Stoops out at end of the season, or sooner (AZ)

[badger]

Another Arizona step backwards
I really thought this would be the year coach Mike Stoops' team turns the corner. Instead, the Wildcats have continued to shoot themselves in the foot, losing twice to MWC programs. To sift through the wreckage from last weekend's loss to New Mexico, check out this Greg Hansen column; Stoops pinpoints the biggest issue:
"In my three-plus years here, this is far and away our most undisciplined team," he said in a frank self-analysis in which he called himself "foolish."
Link (http://sports.espn.go.com/ncf/columns/story?columnist=feldman_bruce&id=3024137&lpos=spotlight&lid=tab1pos2)
And from Arizona... (http://www.azstarnet.com/sports/201579)

How bad was it? With 13 minutes remaining, the large video scoreboard displayed its weekly "Hit of the Game.'' It was a highlight from the little leaguers who scrimmaged at halftime.
I think I would cringe if such a thing were to happen at a Sooner game :(

Ladies and gentlemen, it is once again the start of heartache season at Arizona Stadium. At the start of the fourth quarter, no more than 30,000 of the original 51,996 were still in their seats. They beat the traffic, but the Wildcats could not beat the Lobos.
New Mexico won 29-27 on an anguishing night in which the Wildcats were one play away from winning so many times — a missed field goal, a dropped pass, a blown assignment, a fumble — that it was almost comical.
Is this the Mike Stoops that gave Texas so many troubles on defense? Have we ever known him to be a non-disciplining coach? What has gone wrong in AZ?!

And should we start asking if Bob will hire his brother back, should Venables get a head offer elsewhere...

I feel bad for Mike, he really seemed like he could take a program to the next level on his own :(

[Blues1]

Hopefully Mike can knock off some PAC 10 teams and call off the wolves - I wouldn't want to be on the Arizona team as a player right now - Having a Mad and upset Mike Stoops as your coach doesn't sound like it's going to Fun to play or practice any time in the near future.....

[StuIsTheMan]

http://wc.arizona.edu/papers/98/194/sundaySpecial/10.jpg

BRING HIM BACK HOME I SAY!

[JohnnyMack]

Winning in Tucson, AZ right now is next to impossible.

I said all along it was the wrong job for him to take.

He should still be here, waiting for Tuberville or Nutt to get fired.

[MextheBulldog]

http://wc.arizona.edu/papers/98/194/sundaySpecial/10.jpg

BRING HIM BACK HOME I SAY!

Some might say that defense has not been the same since he left....:cool:

[StuIsTheMan]

Some might say that defense has not been the same since he left....:cool:

I would be one of those some. Brent has good players but his scheme is weak at times...I liked the Stoops blitz someone different everyplay type of defense. JMO

[oupride]

He would be welcome here without a doubt.

[badger]

Intriguing thought:
What if
http://www.collegefootballtalk.com/stoops.jpg
replaced
http://graphics.fansonly.com/schools/hou/graphics/kolb/06gundy.jpg
???

[soonerboy_odanorth]

Winning in Tucson, AZ right now is next to impossible.

I said all along it was the wrong job for him to take.

He should still be here, waiting for Tuberville or Nutt to get fired.

Or Carr.

Heck, if Michigan is smart they will take a look at him even if he does get fired by AU.

[soonerboy_odanorth]

Intriguing thought:
What if
http://www.collegefootballtalk.com/stoops.jpg
replaced
http://graphics.fansonly.com/schools/hou/graphics/kolb/06gundy.jpg
???

Now that right there is heracy, sir.

I do believe you can get baned for stuff like that.

DE... Where's your shoe? Can I borrow it?

[KantoSooner]

If by 'intriguing' you mean 'evoking a strong urge to vomit, have one's head whirl through repeated 360 degree evolutions, produce strange satanic noises from one's mouth and have one's eyeballs explode outwards in shards' then, yes, it is intriguing.

[OUAndy1807]

assuming this is his last year:
You remember his first year when they almost beat a couple or three big name schools, but just couldn't catch a break? I wonder how different his tenure would have been if they caught a couple of those breaks? It would be interesting to see that plotline played out (better team outlook, maybe some better recruits to build upon, etc...)

Might not have made a difference, but it's interesting to me at least.

[OUAndy1807]

also, looking at their schedule, he might not win another game.

[CatfishSooner]

Too bad for Mikey...he's a good coach

[SoonerDood]

Too bad for Mikey...he's a good coach
not so stellar as a recruiter though.

[Sooner_Havok]

no so stellar as a recruiter though.
SEND MIKE BOO!!!

[josh09]

Link (http://sports.espn.go.com/ncf/columns/story?columnist=feldman_bruce&id=3024137&lpos=spotlight&lid=tab1pos2)
And from Arizona... (http://www.azstarnet.com/sports/201579)

I think I would cringe if such a thing were to happen at a Sooner game :(

Is this the Mike Stoops that gave Texas so many troubles on defense? Have we ever known him to be a non-disciplining coach? What has gone wrong in AZ?!

