"Win the big one? Stoops has won the era. Since Stoops arrived, only LSU has won more games against top 25 schools (57) than Stoops (54). And it took two coaches for the Tigers to do it (Nick Saban, Les Miles)."
Dennis Dodd
CBSSports.com
How Stoops re-energized Oklahoma, has Sooners booming again
November 25, 2015 11:38 am ET
NORMAN, Okla. -- If you want to get to Bob Stoops, suggest to him what he can't do ... like win the big one.
Oklahoma's coach works in as deep a bunker as any of his peers during the season. Stoops admitted Monday that he hadn't heard fellow Big 12 coach Paul Rhoads had been fired at Iowa State the day before.
But the guy they call Big Game Bob certainly heard his grip on the nickname had been slipping. In these heady days of playoff anticipation in Norman, that seems preposterous.
Just try raising the subject of the 2014 season. The 8-5 result tied for Stoops' worst record at OU.
“We were one year removed from being a top six [team] in the country, winning the Sugar Bowl. So what?” Stoops said, hackles raised. “There's silly opinions all the time and there always have been. Here's the thing: They didn't use to be able to throw them out there. Who cares?”
The Internet, barely a toddler when Stoops arrived here in 1999, has tormented many a coach. And yes, there is something to be said for that Sugar Bowl win over Alabama, the ninth BCS bowl of Stoops' career.
His point is that not much has changed prior to Saturday's OU-OSU clash with Oklahoma State. Win that and Stoops would have his ninth conference title in 17 seasons -- not to mention a College Football Playoff berth. The Sooners moved to No. 3 in the CFP Rankings on Tuesday. He has already clinched his 13th double-digit win season.
“What are you talking about?” Stoops said, taking stock of those accomplishments. “I'm grinding.”
Perspective lives here. Currently, that would be Stoops' temporary office in Bud Wilkinson House across from Gaylord Family Stadium. While new digs are being built, the fabled program is holed up in the once-infamous athletic dorm where The Boz once wove tales of guns, cocaine and steroid use.
It is also historically significant that Stoops operates out of the dorm's old faculty-in-residence office -- one Sooners' authority figure trading places with another.
There is a lot to reflect on this Thanksgiving week. Football hasn't always been the most important thing in a year that began with whispers that Stoops had stayed too long.
After that 8-5 season, the coach reshuffled the staff. Then there were the racially-insensitive SAE comments that united these Sooners more than any film session.
There was the controversial return of tailback Joe Mixon, who was allowed back following a year's suspension after being accused of striking a woman.
The quarterback who rejuvenated the quarterback tradition at OU, Baker Mayfield, basically landed in Stoops' lap as a walk-on.
Win the big one? Stoops has won the era. He is now 21 games clear of Barry Switzer as the program's winningest coach (178 victories). Since Stoops arrived, only LSU has won more games against top 25 schools (57) than Stoops (54). And it took two coaches for the Tigers to do it (Nick Saban, Les Miles).
Incredibly, Miles looks like he's on his way out. Stoops has perspective on that, too.
“Be careful what you wish for,” he warned. “You might just get it. Everyone thinks you just plug somebody in and it always works. Look what happened around here for about 15 years.”
Stoops was referring to the dark days between Barry Switzer and, well, him. The once great-program swam through a Gary Gibbs, Howard Schnellenberger, John Blake malaise.
Following a 10-1 start, Oklahoma, Stoops and the nickname are back. Again. Just don't tell them they ever left.
“Bob and I were talking about it yesterday,” said Dean Blevins who played quarterback for Switzer in the 1970s. “Everyone has peaks and valleys. This has really been admirable how he adjusted this time. The energy he brought back into the program.”
Sometimes all it takes is that perspective. It came in a series of switchbacks curling up a mountain of comeback.
It started with that remaking of the staff in January. Co-offensive coordinators Jay Norvell and Josh Heupel were fired. Veteran cornerbacks coach Bobby Jack Wright retired. They had been with Stoops a combined 34 years.
“[Oklahoma] had lost recruiting energy and focus and the lifeblood of any program,” Blevins said.
Stoops then went back to his roots to find a new offensive coordinator. He researched the top 15 teams in total offense last year. Six of the top 13 employed a coach with roots in Hal Mumme's old “Air Raid” scheme.
