Article on OU from Terry Bowden

[BoonesFarmSooner]

Apologies if this has already been posted - I just got back from the AZ and stumbled across this on Yahoo...

http://sports.yahoo.com/ncaaf/news?slug=tb-rhettbomar080706&prov=yhoo&type=lgns




Focus on the intangibles

By Terry Bowden, Yahoo! Sports
August 6, 2006

Several weeks ago I received a call from a sportswriter asking me how I thought the Oklahoma Sooners were going to do this season. It seems that he, and many others for that matter, were predicting great things – even so much as a trip back to the national championship game – for the Sooners.

I told him I really liked Oklahoma’s chances for a very good season. I felt that the entire program had been humbled last year and that the Sooners would be hungry to make amends for last year’s shortcomings. They had the nation’s best returning running back and a defense that would make sure they were in every game. Most importantly, they returned their starting quarterback, a prerequisite, I believe, to having a championship team.

However, it was this last factor – a returning starting QB – that gave me the most concern as to whether the Sooners would be able to compete for the title.

I always have said that one of the keys to a championship football team is a veteran quarterback who is a great leader and a great decision maker. If you look at the quarterbacks that head coach Bob Stoops has had at Oklahoma – Josh Heupel, Nate Hybl and Jason White – all had those intangible characteristics. Not one of them proved to be a big-time NFL talent, but they all had those special intangibles that I like to call “it.” And because of it, they led Oklahoma to some of its finest years ever.

However, as I evaluated the current quarterback situation at Oklahoma, I began to have reservations about Rhett Bomar. Although he was one of the most talented high school quarterbacks in the country when he was recruited, something else just didn’t seem right.


It wasn’t so much that he was a somewhat reckless quarterback on the field who often played by the seat of his pants. I figured time could take care of that. More than that it was the poor decisions he kept making off the field. Twice since September he had been cited for underage drinking in public. There also was a party he hosted that had gotten out of hand. I’m not saying any of these things makes him a terrible kid, but they did reflect on his leadership and ability to make good decisions.

You see, I don’t think leadership is a one-time thing. I think it’s an all-the-time thing.

Anyway, I told that writer a few weeks ago that Bomar would have to show me that he had improved his decision-making skills before I could put Oklahoma back into the championship picture. I told him there just seemed to be something different between him and the type of quarterbacks that Bob Stoops had made a killing off between 1999 and 2004. We were just going to have to wait and see.

Well, I don’t guess we’ll ever get that chance. As most everyone knows, Rhett Bomar was dismissed from the team for yet another poor decision. This one, however, proved monumental.

I think there’s a lesson here for Stoops and every other head coach in college football (including former head coaches like me). Yes, you have to recruit the best talent if you are going to be successful. You have to have the most talented tailback and the most talented defensive tackle and the most talented cornerback. However, when it comes to quarterback, first and foremost you had better make sure he has the intangibles.

Footnote: Oklahoma has named Paul Thompson as its starting quarterback going into the season. He was the starter going into last year, and he is a great character kid. He just needs to prove that he is an accurate enough passer. Incidentally, for all you Oklahoma fans who may worry that I am projecting gloom and doom, if the Sooners get by Oregon at Autzen Stadium and Texas in the Red River Shootout, they should be favored in every other game this year.


Terry Bowden is Yahoo! Sports' college football analyst. Send him a question or comment for potential use in a future column.

[Sooner-N-KS]

That looked like a very fair evaluation.....something Skp Bayless would know nothing about.

[pgagolfpro77]

A good article, and I think its pretty hard to debate that if we get past Texass undefeated, that we would be favored in the rest of our games.

If we get past texass, everyone will consider us to have proven that PT can play (or that we can win even without him being that good, whichever), and will consider us BCS bowl material. As for now, the team is just a huge question mark.

We'll know a lot by the conclusion of the Oregon game.....thats for sure.

[Collier11]

That looked like a very fair evaluation.....something Skp Bayless would know nothing about.