And should we start asking if Bob will hire his brother back, should Venables get a head offer elsewhere...

I feel bad for Mike, he really seemed like he could take a program to the next level on his own :(

Dang dude you scared me with the title ha

[badger]

Dang dude you scared me with the title ha
That's why I added an AZ to the end of it to clarify :)

I think it would be intriguing to have Mike Stoops face his brother, and OSU is likely the only sure-fire coaching vacancy at the end of the season. There is no way heeeell that I would want him at OSU, but the thought of Stoops vs. Stoops is very intriguing.

Stoops has gone against former assistants and usually won... except for the gooooooooo raiders travesty, but he hasn't gone against another Stoops, except at the dinner table 40 years ago, perhaps.

[Leroy Lizard]

Did I hear (see) that right? The fans left the stadium early on a night when they only lost by two points?

Sure, losing to New Mexico is not exactly the mark of a good team, but it isn't like they got blown out by some middlin' cellar-dweller or beat by a Div. 1AA team.

And when is it appropriate for a university to post a video (little league hit) that makes light of its own program?

[Flying Scotsman]

Intriguing thought:
What if
http://www.collegefootballtalk.com/stoops.jpg
replaced
http://graphics.fansonly.com/schools/hou/graphics/kolb/06gundy.jpg
???

If this were to happen, I would say, "DEATH ----- By Gunga".

[Mark_of_Tulsa]

If he became available for an assistant job here, would OU take him back in some position?

[Texas Golfer]

If Mike gets canned at Arizona, I don't see him getting another HC offer anytime soon. If he could return to the Sooners and have great success as the DC for a couple of years, he may get another opportunity.

[jrsooner]

Is this the Mike Stoops that gave Texas so many troubles on defense? Have we ever known him to be a non-disciplining coach? What has gone wrong in AZ?!You are forgetting that being a great coordinator is different than being a head coach. Mike may have the skill set for the coordinator position, but be lacking in skills for being a great head coach.

I'm a fan of Mike, and have been rooting for AZ since he's been there, but maybe that's not where his skill set is. I would not be sad to see him back as our DC.

[SoonerKnight]

Maybe Arizone just sucks and does not give him the support he needs to build a great team. Remember when Bob Stoops got hired at OU. He had people donating money after the first year to get better equipment and an indoor facility. OU's facilities at the time were aging and we were not up to date. Maybe Arizona is having the same problem. It's not like they were that great of a program when he got there and dang Arizona sucks. I too have rooted for him to have success but I hope he makes it this year if he can win 7 he'll be having a good year. Confidence and a better QB is what that team needs.

[Blue]

Venables is just fine with me. We have a top 2 D at the moment and they look the part.

[Ash]

Yikes, this one takes some direct shots at Mike's character.



Gimino: Stoops at crossroads
He must rally team as fans' anger over coach, AD escalates

ANTHONY GIMINO
Tucson Citizen

Is this the bottom? Is this what it looks like, feels like, smells like? Thud.
Arizona is 1-2 and just lost, in a comedy of errors, 29-27 to New Mexico, a decent team from a decent conference that, let's face it, would be lucky to finish ninth in a full round robin of Pac-10 games.
I guarantee you have not seen UA athletic director Jim Livengood as unapproachable as he was during and after Saturday night's game.
There are jobs on the line here, folks.
And this 1-2 start, confounding because of the lack of improvement from a veteran defense, perpetual silly mistakes and a head coach who still pops off on the sideline, is basically as bad as bad could be.
Saturday's game might have been the program's worst loss since a 14-14 tie at Oregon State in 1992.
It felt like the Wildcats couldn't go any lower that day - the Beavers were so bad, they wouldn't win a Pac-10 game - and that the coach inevitably was headed toward the firing squad.
Welcome to this week, 15 years later.
Part of the reason for bringing this up is that anybody familiar with the story of the 1992 team knows that in the next week Dick Tomey met individually with every player, looked them in the eye and challenged their commitment.
Arizona went on to nearly upset four-touchdown favorite Miami on the road, then embarked on a thrilling five-game winning streak, capped by a 16-3 victory over No. 1 Washington.
I'm not suggesting such a bounce back is coming from this group of Cats, but I'm eager to see if Mike Stoops, facing the biggest crisis of his four-year coaching career, has any special motivational techniques in his bag of tricks.
If he has a bag of tricks.
Screaming obscenities at your players does not count.
"It only gets harder from here on out," senior cornerback Antoine Cason said.
Arizona will move forward into Pac-10 play, opening at Cal on Saturday, with no momentum and the memory of the smattering of boos as it left Arizona Stadium.
Cason talked about the team needing to "come out with more swagger."
Receiver Mike Thomas, who had seven catches for 137 yards and two touchdowns, said that "we need to get our swagger back."
Remind me: What has this team done to earn any swagger?
It's true that hardly any bounces went UA's way against New Mexico, but the Wildcats tried every which way to give the game away . . . and, in this case, they succeeded.
The mistakes against New Mexico were numerous, but the one that might be most remembered is the 15-yard unsportsmanlike conduct penalty assessed to the coaching staff (Stoops) during a timeout.
There were 17 seconds left in the first half with New Mexico at the UA 42.
Did the penalty cost UA points?
Hard to say. The Lobos were sacked for a loss of 6 yards and moved back another 5 on a false start penalty before throwing a 38-yard touchdown pass with three seconds left in the first half.
"In my three years-plus, this was by far and away our most undisciplined team," Stoops said. "That discipline is my responsibility. That is something we need to get shored up."
Seriously. Stoops hasn't received rave reviews for his sometimes-manic sideline behavior, and to have this happen in his 37th game as the face of the program is, to use a word he uttered often in his post-game news conference, disappointing.
It's going to be a rough week for Stoops on talk radio and Internet message boards and around the water cooler.
I don't get the impression that UA football fans are up on the ledge in despair, ready to jump. I think they'd prefer to drag Stoops and Livengood up there and toss them over.
Arizona has sold hope to fans and recruits since Stoops was hired after the 2003 season. That time has come and gone.
The Wildcats can only sell victories now. And there haven't been enough to go around.
This might be as low as they can go.

