Inside Bob Stoop's Last Days

[td71sooner]

Great article. Good answers to some lingering questions.

http://www.espn.com/college-football/story/_/id/20247782/inside-bob-stoops-last-days-oklahoma

 

[CTOkie]

History has been good to OU when it comes to hiring young coaches: Wilkinson, Fairbanks, Switzer, Stoops and Riley....all of whom were hired in their 30's.
Gary Gibbs might have been included following Switzer, but the fallout from scandals and a stiff probation never let him (or his recruiting) get off to a good start.
I believe to this day that Gibbs may have been the right man at the wrong time in OU football history. No one will ever know for sure.
Anyway, Riley faces a challenge starting out even with all the resources at his disposal. OU loses three franchise players in Westbrook, Mixon and Perine that accounted for 60% of the team's offense....an offense that had to bail out OU's porous defense on at least three occasions. To assume that three other offensive players will even approach what these three did over the past 2 years is shaky.

 

[BillyRay]

Read that article earlier. Good article!!

 

[OUnabomber]

History has been good to OU when it comes to hiring young coaches: Wilkinson, Fairbanks, Switzer, Stoops and Riley....all of whom were hired in their 30's.
Gary Gibbs might have been included following Switzer, but the fallout from scandals and a stiff probation never let him (or his recruiting) get off to a good start.
I believe to this day that Gibbs may have been the right man at the wrong time in OU football history. No one will ever know for sure.
Anyway, Riley faces a challenge starting out even with all the resources at his disposal. OU loses three franchise players in Westbrook, Mixon and Perine that accounted for 60% of the team's offense....an offense that had to bail out OU's porous defense on at least three occasions. To assume that three other offensive players will even approach what these three did over the past 2 years is shaky.

I could be wrong, but Gibbs just didn't seem to have much of a personality. Maybe defensive coordinator was just the right position for him.

 

[CTOkie]

I could be wrong, but Gibbs just didn't seem to have much of a personality. Maybe defensive coordinator was just the right position for him.

You may be right, but I don't see how 99% of the coaches who could have taken over under such circumstances could have done much better. OU had so much "fence mending" to do then and had been given a blow to its image.

 

[OUSOONER67]

Good article!
Makes me wonder if the off field issues played a role. The job is stressful enough without having to deal with players making dumb decisions but then again thats just part of the job I guess. No program is immune to it.

 

[WhyNotaSooner]

Sounds like he just grew tired. He worked hard. He had a lot of money, a beautiful wife, and two good kids that he wanted to spend more time with. Good for him. I only hope that he doesn't get the bug to coach again. Ten years from now he'll be 67. He's a living legend now. I hope he enjoys his life to the fullest.

 

[Oklabama]

Bob left at a great time in his career. I wish that Bud and Barry had retired earlier, and that Bud had not ever coached again. I guess it worked out for Switzer since he won a NFL championship, but even so he won't be remember as a great NFL coach. Nobody liked him outside of Oklahoma. That's too bad. But I will say that the only time I EVER rooted for the Dallas Cowboys were the few years Barry was their coach. I gagged, but I still did it.

 

[FirecrackerFarts]

He is living the life now, according to my nephew, Stevie Jack. Says on the twitter Bob was hangin out with a bunch of famous comedians. Thats pretty cool right there, come back.

 

[soonerdave]

I think it's just as simple as how he laid it out. He's thinking about his health and family, period. In today's conspiracy theory chasing world, it's just really easy to dismiss Occam's Razor. Now what the tipping point was for him to begin seriously considering it? Who knows, but I think it was shortly after he and Urban visited during Urban's book research on work/family life balance.

 

[BillyRay]

You may be right, but I don't see how 99% of the coaches who could have taken over under such circumstances could have done much better. OU had so much "fence mending" to do then and had been given a blow to its image.

Gibbs was dealt an awful hand. He had to deal with the post-Switzer environment and probation, yet the fans and boosters still wanted Switzer-Era results on the field. Wasn't going to happen.

 

[Patriotgame]

History has been good to OU when it comes to hiring young coaches: Wilkinson, Fairbanks, Switzer, Stoops and Riley....all of whom were hired in their 30's.
Gary Gibbs might have been included following Switzer, but the fallout from scandals and a stiff probation never let him (or his recruiting) get off to a good start.
I believe to this day that Gibbs may have been the right man at the wrong time in OU football history. No one will ever know for sure.
Anyway, Riley faces a challenge starting out even with all the resources at his disposal. OU loses three franchise players in Westbrook, Mixon and Perine that accounted for 60% of the team's offense....an offense that had to bail out OU's porous defense on at least three occasions. To assume that three other offensive players will even approach what these three did over the past 2 years is shaky.

Switzer actually suggested Merv Johnson but for some reason the powers that be said no....Merv would have been a much better choice.

 

[CTOkie]

Switzer actually suggested Merv Johnson but for some reason the powers that be said no....Merv would have been a much better choice.

Maybe. But the job opening in the wake of such monumental scandals and probation would have been a slippery slope for any coach.
Johnson's experience and known qualifications would seem to have been the better option however....in all fairness to Gibbs.

 

[soonerdave]

Maybe. But the job opening in the wake of such monumental scandals and probation would have been a slippery slope for any coach.
Johnson's experience and known qualifications would seem to have been the better option however....in all fairness to Gibbs.

But with the Butterfly Effect, there is a decent chance the way things played out we would not have ended up in the position we are currently in as a football program and athletic program overall.