Skip bayless just said that Talladega Nights was bad movie cus it makes fun of southerners and race care fans, so if you needed any further proof that he is an idiot there ya go!!

[Flagstaffsooner]

For once Terry makes sense. Spek to T Bow. He hit it right on the head.

[Yosarian]

This article seemed somewhat fair. But anytime Terry Bowden questions anyone's decision-making it get's a little under my skin.

"And just how did you lose that head coaching gig at Auburn, Coach?"

[sooner94]

Those are the first coherent, intelligent thoughts I have ever heard coming from Terry Bowden. He hit the nail on the head for once.

Who wrote that article and what did he do with Terry Bowden?

[Flagstaffsooner]

"And just how did you lose that head coaching gig at Auburn, Coach?"http://www.geocities.com/narimasu99/maren01.jpg

We represent the lolipop kids....

[Partial Qualifier]

Who wrote that article and what did he do with Terry Bowden?

That's what I was thinking.. I'm officially scared now :eek:

[Flagstaffsooner]

Those are the first coherent, intelligent thoughts I have ever heard coming from Terry Bowden. He hit the nail on the head for once.

Who wrote that article and what did he do with Terry Bowden?Like maybe he was sober?:confused:

[85Sooner]

I noticed that terry did not make any judgements based on the TCU game. He mentioned the passing but we all knew that before last season. Turns out that Bomar was basically 7th in the big twelve last year. Lets see where PT ends up this year.

[sooneron]

I'm having a hard time believing that Terry wrote that. A big DUH to that fact of us being favored if we are undefeated after Dallas. Ok, that reminded me that Bowden wrote it.

IF we win at Autzen, (My belief in IF has more to do with other things than Bomar being booted- I think it's going to be really hard to beat them a third time in a row - at their house).I really like our chances in Dallas.

[boomrsoonr]

IF we win at Autzen, (My belief in IF has more to do with other things than Bomar being booted- I think it's going to be really hard to beat them a third time in a row - at their house).


I believe the same thing was said 5 of the last 6 years against the wHorns.

[westcoast_sooner]

If Bowden did write the article, kudos to him for telling it like it is. If he didn't - um - can we keep the fake Terry Bowden?

[Wishboned]

Ya ever click on a thread just positive that you're going to get ticked off from reading it...

and then you're disappointed?


That was a good read.

[douxpaysan]

I'm having a hard time believing that Terry wrote that. A big DUH to that fact of us being favored if we are undefeated after Dallas. Ok, that reminded me that Bowden wrote it.

IF we win at Autzen, (My belief in IF has more to do with other things than Bomar being booted- I think it's going to be really hard to beat them a third time in a row - at their house).I really like our chances in Dallas.
I would hope that what you wrote is true, in that an early loss to Oregon at home and another RRS win would make us the conference favorite. However Texas will be a better team than Oregon, I think. We will win them both or lose them both, probably the latter. js

[TheUnnamedSooner]

Like maybe he was sober?:confused:

You ever felt that way Flags? ;)

[picasso]

http://www.richardmiller.com/portraits/coach.jpg
terrrry lisa
terrrry lisa

men have named you

you're so like the lady with the mystic smile
is it only 'cause you're lonely
they have blamed you
for that terry lisa strangeness in your smile...

[Ruuuuuufus]

the main reason he wrote that article was just to pat himself on the back...

[okievol]

Should Stoops flee to the NFL next season or so, would Terry Bowden's name come up as a possible successor?

[picasso]

Should Stoops flee to the NFL next season or so, would Terry Bowden's name come up as a possible successor?
yes, him and your momma.

[Blue]

Should Stoops flee to the NFL next season or so, would Terry Bowden's name come up as a possible successor?

That's hee-larious.

[soonerinabilene]

Should Stoops flee to the NFL next season or so, would Terry Bowden's name come up as a possible successor?

go wash your mouth out with soap this minute, young man. we do not talk like that!!!

[okievol]

Ha/ha/ha OK lets say Stoops announces he's gone after the last game in 06...who's everyones top 3 possibles to replace him.

