National columnist: It’s time for Bob Stoops to leave ‘stagnant’ Oklahoma

[sendbaht]

http://collegesportsblog.dallasnews.com/2014/11/national-columnist-its-time-for-bob-stoops-to-leave-stagnant-oklahoma-2.html/


I hope Bob stays 10 more years...just me..and you?

[Mookie91]

blog = *********

I don't want Stoops to have carte blanche to do whatever he wants for 20 more years but at this point he has done his job. If he starts to lose the program and recruits stop coming, the team gets taken behind the woodshed once a year or we get some 8-5 7-6 seasons then he needs to go.

I remember in the not so distant past OU would go to an unranked Texas Tech team and get beat. This year, while disappointing, they have lost to 3 legitimate teams. Next year will be a big one to see how players respond and how they develop the two lines with losing key guys.

[dwarthog]

Didn't this same dude recently write an article about Stoops to Michigan or something?

[SoonerMarkVA]

I don't want Stoops fired, or forced out, but I will not be at all surprised if he steps down on his own after this year. I keep thinking "Billy Tubbs" with the current situation. I'm not even sure Stoops would go to another college job. Maybe he gets offered an NFL gig and figures what the heck? Or maybe he does just what he's said he might do in the past, and try his hand coaching HS. I doubt the money really matters to him, so he could step down and do whatever he wants--not just go to some other University or the NFL.

I will say, though, if he does stick around after this year, that tells me he's committed to rebuilding things. I just can't see him sticking around and languishing, like Mack did.

[badger]

I'd have to say that we've done our part as a fanbase and a university to put Bob Stoops in a position to succeed and feel wanted/loved. Hell, we put up a statue of him next to Barry and Bud if I'm not mistaken.

I'm not ready to write him off yet... but it will be interesting to see what offseason moves are made if he stays

[Phil]

I can understand the idea behind the column, but I think Stoops is made of different stuff. He's not going to sit around and let it be stagnant - the coaching shakeup a couple of years ago tells me that.

Remember Tom Osborne? He was at Nebraska for 21 years without a title before winning three in four years in the 90s. I realize the game is a bit different now, but still. You have to take the long view on these things. Stoops is way ahead of where Osborne was at this point in his career, and you know what everyone thinks of Osborne.

I remember when Tubbs left, I was shocked at first, but then quickly realized that it was the best thing for both parties. I wouldn't feel that way if Stoops left, and I think if he did, it would not take long at all before we were missing him terribly.

[rock on sooner]

If Bob leaves, I hope it is AFTER a perfect season and a thumping of the
Golden Domers in the National Championship game, but that's just me.....

[KantoSooner]

continuing the Tubbs comparison, be careful of what you wish for. OU mens hoops, excepting a brief moment with Blake, hasn't been worth much of anything since Tubbs took off.

[SoonerMarkVA]

continuing the Tubbs comparison, be careful of what you wish for. OU mens hoops, excepting a brief moment with Blake, hasn't been worth much of anything since Tubbs took off.

I think you forgot about Kelvin in there. Until he couldn't figure out how to use a phone with NCAA compliance, he had a very nice run including a Final 4. And Lon has us heading in the right direction. So I would turn that around and say that there was a brief blip after Blake, where we found that Capel wasn't going to cut it, that was an aberration from what we had with Billy, Kelvin, and now (IMO) Lon.

[Tear Down This Wall]

What I want to see is Bob Stoops go out on a limb and hire some coaches without obvious ties to him or his former coaches. I think what may be part of the problem is that Stoops has essentially surrounded himself with "yes men."

Is Jay Norvell really gonna cross Bob? He's an old Iowa Hawkeye, like Bob. Heupel, his ex-QB? Bedenbaugh, the Leach guy? Mike, his own brother?

Where are the fresh ideas coming from? Nowhere. Can no one on the offensive staff look Bob Stoops in the eye and say, "Knight's release isn't quick enough. We've given it two seasons, and he's been here for three years"? Worse, does the current staff even recognize it themselves?

See what I'm saying?

At some point, every business goes through this. People were writing Apple's obituary in the 1990s. They got innovative and pulled through. Other companies begin to flounder, then sink.

