Oklahoma Football: What’s Bob Stoops’ reason for retiring?
After 18 years, why has Oklahoma football coach Bob Stoops decided to retire so suddenly on Wednesday?
If you’re shocked about the news of Bob Stoops retiring from Oklahoma football, you’re not alone. The internet practically broke when the news hit the web on Wednesday, leaving everyone wondering what had happened to make him leave a College Football Playoff-worthy team.
According to Berry Tramel of NewsOK, Stoops plans to tell his team about his decision to retire on Wednesday. The shocking news comes with a major question: why?
While no one will know for sure until he officially makes a statement, but college football reporter Bruce Feldman is being told it’s to “go live life.”
Bob Stoops is 56 & has won 10 Big12 titles. I'm told his reasoning for stepping down now is because he's ready & he wants to "go live life."
— Bruce Feldman (@BruceFeldmanCFB) June 7, 2017
This isn’t the first time a head coach has suddenly decided to retire in order to spend time with family and just live life. In fact, the most recent was Urban Meyer who left Florida after years of success because of health reasons and for the simple fact that he wanted to be around family.
However, Meyer didn’t stay away for long as he took the job at Ohio State a few years back and has been dominating Big Ten teams not named Michigan State ever since.
Lincoln Riley, 33, will be taking over and there’s talk that he could be the next long-time coach in Norman. He has been one of the top offensive coordinators out there, but is he ready to lead his own team?
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Back to Stoops, though. You can’t fault a coach for wanting to enjoy the simpler things in life. While his team is going to miss him and the fans have to thank him for 18 great years with 10 conference titles and a national championship, he felt it was time to move on.