Stoops had started his run with offensive coordinator Mike Leach, a Mumme protégé. Leach laid the offensive foundation for the 2000 national championship before leaving for Texas Tech.
“I'm sitting here saying, ‘We're the ones that made [the Air Raid] popular and I'm the only one not doing it.'" Stoops said.
He settled on 31-year-old Lincoln Riley from East Carolina, ironically a former Leach assistant. The issue was integrating the Air Raid in an offense that was heavy with run talent in Samaje Perine and Mixon.
In the six games since the Texas loss on Oct. 10, OU has averaged 292 rushing yards and Mayfield has become a Heisman candidate.
“Russell Wilson, Drew Brees,” Stoops said offering quarterback comparisons. “I don't know if he's quite like Johnny [Manziel]. A little bit of Johnny. A little bit different but effective.”
The legend of Baker Football arrived as a Texas Tech transfer in January 2014. No one foresaw a future Heisman candidate.
“He ran the scout team for us, throwing the ball all over,” Stoops said. “Throwing it like he does now from any angle, front foot, back foot, sideways. Whatever.”
It wasn't so much Stoops taking a chance upon Mayfield's return. He'd gotten word the quarterback was transferring but didn't meet the kid until he introduced himself at an offseason team meeting.
“I heard you were here,” Stoops said.
There was the question of why Mayfield came at all. OU coaches got a look at him during a high school visit.
“I could tell,” father James Mayfield told The Oklahoman. “They were unimpressed.”
That and the Sooners were coming off that Sugar Bowl win led by then-redshirt freshman Trevor Knight.
“I'm not afraid of competition,” Mayfield said.
Now?
“I've never seen a player in all my years of watching football impact a game because he impacted both sides of the ball …” Blevins said. “He just brings an energy that is highly uncommon. He is the extrovert.”
Mayfield was knocked out of Saturday's TCU game with a concussion, the second of his career. The first was five years ago in high school. Stoops was asked if he can tone down Mayfield's swashbuckling style on the field.
“I don't know that you can,” the coach said.
The signature moment of Stoops' career may have come in March following those racist SAE comments. During the turmoil, which made national news, team leader Eric Striker -- an African-American -- made a profanity-laced video lashing out. It was eventually taken down.
“It's true emotion,” Stoops said. “I'm not in his position, a young black man. Who am I to say I wouldn't have done the same thing?”
The excellence you see these days may be a direct result of the bonding that took place after the SAE incident. Stoops immediately met with team leaders -- both black and white -- to develop a strategy.
There was no doubt about solidarity or that showing it would mean the postponement of some spring practices. The team locked arms and walked across campus in a show of unity.
“There is a lot of thought and feeling that goes into that,” Stoops said. “Most of the older guys had the pulse of the team. They were up late nights talking about what's the right thing to say … It took a lot out of them.”
Oklahoma didn't go through the exact same circumstances as Missouri did recently, but Stoops did understand the protest.
“It's sad that some this behavior [racism] would still be taught ,” he said. “When it's learned behavior, to me that's what's appalling about it.”
Losing to Texas hardly seems comparable but that was a turning point too. OU was left for dead -- playoff-wise -- after the upset by its biggest rival.
“After the Texas loss, I looked out and thought, ‘This thing could tumble back and be a five-loss season,'" Blevins said.
Instead, Oklahoma found an identity and has won six in a row. During that run, the defense has held the opposition to a combined 1,100 yards less than its season average coming into the game. Mayfield became a star. The Sooners got back into the playoff hunt beating Baylor and TCU back-to-back.
Don't tell Bob Stoops what he can't do. The man has stumped for his Heisman candidates, made his case to faceless BCS computers and now to a CFP Selection Committee that has at least three members who he knows personally (Tom Osborne, Barry Alvarez and chairman Jeff Long).
The Sooners are probably the Big 12's best hope to get to the playoff. Having moved up four spots in the latest CFP Rankings to No. 3, a playoff possibility now looks real.
The Sooners have beaten No. 7 Baylor and No. 19 TCU in consecutive weeks.
A OU-OSU game against the No. 11 Cowboys may all be what stands between Oklahoma and that playoff berth.
“You ought to be recognized for it,” Stoops said.
You might even call this a big game for Bob.
Originally Posted by SoonerMarkVA
