

[8timechamps]

Meh. How spoiled are we really?

Havn't won a title in 14 years. Hell, havn't won a conference title in four, and Only one meaningful bowl win since 2003.

I know we are better than most, but we also put in more money and effort than most, so it is not exactly the greatest accomplishment of all time when you win more than most.

I love stoops, and frankly, I love his retort, but we havn't been elite in about a decade.

We're really spoiled. Just look at these numbers:



Stoops has won more games against top 25 teams than anyone with a minimum of 10 games versus ranked teams.
Stoops is the first coach to beat Texas 10 times.
Winningest coach in school history.
Stoops' teams have averaged over 10 wins a year, EVERY year, for the past 15 years (unmatched by any current coach, at any current program)


If you can only be 'elite' by winning a national title, then there's only one 'elite' team a year, and by that standard I guess we haven't been 'elite'. By every other standard, we have absolutely been elite.

We have it better than any program in the country over the past 15 years.

That's not to say the criticism in general is unfounded, but it's the fan equivalent of 'first world problems'.

[Curly Bill]

We're really spoiled. Just look at these numbers:



Stoops has won more games against top 25 teams than anyone with a minimum of 10 games versus ranked teams.
Stoops is the first coach to beat Texas 10 times.
Winningest coach in school history.
Stoops' teams have averaged over 10 wins a year, EVERY year, for the past 15 years (unmatched by any current coach, at any current program)


If you can only be 'elite' by winning a national title, then there's only one 'elite' team a year, and by that standard I guess we haven't been 'elite'. By every other standard, we have absolutely been elite.

We have it better than any program in the country over the past 15 years.

That's not to say the criticism in general is unfounded, but it's the fan equivalent of 'first world problems'.

Nice long stretch of being pretty damn good, but not the best. That's a big ol MEH in my book.

[8timechamps]

Nice long stretch of being pretty damn good, but not the best. That's a big ol MEH in my book.

Only championships will do!

[Eielson]

Nice long stretch of being pretty damn good, but not the best. That's a big ol MEH in my book.

I think he took it to the only guy you wouldn't say MEH to last January.

[Curly Bill]

I think he took it to the only guy you wouldn't say MEH to last January.

I know right! And I love how we've used that to catapult ourselves back into real prominence and competing for championships! (imagine someone, say me for instance, rolling their eyes right now)

[Eielson]

I know right! And I love how we've used that to catapult ourselves back into real prominence and competing for championships! (imagine someone, say me for instance, rolling their eyes right now)

You thought Joe Mixon and all his friends that waited to commit until after the season was over were going to make us instant NC contenders as true freshmen?

(imagine me rolling around on the floor with a puppy)

[Curly Bill]

You thought Joe Mixon and all his friends that waited to commit until after the season was over were going to make us instant NC contenders as true freshmen?

(imagine me rolling around on the floor with a puppy)

I thought that? Damn, you're psychic?

In fact I had no such thoughts, haven't had em for several years now, and don't foresee having them again during Stoops' tenure.

[Eielson]

I thought that? Damn, you're psychic?

In fact I had no such thoughts, haven't had em for several years now, and don't foresee having them again during Stoops' tenure.

Well whatever.

(Keep imagining me rolling around with puppies.)

[rock on sooner]

We're really spoiled. Just look at these numbers:



Stoops has won more games against top 25 teams than anyone with a minimum of 10 games versus ranked teams.
Stoops is the first coach to beat Texas 10 times.
Winningest coach in school history.
Stoops' teams have averaged over 10 wins a year, EVERY year, for the past 15 years (unmatched by any current coach, at any current program)


If you can only be 'elite' by winning a national title, then there's only one 'elite' team a year, and by that standard I guess we haven't been 'elite'. By every other standard, we have absolutely been elite.

We have it better than any program in the country over the past 15 years.

That's not to say the criticism in general is unfounded, but it's the fan equivalent of 'first world problems'.

Welp, I've been around for a while...I have seen "elite" (Can you say 47 straight?) And, I have
suffered through Gomer, Smellenberger and Blake. Wrapped all around that is "The King", Gibbs,
(Not terrible) and the current "elite" in Mr. Stoops. I exhibit more body English when we are on
defense, scream "C'mon, Guys, just tackle 'im!" and I do NOT sit down, even in my own family
room. It has been, is and always will be BOOMER SOONER!

For anyone to say we are not elite...the highest scoring college team in history, second only to
Meatchicken in overall wins, bestest damn team in modern times, most weeks in BCS top 5, most
this, most that and on and on, well, anyone who sez that should surrender his/her Sooner card
and strip down and walk out the gates into the Texas sunset...never look back, apologize to the
family and fade away, allowing the buzzards, ant hills and coyotes to have at 'em, knowing only
that prostrate repentance at the Pearly Gates will, MAYBE, allow the family to continue existence
in the Good Graces of the Sooner Nation.