[Blue]

Stoops isn't leaving.

But...we'd have to look at Kragthorpe.

[okievol]

Yes Kragthorpe is an obvious high talent option, didnt he just sign a big extension though?...might be expensive... Im talking hypothetically guys....it could happen...show Stoops enough $ and I garentee you he's gone.

[okievol]

Not to mention the way he disappeared like Al Gore after USC beat the Sooners down...didnt hear a word from the man after that game.... He sat at home grew a beard and watched sponge bob all day eatin oreos....think he would'nt leave Soonernation shown a big check??

[Big Red Ron]

Not to mention the way he disappeared like Al Gore after USC beat the Sooners down...didnt hear a word from the man after that game.... He sat at home grew a beard and watched sponge bob all day eatin oreos....think he would'nt leave Soonernation shown a big check??You're an idiot, there I said it.

[critical_phil]

that dude does a pretty good Vol impersonation...


Vols = 1 rung above whorns on the classless fan ladder

[okievol]

Well the Sooners are a great team with history and tradition. The fans are a group of indiviuals that are smug, rude, condesending, and ill mannered. But a 5-6 season should help you humble up...its comin.

[CU Sooner]

Well the Sooners are a great team with history and tradition. The fans are a group of indiviuals that are smug, rude, condesending, and ill mannered. But a 5-6 season should help you humble up...its comin.


You speak from experience.:D :D

[CU Sooner]

Well the Sooners are a great team with history and tradition. The vols are a group of indiviuals that are smug, rude, condesending, and ill mannered. But a 5-6 season should have made us humble up...its comin.
There, fixed.

[picasso]

Well the Sooners are a great team with history and tradition. The fans are a group of indiviuals that are smug, rude, condesending, and ill mannered. But a 5-6 season should help you humble up...its comin.
maybe terry bowden is your momma.

both look and squeal like pigs I'm sure.

[picasso]

(heavy rythm banjo)
poppycock you'll always be
home sweet home to meeeee

good ole poppycock
poppycock gotta peee
poppycock gotta peee

(banjo player is a showin his one good toof)

I went up on top ole poppycock just the other day
I went up on top ole poppycock
hey hey
ho hey hey...

[soonerinabilene]

Ha/ha/ha OK lets say Stoops announces he's gone after the last game in 06...who's everyones top 3 possibles to replace him.

not gonna happen anytime soon, he has said several times he's living his dream and doesnt want to leave anytime in the near future. but in a few years when he does, first look would probably go to inside guys like venerables, wilson, and possibly mike coming back from u of a.

[GDC]

Stoops may exit sooner for NFL job
By DAVE SITTLER World Sports Writer
8/8/2006

View in Print (PDF) Format


In the wake of Big Red Sports / ImportsGate, one has to wonder if "some day" just zoomed several years up Bob Stoops' personal career planner.

It's become a rite of winter to have Stoops' name on the short list of candidates for every NFL job that opens.

Stoops' denial of interest has also become an annual event. In fact, OU athletic director Joe Castiglione joked last January that the media should use his quotes from the year before when the press inquired if he was worried the NFL would hire away his coach.

To Stoops' credit, he's never dodged the question like many of his peers. When most college coaches are listed as potential NFL candidates, they swear they have zero interest while instructing their agents to do whatever it takes to get them a pro job.

Ever since he flirted with the Cleveland Browns in the days after he led OU to the 2000 national title in just his second season, Stoops has candidly acknowledged that he could see himself in the NFL "some day." NFL teams in Kansas City, Mo., Atlanta, Oakland, Jacksonville and San Francisco are just a few who reportedly have considered Stoops a candidate the past few years.

Before last week, you could count me among those who were convinced when Stoops said he

couldn't see himself leaving OU for the foreseeable future.

The conviction weakened considerably on Wednesday when Stoops confirmed he had permanently booted quarterback Rhett Bomar and offensive guard J.D. Quinn off the team. What had the two done? Well, they acted like they were already in their own NFL (Need Funds Laundered), accepting wads of cash for work they didn't do.

