5 college football programs Bob Stoops could come back to coach

Bob Stoops recently dropped a bombshell announcement. But is he really done coaching? Here are five college football programs where he could land next.

Just a few days ago, Bob Stoops announced that he was immediately stepping down as coach of the Oklahoma Sooners. Stoops spent his entire head coaching career at a blueblood program in Norman. While there he led Oklahoma to 10 full or shared titles in the Big 12 in 17 seasons. The Sooners won the 2001 Orange Bowl to capture the BCS national championship in his second season. They returned to the BCS title game in January 2009 but fell to Florida.

If this is truly it for Big Game Bob, he will ride off into the sunset as the third-best coach in school history behind Bud Wilkinson and Barry Switzer. But is this really it for Stoops in the coaching ranks?

We have seen coaches walk away from the sport before. Some have happily transitioned into retirement. Plenty more have come back to coaching after a couple of years away. Stoops probably isn’t about to keel over like Bear Bryant, so we might as well speculate where he might land in a few years if he decides to return to the sideline.

Some of these possibilities are more likely than others. Three are stops along Stoops’ assistant coaching career. Others are places where opportunity could strike at the right time. Some are a combination of both. Here is our best guess of where Stoops might land at various points over the next five years.