Now, keep in mind, that I still hold a grudge toward Dick Lynch around right end, following Nick
Pietrosante and a 7-0 final score. I say that, just so ya know.....Rock On Sooners!

[RUSH LIMBAUGH is my clone!]

You are old enough to know that the gawdawful domer is the debbil incarnate!...You might be a fool Lib when it comes to politics, but you most definitely have your football priorities straight.

[KantoSooner]

Well spoken, ROS!

And, Curly Bill, I sense you want Stoops gone. Might we know with whom you'd replace him? And Nickie Satan is not a valid choice.

[jkjsooner]

Nice long stretch of being pretty damn good, but not the best. That's a big ol MEH in my book.

I could buy that if that sort of attitude didn't make it likely for us to slide into another era of mediocrity. Get rid of Stoops and the odds are in a few years we'd be begging to have him back.

Now, if Stoops or the players indicated they weren't satisfied with being pretty damn good then I'd be happy with that. It serves no positive purpose for us to say it.

[Sooner91ATL]

The number of years (roughly 15) is about all the period between 1985 and 2000 has in common with 2000 to 2014. We certainly haven't had three consecutive losing seasons or five consecutive seasons without a winning record in the latter period.

I don't think you want to compare Stoops's results to Gibbs. Gibbs never won a conference title despite there being only 8 teams in conference. Gibbs was 2-14-1 against Texas, Nebraska, and Colorado. He had even begun losing to KSU regularly towards the end (thanks in part to Snyder's recruitment of Oklahoma talent).

One thing I can say is that we had better defensive performances under Gibbs than lately under Stoops. However, I think you could probably say the same about most top level schools. Offenses simply challenge defenses a lot more than they did 20 years ago. (Definitely more variation week to week to adjust to.) All that said, if Stoops wanted to hire Gibbs back as defensive coordinator (assuming Mike left) I wouldn't be against it.

As for the monster not claiming Stoops: I think those in power realize how stupid it would be to get rid of him. He's been easily one of the most successful coaches in the decade. I sure hope we don't get stupid enough to think we can get a better coach.

Even at places who had guys who won titles, how many of those schools have fallen on hard times since? Florida hasn't done so great once Meyer left. USC hasn't done great since Carroll left. Mack Brown didn't do so great after his title. You never know when Saban is going to jump ship again. There's something to be said about having a successful coach who will stick around.

And, frankly, with a couple of breaks we could have had a couple of more titles. Stoops definitely brought teams together than were in position to win them. Who knows what would have happened with a healthy White in 2003. I think most OU fans would argue that with Murray we probably would have beaten Florida. In fact, I think we very well may have put a distance between us and Florida early which would have been hard for Florida/Tebow to handle. If we keep knocking on the door every few years sooner or later the breaks will fall our way.

Maybe we'll get LSU or Florida/FSU/Miami in Dallas for a change.

Very salient points and I can't disagree. My main point, which your point support, is that Stoops has tamed the monster. In no way can the period of 1985 to 2000 be compared with 2000 to 2014 in terms of OUs wins, competitiveness, stability, and recognition. Yet they are both similar stretches of time that are awful long for Oklahoma to go without a championship. The monster did not tolerate it previously, with 4 coaches during that same time frame. It is the very fact that Stoops has taken us to within sight of the mountaintop (and to the top once, but not for 14 years), that the monster has been quieted. If you asked me 15 years ago, or even 10 years ago, if an OU coach would last 15 years at OU without winning a national championship, I would have laughed it off and said no way. Now, here we are with that very reality, and there is no end in sight to the current level of success, which is good, even great at times, but no championship. This is what the monster has demanded, but now, not so much.

[KantoSooner]

Following Bud's departure, we had multiple coaches, but all essentially from the same coaching tree...and we waited what? 18 years? to get back to the top. Barry was washed up and damn near buried as a dinosaur before he came back to win again...and then go on a superbowl in the NFL.
Bob won one and had two more within grasp but for random events. He's hardly out of line with history or lost his edge.

[Sooner91ATL]

I don't think Bob has lost his edge. I think he is a darn fine coach who consistently wins 10 games a season and does the OU program very proudly. I also think he loses games he has no business losing and has made questionable coaching hires that have hurt recruiting and player development. But nobody is perfect.

At the end of the day, I would gladly trade some of those 10-win seasons for a W over LSU, USC, or Florida.

[RUSH LIMBAUGH is my clone!]

I don't think Bob has lost his edge. I think he is a darn fine coach who consistently wins 10 games a season and does the OU program very proudly. I also think he loses games he has no business losing and has made questionable coaching hires that have hurt recruiting and player development. But nobody is perfect.