Before the Bomar-Quinn scandal unfolded, Stoops remaining at OU made sense to me for a lot of reasons. There's the healthy $2.6 million-per-year salary he has through 2011. And the $3 million bonus he'll collect if he remains the Sooners' coach through the 2008 season.

And with Stoops' 46th birthday coming up next month, he could spend another decade at OU, breaking the records of Bud Wilkinson and Barry Switzer, and still be a relatively young man when he departs for the NFL.

Another key factor is Steve Spurrier's woeful two-year experience coaching the Washington Redskins. After going 12-20 during the 2002 and 2003 seasons, Spurrier couldn't let the revolving NFL coaches' door hit him in the backside fast enough as he took a year off and then returned to college ball at South Carolina.

Spurrier, of course, is Stoops' mentor and idol. And Stoops acknowledged that the negative experience of his close friend and confidant had given him second thoughts about a future in the NFL.

But all bets are off now on Stoops sticking around Norman another decade. I'm now not certain if Stoops will be coaching OU in 2007 if the right NFL offer comes along.

First of all, he knows he's a better coach than Spurrier. And he has the confidence that he can succeed where others (including good friends) have failed.

If the rebuilding efforts of former LSU coach Nick Saban with the Miami Dolphins continues to improve, NFL owners won't be as worried about college coaches making the big jump to the big leagues.

Saban's success will certainly make Stoops all the more attractive to NFL owners not afraid to gamble. Owners like Jerry Jones, who could be looking for a new coach for his Dallas Cowboys should Bill Parcells retire after this season.

More than the lure of the NFL, however, I think last week's experience and the ramifications of it could be what finally convinces Stoops to get out of the college game earlier than he had planned.

The NFL does feature some of the most overpaid, immature athletes in the sports world. But unlike in college, a pro coach doesn't have to recruit them and doesn't have to deal with overbearing parents.

And while Stoops couldn't replace Bomar and Quinn, in the NFL he could cut or trade players and instantly hire replacements.

Bomar's departure potentially damaged Stoops' program both in the short- and long-term. Bomar's presence had hindered recruiting in the past, because quarterback prospects weren't going to sign with OU with Bomar set to start the next three seasons. And now that Bomar and Quinn have committed a serious NCAA violation, Stoops will have to battle the negative recruiting other schools are guaranteed to use when they warn potential recruits that OU could go on probation.

But if Stoops does leave, the biggest factor could be the betrayal he feels after Bomar and Quinn lied to him and the frustration he has to privately feel about OU's compliance office letting this mess get so out of hand that no one can be sure if it's really over.

The boosters who allegedly helped Bomar and Quinn put together this scam could strongly influence Stoops. There reportedly were at least two former employees at the Big Red Sports / Imports car dealership who were involved.

The actions of the two players and the two scumbag car dealers have permanently stained Stoops' heretofore pristine reputation. You think they are the only boosters out there who boost their egos by being jock sniffers?

So what college coach wouldn't be interested in the NFL if his reputation faces ruin by a bunch of slime balls? NFL teams are going to come after Stoops again.

And that "some day" when he takes one of their offers may come a whole lot sooner than any of us thought possible less than a week ago..

[boomrsoonr]

Sittler is an idiot. While a lot of what he says seems to make sense, Stoops has never been one to cave in to pressure. He faces the issues he's dealt head-on and takes immediate, decisive action. And like Stoops said, "a championship program is bigger than any single player" (or something like that). Stoops knows he has it made where he is and he's confident that he can win more MNCs at Oklahoma. How confident is he that he could win ANY Super Bowls with all the whiney baby players he'd have to deal with in the NFL. A head coach in the NFL doesn't have the control of his own destiny like a college coach does.

I don't see him leaving any time soon. He's been offered lots of jobs. After the two BCS bowl losses he had to endure, I don't think an 8-4, or even a 4-8 season would bother him that much.

[stoopified]

For once Terry makes sense. Spek to T Bow. He hit it right on the head.True dat.