[birddog]

Winning in Tucson, AZ right now is next to impossible.

I said all along it was the wrong job for him to take.

He should still be here, waiting for Tuberville or Nutt to get fired.

i always thought he should hold out for the penn st. job. but it looks like paterno will stick around long enough to be wheeled out to the field while an assistant holds his oxygen tank.

[Crucifax Autumn]

PErsonally I think them blaming Stoops for long-term problems at AZ is unrealistic. There is a side of me that says "good" just because I'm ****ed at him for leaving in the first place.

Overall though, I think they should either give him time to really establish himself more or he should just choose to come back to OU or go to another successful program as a DC...He's just too good at that job to even consider being a HC. The man is a genius at defense and needs to focus his attention on that and that alone.

[Crucifax Autumn]

PErsonally I think them blaming Stoops for long-term problems at AZ is unrealistic. There is a side of me that says "good" just because I'm ****ed at him for leaving in the first place.

Overall though, I think they should either give him time to really establish himself more or he should just choose to come back to OU or go to another successful program as a DC...He's just too good at that job to even consider being a HC. The man is a genius at defense and needs to focus his attention on that and that alone.

[SunDevilSooner]

Personally...I take GREAT pleasure at Mike's struggles at North Nogales U :P

[Fraggle145]

Still if he were to come back to you think venables would just become a co-defensive coordinator that easily?

[whitehelmutsagain]

PErsonally I think them blaming Stoops for long-term problems at AZ is unrealistic. There is a side of me that says "good" just because I'm ****ed at him for leaving in the first place.

Overall though, I think they should either give him time to really establish himself more or he should just choose to come back to OU or go to another successful program as a DC...He's just too good at that job to even consider being a HC. The man is a genius at defense and needs to focus his attention on that and that alone.

neither bob or mike are ever wrong. the officials are WRONG. do not believe me just ask them!
http://i12.photobucket.com/albums/a239/hunter_/gaytorszi9.jpg
TIM TEBOW KISSING HIS TEAM MATE AND ROOM MATE AFTER LAST WEEKS VICTORY. GO GAYTORZ:rolleyes:

[mhackl]

Intriguing thought:
What if
http://www.collegefootballtalk.com/stoops.jpg
replaced
http://graphics.fansonly.com/schools/hou/graphics/kolb/06gundy.jpg
???

Bite your tongue!

[Scott D]

Truthfully as you guys get all teary eyed in your wistfulness to have Mike Stoops back here, it's basically a dog with his tail tucked between his legs returning home. If by chance he got fired by Arizona (in a face saving move by the AD unless the AD got canned), it'd be more in his best interests to go anywhere BUT back to OU to rebuild his legacy.

[Crucifax Autumn]

PErhaps so, but he oughtta do it a a DC...not as a head coach. And he needs to do it somewhere quality players want to go.

[goingoneight]

Hmmm... there's a reason UA hired Mikey, and it isn't because some "legend" retired. That program sucks harder than Hurricane Pamela Anderson and just about everyone knows it. It's not easy to win at a sucky program unless you're just flat-out a good coach. And as stated above, great coodinators don't always translate to great head coaches. A head coach makes all decisions based on facts presented to him and suggestions from his staff. A coodinator doesn't take the heat when his bonehead quarterback milks the clock at a booster's dealership. That kind of stuff.

[Crucifax Autumn]

But man...a bad coordinator sure gets blamed backhandedly by the HC frome time to time!