At the end of the day, I would gladly trade some of those 10-win seasons for a W over LSU, USC, or Florida.Short and sweet, and pretty much complete

[Eielson]

At the end of the day, I would gladly trade some of those 10-win seasons for a W over LSU, USC, or Florida.

You'd rather be Auburn?

[Sooner91ATL]

In some ways, yes. I think two more NCs would burnish our credentials a lot more than 4 extra 10-win seasons. Just the way I look at it. Stoops' record is nothing to sneeze at. I am not an advocate of getting rid of him, because we could get much worse. I think it's an interesting thought what would occur if we got another young and hungry coach though, kind of shook it up, got some new philosophies in there. Would it be the end of the world? We could prob get some good coordinator if we parse the $5 million HC salary out a little bit. Anyway, this the monster is dead - long live the monster.

[Eielson]

In some ways, yes. I think two more NCs would burnish our credentials a lot more than 4 extra 10-win seasons. Just the way I look at it. Stoops' record is nothing to sneeze at. I am not an advocate of getting rid of him, because we could get much worse. I think it's an interesting thought what would occur if we got another young and hungry coach though, kind of shook it up, got some new philosophies in there. Would it be the end of the world? We could prob get some good coordinator if we parse the $5 million HC salary out a little bit. Anyway, this the monster is dead - long live the monster.

I love NC's, and I'm certainly disappointed with our wait, but let's just say Texas had won the NC in 2009. I still wouldn't envy their stretch from 2009-present. Those two non-10 win seasons we've had since 2000 were incredibly painful for me, and I can't imagine why we'd willingly risk falling back into that. I also think that those claiming Stoops isn't capable of winning a NC at this point have a bad case of Chicken Little.

Personally, I don't feel that OU has only played 7 meaningful seasons.

[soonergirlNeugene]

Could have also been a jab at any one of the schools we beat by a low margin. We've heard that one a lot this year: proud of the way our guys played to the end.

[8timechamps]

In some ways, yes. I think two more NCs would burnish our credentials a lot more than 4 extra 10-win seasons. Just the way I look at it. Stoops' record is nothing to sneeze at. I am not an advocate of getting rid of him, because we could get much worse. I think it's an interesting thought what would occur if we got another young and hungry coach though, kind of shook it up, got some new philosophies in there. Would it be the end of the world? We could prob get some good coordinator if we parse the $5 million HC salary out a little bit. Anyway, this the monster is dead - long live the monster.

Ask Tennessee, Nebraska, USC, Florida, Michigan, etc. how getting rid of/losing a winning coach worked out. The point being there just aren't many really good coaches floating around. If the aforementioned programs couldn't replace coaches and continue to win, what makes anyone think OU would be different? Stoops is one of a very small number of coaches that have continued to win, over a long period, and do so the right (clean) way. The fans that would entertain the idea, would be begging for Stoops within two years of his departure.

Some day, at his choosing, Stoops will decide to hang it up. When that day comes, it's going to be very difficult to replace him. I don't expect the same, consistent level of winning to follow immediately.

If the monster is truly dead, someone needs to let everyone know, because it certainly hasn't stopped people from showing up to games, buying merchandise or turning on the TV. If Schnellenberger and Blake couldn't kill the monster, then it's in no danger of dying anytime soon. The monster has continued to grow under Stoops, because of his ability.

[rock on sooner]

Don't know how to pick out certain sentences, but what 8x sez about
Smellenberger (next to last game I saw in Ames) and Blake is right
on...the monster went into hibernation...just waiting on the right food
group...all you naysayers need to "just go away"! We are Oklahoma,
dammit! See the next post...

[BoulderSooner79]

I think everyone (including Stoops) would be okay with shaving a win or two off of down years in exchange for NC year(s). Championship gerrymandering, you might call it. But do those control knobs exist? Is there any facet of winning as many as possible every year somehow detrimental to winning it all in a given year? About the only thing I could think of would be to use redshirting in a way to clump all the talent into one year and then pay the price with a rebuilding year when they all leave at once**. But I don't see that as being practical with the unpredictable ways they guys develop, injuries, etc.

So I just read this thread as saying "yeah, we have it good, but would trade it for this other good thing if we could. And see, we are even willing to give up something, so it's a reasonable request".


**and this board would meltdown like a popsicle on a 100 degree day during that rebuilding year. Go look at 2005 for proof.

[rock on sooner]

Dammit I'm mad spelled backwards is "Dammit I'm Mad"! And, all you that are
knockin' Sooners better listen up....no room here fer any other than "Boomer, By
Gawd, Sooner! Now, have ya got that?!

[rock on sooner]

Aw Boulder, slipped in there...

[BigTip]

National Championships are sort of like golf's holes in ones.

You have to be good to get it close to the hole to have a chance of it going in. But most of all, you have to get lucky.

That's how football is. You have to be good, but you have to get lucky too. We're good, we get it close to the hole, but a bad call, or an injury, screws it.