OU Caravan: Stoops has an answer for Miles' words
By JOHN E. HOOVER World Sports Writer
6/8/2005
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Sooner coach finds humor in comments by LSU's new coach.
The shot Les Miles took last Sunday at Oklahoma and Bob Stoops was returned by the Sooner coach Tuesday during the Sooner Caravan at the OU-Tulsa Schusterman Center.
"He sure does think about me a lot, doesn't he?" Stoops said.
Miles, now head coach at Louisiana State after four years at Oklahoma State, said during a similar fan function in Thibodaux, La., that he was happy the Tigers defeated the Sooners in the 2003-04 national championship game.
"When you guys were playing Oklahoma (in the national championship) and I was representing another school, I watched every play and I was so damn happy that LSU won," Miles told LSU fans, according to The Baton Rouge (La.) Advocate. "I look forward to meeting that team again, and that coach."
Tuesday, Stoops -- who didn't shy away from cross-state verbal exchanges with Miles when Miles was leading the Cowboys -- responded to both media and fans.
"I find it humorous," Stoops told about 1,000 fans on the lawn of the Schusterman Center. "It cracks me up. He thinks about me a lot.
"I thought, 'Boy, I bet it was hard (last
season) for him to watch us raise our third Big 12 championship trophy."
Stoops and Miles met five times in OU-OSU contests, with Stoops winning three. But OSU almost derailed Oklahoma's national championship hopes in 2000 (a 12-7 OU victory) and again in 2004 (a 38-35 OU triumph). And in 2001 and 2002, the Cowboys scored OU-OSU upsets that cost the Sooners any hope of a national title.
OSU and Texas, of course, were frequent targets of humor at the event. Even emcee Chris Lincoln -- a Missouri graduate and longtime Tulsa broadcaster -- got in on the fun.
"I don't know if you heard or if any of you (care)," Lincoln began, "but Oklahoma State announced today that athletic director Harry Birdwell has re signed. Apparently, he did that before coach Gundy could suspend him."
Lincoln's joke was in reference to Mike Gundy's dismissal or suspension of seven OSU players since becoming head coach.
In private, Stoops addressed rumors that running back Adrian Peterson might not be completely healthy in the fall because he's not aggressively rehabilitating a shoulder injury following surgery in January.
"There's a lot of things said that aren't true or embellished or sensationalized," Stoops said. "No, he'll be fine. It's fairly common, and the success rate for recovery is usually very high."
Stoops said every high school senior in the current recruiting class is academically eligible, and two junior college players are finishing summer school and "should be ready to go" in the fall.
Stoops, OU athletic director Joe Castiglione, men's basketball coach Kelvin Sampson and women's basketball coach Sherri Coale were featured speakers.