When Riley wins the Natty, will people say it was with Stoops' players?

[BawlzDeep]

 

[CTOkie]

Just one....but a national championship this year is unlikely.

 

[CTOkie]

And....why should anyone care ?

 

[CalSooner]

We'll cross that bridge when we get there.

 

[BillyRay]

We'll cross that bridge when we get there.

I like this answer. No matter what people think about how Riley gets there, if he wins a natty in his first year then I really don't care about what people think. A natty is a natty!!! And right now, the dry spell has been longer than the time span between Barry's in 1985 and Bob's in 2000. Hard to believe, but it's true. The last 16 years have blown by.

 

[WhyNotaSooner]

Although I think you post this in jest, I think it's a very fair question. There will be a few that I absolutely know will but I'll say differently. The fact is Riley has changed the energy, direction and attitude of this team the day he showed up in Norman. As a result, he's the HC now. Without Riley coming on board, the Sooner football program would have been on life support.

 

[Plainosooner]

No, they'll say he did it with Kliff Kingsbury's quarterback.

 

[WhyNotaSooner]

No, they'll say he did it with Kliff Kingsbury's quarterback.

Now that you mention it, Bob is on record stating that he didn't even know Baker was enrolled at OU. So he had nothing to do with Baker coming on board. And then to go to a step further, he also said that it was up to his new OC Riley on who was to be named as the starting QB. So once again, Bob had nothing to do with Baker even starting.

Of course, I never believed any of this. But hey, that's me.

 

[CTOkie]

Although I think you post this in jest, I think it's a very fair question. There will be a few that I absolutely know will but I'll say differently. The fact is Riley has changed the energy, direction and attitude of this team the day he showed up in Norman. As a result, he's the HC now. Without Riley coming on board, the Sooner football program would have been on life support.

I don't know if the program would would have been "on life support", but then, what other options would OU have had upon Stoops' retirement ?
I believe OU had Riley in its cross hairs for head coach the day it hired him.....knowing that Stoops was a two or three years from leaving. From inside the program and administration, Stoops' exit may have been known about by the end of last season....or sooner.

 

[BillyRay]

I believe OU had Riley in its cross hairs for head coach the day it hired him.....knowing that Stoops was a two or three years from leaving. From inside the program and administration, Stoops' exit may have been known about by the end of last season....or sooner.

CT, this very well could be the case. If so, then maybe Bob had hoped Heupel would be his successor until he had to admit to himself that Heupel just didn't look like the answer. Would make sense Bob would look for not only an OC. But also a person he could see taking over the reigns as he could tell his days as head coach were starting to get short.

But I will always believe Cale Gundy MUST have had a chance at being Bob's successor. Especially a few years ago when Bob promoted him to Assistant Head Coach. I really thought that was the writing on the wall. Maybe Cale just wasn't interested in being a head coach and was happy with a less stressful staff position.

 

[Plainosooner]

Now that you mention it, Bob is on record stating that he didn't even know Baker was enrolled at OU. So he had nothing to do with Baker coming on board. And then to go to a step further, he also said that it was up to his new OC Riley on who was to be named as the starting QB. So once again, Bob had nothing to do with Baker even starting.

Of course, I never believed any of this. But hey, that's me.

That's close to 90% true. But Baker came to Norman, because he loved OU football from his childhood, youth and high school years. All of that was during Bob's time, so Bob doesn't get most of the credit, but he surely gets some. And Bob did have a policy where the best player played. We've had multiple, important walkon's who've not just played but were huge factors in the program. We had at least three on offense last year.

There were at least three on the NC team in 2000. And there were others in between. A lot of places, the shipped guy would play over the non shipped guy, but the best guys played the last 18 years.

So Bob does get a little credit. Some would think more than a little.

 

[Medic007]

So Bob does get a little credit. Some would think more than a little.

What hasn't he gotten credit for?

 

[BigCrimsonTX]

LOL