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.
5. Texas A&M Aggies (Possible start: 2018)
The shine has come off of Kevin Sumlin after an electric first season in College Station. The Texas A&M coach enters his sixth year on the hot seat after three straight 8-5 seasons. With questions throughout the roster, especially after the transfer of several quarterbacks over recent years, there is no margin of error for Sumlin this season.
If Bob Stoops really wanted to make noise getting back into coaching, he could hardly do better than at a place like Texas A&M. The program fancies itself a blueblood of the sport and is perfectly comfortable matching Stoops’ pay scale. Kyle Field is the largest stadium in the state of Texas, and the allure of a championship coach could be enough to bring the Aggies calling.
With the roster at hand, it is hard to believe that Sumlin is going to challenge Nick Saban and the other SEC West coaches for a division title in 2017. That might be enough to open the door for a coach like Stoops to transition back into coaching. He could immediately walk into a situation with a sleeping giant much like he did at Oklahoma. And it is hard to imagine that he would not relish the opportunity to dig back at the SEC a little bit.
4. Kansas State Wildcats (Possible start: 2019)
Heading to Kansas State would certainly be an odd return for Bob Stoops. It would effectively be a step down within the Big 12. At the same time, he could step into a seat vacated by one of his coaching mentors. This is one of the more far-fetched scenarios, but Snyder cannot coach forever and it is highly likely that the seat will open up just in time for Stoops to finish his second year out of the game.
Stoops spent seven years in Manhattan between 1989 and 1995. Those were the first seven years of Bill Snyder’s time at Kansas State as he turned the school from a doormat into a Big Eight contender. Stoops played a key role in the team’s turnaround as the team’s co-defensive coordinator and later assistant head coach. In his final season, Stoops led a defense that finished first nationally in yards allowed.
Though he was not around for Kansas State’s transition to the Big 12, Stoops knows the territory well. If he was going to return to the Big 12, this would be about the only place where he might logically do so. Every other school is pretty much off the map given his background in the conference. And if anyone has the temperament to succeed Snyder, it would be Stoops.
3. Florida Gators (Possible start: 2020)
Like Kansas State, Florida was another stop in Bob Stoops’ career where he found success as an assistant. After leaving Manhattan, Stoops arrived in Gainesville to work for Steve Spurrier.
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That first season, the Gators defense finally matched up to the Fun ‘n’ Gun offense. The result was immediate, as Florida won the 1997 Sugar 52-20 over rival Florida State for the school’s first national title.
Jim McElwain appears plenty comfortable for now in Gainesville. The recent hire has won two straight SEC East titles in his first two seasons at the helm. He has also failed to produce the sort of offense that would offer a chance to actually win the SEC championship. He will have a few more seasons to see if the Gators truly turn things around. But any regression (or scandal?) could open the door for a buyout and a new coach.
Florida has always had the stigma as a school where offense is king, thanks to the national titles won by Spurrier and Urban Meyer. The knock against both Ron Zook and Will Muschamp was that they were defensive coaches that could never get the offense up to speed. But Stoops has proven capable of adjusting his offensive philosophy to the times, and has the benefit of already being a known quantity.
2. Notre Dame Fighting Irish (Possible start: 2021)
This is perhaps the most far-fetched of the scenarios on the list, but it isn’t entirely crazy. Stoops went to Cardinal Mooney High School in Youngstown, Ohio, where his dad was the defensive coordinator. He is not unfamiliar with the ways of Catholic school systems. Notre Dame certainly fits the bill of a blueblood program much like Oklahoma, and if the door opens in the next few years it will be because the school has fallen on even harder times.
Brian Kelly has certainly done some good work in South Bend since arriving from Cincinnati. He took the Fighting Irish to the BCS national championship game. But he was also at the helm during several scandals that resulted in deaths. The Notre Dame fan base has a certain expectation of sustained excellence, and is willing to hang on only so long if a coach does not return them to the Promised Land of national contention.
Kelly has plenty of wiggle room left on his contract at the moment. But as the years winnow down the buyout could become tempting for a school with deep pockets. If Stoops is still available at that point, he could be open to a return to coaching if it were at a school with as big a brand as Notre Dame.
1. Iowa Hawkeyes (Possible start: 2022)
If Stoops was getting back into coaching for the love of the game rather than purely a paycheck, perhaps he’d wait a while for a chance to coach at his alma mater. Stoops was a defensive back at Iowa from 1979 to 1982, playing under head coach Hayden Fry. (Bill Snyder was the offensive coordinator of the Hawkeyes at the time.) He got his start in coaching as a graduate assistant for Fry, staying with the program from 1983 through 1987.
Of course, the one obstacle standing in the way is the current head coach. Kirk Ferentz keeps doing just enough to keep signing contract extensions into the next decade. His current deal runs through 2025 at an annual salary of $4.5 million. Ferentz is entering his 19th year at Iowa, with no plans of departing soon. As the years winnow down on his contract, though, the buyout will become more palatable.
And if an esteemed championship-winning alumnus is available, would boosters pony up? Crazier things could happen. Stoops would be in his early 60s by that point, but he will always be five years younger than Ferentz.
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If he’s hanging on to coach at his alma mater again, they’d be happy to have him if he is still interested when the seat opens up again.