Bob Stoops promises that his retirement from coaching football is solid. Despite rumors that he would return to the sidelines, the former Oklahoma football coach said recently that’s not the case.
Bob Stoops surprised many when he left his post with the Sooners this past June, just months before the season kicked off. He turned the keys to Oklahoma over to Lincoln Riley, and they haven’t missed a beat, entering this Saturday’s game with Iowa State 4-0 and sitting near the top of the polls.
“I will say, regardless of what you might hear out there in the papers, if I intended again to coach that would have been part of my statement,” Stoops told members of the Atlanta Touchdown Club during a recent meeting, which ESPN attended. “I would have said I’m stepping away here now for this time for myself, but when it comes to the next year or two, I look forward to getting back in it. But that’s not what I said. You won’t see me on a college sideline or a pro sideline. A lot of people act like they know, and there will be more than a few jobs out there. But that isn’t at all what I’m looking to do.”
Stoops, who turned 57 years old in September, won the 2000 national title with the Sooners and claimed 10 Big XII titles, including back-to-back crowns in 2015 and ’16. He was a two-time Walter Camp Coach of the Year winner and went 190-48 overall in his career.
The position with Oklahoma was the first — and only — that Stoops held where he was a head coach. But will it really be the only one he holds?
His words make it seem like he is serious about retiring, and Stoops does have children coming up through the ranks set to play college football. He also has his family to keep him “in the loop” with the coaching world, as brother Mike is the defensive coordinator at OU, Mark is the head coach at Kentucky and Ron is an assistant at Youngstown State.
When you’ve coached only Oklahoma for your career, it makes it difficult to find another program to work at. Urban Meyer moved from Florida to Ohio State when he ended his retirement, what would make sense for Stoops?
Iowa? While he was a four-year starter and assistant coach with the Hawkeyes, the move would not be lateral at all from Oklahoma.
Florida? The Gators are not where they once were in terms of national dominance or were when Stoops coached there.
Alabama? Just doesn’t seem like a fit and Nick Saban hasn’t given any indication of his desire to leave.
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About the only schools that would make a sliver of sense would be Oklahoma State or Texas, but again, Stoops has remained loyal to Norman for years so why would he have a change of heart now?