Those of us in our mid-40s and older are watching with amazement as Sears sinks. Sears, the company whose catalog in 60s and 70s we'd wear out in November and December circling the Christmas gifts we wanted.

It's gone and done. But, they've let is sink.

OU football is an organization as well, and one that needs to be shaken up before it hits bottom. But, you can't have everyone in the office telling you what you want to hear if you're the boss.

I don't think Stoops takes criticism well. And, that's fine. Many of us are the same way. But, as we've aged, we've learned that we've needed the occasional outside push or suggestion to get us out of the ruts and back on the rails.

I hope Bob Stoops can see that; but, I fear he can't.

[KantoSooner]

I think you forgot about Kelvin in there. Until he couldn't figure out how to use a phone with NCAA compliance, he had a very nice run including a Final 4. And Lon has us heading in the right direction. So I would turn that around and say that there was a brief blip after Blake, where we found that Capel wasn't going to cut it, that was an aberration from what we had with Billy, Kelvin, and now (IMO) Lon.

Didn't forget Kelvin, just discounted him due to the very short duration of his achievements and the fact that he apparently cheated to achieve them. For what it's worth, I think Lon is the best thing to ever happen to the program. but, if he succeeds (and I'd call a few conference championships and a couple trips to the Great 8 success), it'll really be him and Tubbs with great valleys of disappointment on all sides of them.

[SoonerMachine]

What I want to see is Bob Stoops go out on a limb and hire some coaches without obvious ties to him or his former coaches. I think what may be part of the problem is that Stoops has essentially surrounded himself with "yes men."

Is Jay Norvell really gonna cross Bob? He's an old Iowa Hawkeye, like Bob. Heupel, his ex-QB? Bedenbaugh, the Leach guy? Mike, his own brother?

Where are the fresh ideas coming from? Nowhere. Can no one on the offensive staff look Bob Stoops in the eye and say, "Knight's release isn't quick enough. We've given it two seasons, and he's been here for three years"? Worse, does the current staff even recognize it themselves?

See what I'm saying?

At some point, every business goes through this. People were writing Apple's obituary in the 1990s. They got innovative and pulled through. Other companies begin to flounder, then sink.

Those of us in our mid-40s and older are watching with amazement as Sears sinks. Sears, the company whose catalog in 60s and 70s we'd wear out in November and December circling the Christmas gifts we wanted.

It's gone and done. But, they've let is sink.

OU football is an organization as well, and one that needs to be shaken up before it hits bottom. But, you can't have everyone in the office telling you what you want to hear if you're the boss.

I don't think Stoops takes criticism well. And, that's fine. Many of us are the same way. But, as we've aged, we've learned that we've needed the occasional outside push or suggestion to get us out of the ruts and back on the rails.

I hope Bob Stoops can see that; but, I fear he can't.

Great post.

[cvsooner]

This column is the equivalent of piling on. A few ne'er-do-wells (I'm looking at you, Hoover; like Presidents and vacuums, you suck) start banging the drum and then it gets picked up by others. Jake Trotter, Pat Forde, and so on. Their writing never gets stale, though, no, of course not.

[aero]

I don't want to see Bob leave. I want to see him get pissed and make whatever changes he needs to. He's the man and it's his legacy. I believe in him and think he can do it. IF that's what he wants.

[Sooner8th]

I don't want to see Bob leave. I want to see him get pissed and make whatever changes he needs to. He's the man and it's his legacy. I believe in him and think he can do it. IF that's what he wants.

I'm with you on this. I was just looking at Clemson's defensive stats for this year - 4th in the country in total defense. No change or got worse on defense since Venables left. Something is wrong, Bob needs to fix it.

[RUSH LIMBAUGH is my clone!]

I don't want to see Bob leave. I want to see him get pissed and make whatever changes he needs to. He's the man and it's his legacy. I believe in him and think he can do it. IF that's what he wants.agreement.

[aero]

I'm with you on this. I was just looking at Clemson's defensive stats for this year - 4th in the country in total defense. No change or got worse on defense since Venables left. Something is wrong, Bob needs to fix it.

I agree. I'm not a big fan of our offense and think the defense has played decent. But I also think they could be much better. It's funny that OU has been known for prolific offenses but I think our best teams had great defenses. I will always believe that defenses win championships and regardless of what offense is being run, the games are won and lost at the line of scrimmage. If you have some down linemen that can pressure the qb, your secondary will benefit. Sacks, quick throws, errant throws, int's. I thought that is where we were going this year after the Bama game but it has not been the case. If the other team doesn't score you won't lose.

[Tear Down This Wall]

I'm with you on this. I was just looking at Clemson's defensive stats for this year - 4th in the country in total defense. No change or got worse on defense since Venables left. Something is wrong, Bob needs to fix it.

Yeah, like re-hire Venables...the guy many of you thought was THE problem. Replacing Venables with Kish is the biggest joke in program history next to Brandon Daniels' spring game in 1998.

[aero]

Bobby Bowden coached FSU for 34 years. He probably could have stopped at 30. But he only had 1 losing season (not counting the 2 they had their wins stripped), his first. He had some incredible years. From '87 to 2000 they never lost more than 2 games a year with 7 times losing 1, six 2 loss seasons, and 1 undefeated. Pretty good. In all that time though he only won 2 NC's. I wouldn't mind seeing Bob stick around with some similar success. Maybe a few more NC's.

[badger]

I keep thinking "Billy Tubbs" with the current situation

Billy Tubbs = the reason you should watch OU basketball games (mens and womens) this and every season. If he's not the color guy then go ahead and not watch, but if he is and you don't watch, you are missing out.

I have nothing to add to this Stoops discussion. I had a big loser high school football program back up north and the Packers too of course... so like my bridge from childhood to adulthood, I don't mind if my college program is a tweener between greatest pro franchise ever and sh!ttiest HS team ever

[ouduckhunter]

What I want to see is Bob Stoops go out on a limb and hire some coaches without obvious ties to him or his former coaches. I think what may be part of the problem is that Stoops has essentially surrounded himself with "yes men."

Is Jay Norvell really gonna cross Bob? He's an old Iowa Hawkeye, like Bob. Heupel, his ex-QB? Bedenbaugh, the Leach guy? Mike, his own brother?

Where are the fresh ideas coming from? Nowhere. Can no one on the offensive staff look Bob Stoops in the eye and say, "Knight's release isn't quick enough. We've given it two seasons, and he's been here for three years"? Worse, does the current staff even recognize it themselves?

See what I'm saying?

At some point, every business goes through this. People were writing Apple's obituary in the 1990s. They got innovative and pulled through. Other companies begin to flounder, then sink.

Those of us in our mid-40s and older are watching with amazement as Sears sinks. Sears, the company whose catalog in 60s and 70s we'd wear out in November and December circling the Christmas gifts we wanted.

It's gone and done. But, they've let is sink.

OU football is an organization as well, and one that needs to be shaken up before it hits bottom. But, you can't have everyone in the office telling you what you want to hear if you're the boss.

I don't think Stoops takes criticism well. And, that's fine. Many of us are the same way. But, as we've aged, we've learned that we've needed the occasional outside push or suggestion to get us out of the ruts and back on the rails.

I hope Bob Stoops can see that; but, I fear he can't.


I agree with you. I hate to see us falter, and muddle along at some point every season while other teams are building, and getting stronger from season to season. Until the last two years we lived in Oregon, and while we were there we watched the Quacks turn their team around from nothing special into a contender. I do think they cheated along the way, and they have major support from Phil Knight, but they still win a lot of games, and finish higher in the polls most seasons than we do. They brought in a very successful assistant coach from a small school, and he had great ideas and turned that program around. If a school like Oregon can find a good coach, and turn their program into something, why aren't we doing better things with OU's program. I think Stoops is too loyal to his people, and wish that he would up his own game, bring in some new coaching talent hungry for big things, and make it happen!

[Aries]

What I want to see is Bob Stoops go out on a limb and hire some coaches without obvious ties to him or his former coaches. I think what may be part of the problem is that Stoops has essentially surrounded himself with "yes men."

Is Jay Norvell really gonna cross Bob? He's an old Iowa Hawkeye, like Bob. Heupel, his ex-QB? Bedenbaugh, the Leach guy? Mike, his own brother?

Where are the fresh ideas coming from? Nowhere. Can no one on the offensive staff look Bob Stoops in the eye and say, "Knight's release isn't quick enough. We've given it two seasons, and he's been here for three years"? Worse, does the current staff even recognize it themselves?

See what I'm saying?

At some point, every business goes through this. People were writing Apple's obituary in the 1990s. They got innovative and pulled through. Other companies begin to flounder, then sink.

Those of us in our mid-40s and older are watching with amazement as Sears sinks. Sears, the company whose catalog in 60s and 70s we'd wear out in November and December circling the Christmas gifts we wanted.

It's gone and done. But, they've let is sink.

OU football is an organization as well, and one that needs to be shaken up before it hits bottom. But, you can't have everyone in the office telling you what you want to hear if you're the boss.

I don't think Stoops takes criticism well. And, that's fine. Many of us are the same way. But, as we've aged, we've learned that we've needed the occasional outside push or suggestion to get us out of the ruts and back on the rails.

I hope Bob Stoops can see that; but, I fear he can't.

Where your post loses traction is when you mention Mike. I've heard Bob in interviews say that sometimes when they disagree, Mike argues as if he is arguing with his brother rather than his boss. Bob says he has to remind him of that sometimes. So I dunno about your other examples, but that one seems to work against your argument.

[stoopified]

I NEVER thought I would say this but Stoops may be burnt out. I'm sure this drastic change in opinion is due in large part to the suck factor of OUr play vs. a pitiful TT. I have no idea who to hire but I think we could have many candidates. I would add that I would NOT consider any current staff member as I think we need a clean restart.

Hopefully I will wake up and this will all be a nightmare.

[soonerfan69]

blog = *********

I don't want Stoops to have carte blanche to do whatever he wants for 20 more years but at this point he has done his job. If he starts to lose the program and recruits stop coming, the team gets taken behind the woodshed once a year or we get some 8-5 7-6 seasons then he needs to go.

I remember in the not so distant past OU would go to an unranked Texas Tech team and get beat. This year, while disappointing, they have lost to 3 legitimate teams. Next year will be a big one to see how players respond and how they develop the two lines with losing key guys.

Almost stuck your foot in your mouth there bud

[Sabanball]

When Saban retires I'd take Bob in a heartbeat.

[TrophyCollector]

When Saban retires I'd take Bob in a heartbeat.

Might want to at least take a look at Briles, Patterson or Snyder (or his ghost).

[OUmillenium]

Swtizer didn't leave or fire a load of coaches in 83...he got Boz and a bunch of smart, tough players to make an incredible 5 year run.

[Sabanball]

U
What I want to see is Bob Stoops go out on a limb and hire some coaches without obvious ties to him or his former coaches. I think what may be part of the problem is that Stoops has essentially surrounded himself with "yes men."

Is Jay Norvell really gonna cross Bob? He's an old Iowa Hawkeye, like Bob. Heupel, his ex-QB? Bedenbaugh, the Leach guy? Mike, his own brother?

Where are the fresh ideas coming from? Nowhere. Can no one on the offensive staff look Bob Stoops in the eye and say, "Knight's release isn't quick enough. We've given it two seasons, and he's been here for three years"? Worse, does the current staff even recognize it themselves?

See what I'm saying?

At some point, every business goes through this. People were writing Apple's obituary in the 1990s. They got innovative and pulled through. Other companies begin to flounder, then sink.

Those of us in our mid-40s and older are watching with amazement as Sears sinks. Sears, the company whose catalog in 60s and 70s we'd wear out in November and December circling the Christmas gifts we wanted.

It's gone and done. But, they've let is sink.

OU football is an organization as well, and one that needs to be shaken up before it hits bottom. But, you can't have everyone in the office telling you what you want to hear if you're the boss.

I don't think Stoops takes criticism well. And, that's fine. Many of us are the same way. But, as we've aged, we've learned that we've needed the occasional outside push or suggestion to get us out of the ruts and back on the rails.

I hope Bob Stoops can see that; but, I fear he can't.

This..

[Sooner8th]

Swtizer didn't leave or fire a load of coaches in 83...he got Boz and a bunch of smart, tough players to make an incredible 5 year run.

I have always heard the lights were on in switzers office a lot later starting around this time. It was not automatically renewing his contract for another year that seemed to get him going again.

[SoCalBigRed]

BURY BARRY!