'Have a great time, coach': Bob Stoops returns to cap off Sooners career, piece together OU football program

SAN ANTONIO — Bob Stoops’ Sunday morning golf outing took a sudden turn for a familiar clubhouse of sorts.

Nearing the end of his round at the Jimmie Austin OU Golf Club, just under two miles southeast from Gaylord Family-Oklahoma Memorial Stadium, his phone rang. Stoops, the Sooners’ head coach from 1999-2016, would usually let calls go unanswered while on the course, but due to his lackluster play that day, he decided to pick it up. 

"'Eh. Didn’t see that one coming," his longtime friend Matt McMillen remembers him saying after ending the call. "'Let’s play some golf.’"

He’d just hung up with OU President Joseph Harroz and Athletic Director Joe Castiglione. The two informed Stoops that Lincoln Riley, who was thought by many to be Stoops’ long-term successor after he was handed the reins at Oklahoma in 2017, was leaving the program to become Southern California’s head coach. Harroz and Castiglione needed someone to temporarily take Riley’s place as the Sooners entered the postseason, and they believed Stoops was the man for the job.

"He didn’t even really think about it," said McMillen, who served as OU’s director of football operations from 1999-2018 and was with Stoops at Jimmie Austin at the time. "I know Bob loves Oklahoma and has a sense of purpose here. He really didn’t think he had a choice, he wanted to do it. And he’s a great decision maker. He makes up his mind very quickly on things and has a good feel for things. … He’s so pragmatic."

The College Football Hall of Famer then wrapped up his golf trip before meeting Harroz and Castiglione roughly 45 minutes later. 

When Stoops retired as OU’s coach in June 2017, it surprised many, including McMillen. But, even though his retirement came without a farewell tour, Stoops believed the decision to leave Oklahoma in Riley’s hands was the right thing to do. But now, five years later and after Riley traded OU’s crimson and cream for USC’s cardinal and gold, Stoops gets the chance to formally cap his Sooner career Wednesday night in the Valero Alamo Bowl against Oregon and – once again – help usher in the next era of OU football.

Riley’s full-time replacement, Brent Venables, was who Stoops hoped would land the job. Venables served as Oklahoma defensive coordinator from 1999-2011, and helped the Sooners capture the 2000 national championship. He then became Clemson’s defensive coordinator in January 2012, and helped lead the Tigers to two national championship wins across nine seasons before returning to OU on Dec. 5. 

Stoops offered advice about candidates to Harroz and Castiglione as they navigated the week-long coaching search, but was adamant that decision was ultimately up to them. He just wanted to help however he could.

"Coach, when did you first get the sense that change was afoot in Norman?" Big Noon Kickoff host Rob Stone asked Stoops on Dec. 4.

"That Sunday morning," Stoops said. "I found out, yeah, out on the golf course. I had to put my cleats up real quick and hustle back to the office."

"You still got an office there?" fellow Fox analyst Charles Woodson interjected.

"No," Stoops replied. “I just went into one I built."

'He is who he says he is'

With his gray suit jacket tucked under his left arm and brown dress shoes settling into the freshly painted turf, Stoops stood alone in the northwest corner of the Alamodome on Tuesday morning, overlooking the field where he’ll lead No. 16 Oklahoma against No. 14 Oregon.

When the Sooners (10-2, 8-2 Big 12) meet the Ducks (10-3, 7-2 Pac-12) at 8:15 p.m., it’ll mark the first time Stoops has coached OU since the 2017 Sugar Bowl, where the Sooners defeated Auburn 35-19. He moved into Oklahoma’s newly renovated head coach office a few months later, but knew he wouldn’t be there for long.

"We’d been in the office about two and a half, three weeks before everyone realized I’m retiring," Stoops told Sooner Sports Talk’s Chris Plank and Teddy Lehman on Dec. 21. "Everybody kept trying to help me get out of my boxes and get the room set up. I was like, 'Ah, we’ll do that tomorrow. Just hang on a minute.’ So, I didn’t spend much time in there."

Upon retiring that June, Stoops initially stepped away from football. He spent the majority of his time with his wife, Carol, his daughter, Mackenzie, and sons, Isaac and Drake. Golfing, of course, became a regular part of his new schedule, and he wrote a memoir detailing his career, which was published in 2019.

He returned to coaching in 2020 to lead the Dallas Renegades of the XFL, but that lasted just five games after COVID-19 forced the league’s cancellation. Last March, he was hired by Fox Sports as a panelist for its Big Noon Kickoff pregame show. His new job put him on-site for the Sooners’ 2021 bouts against Nebraska, Baylor and Iowa State, the latter of which came just eight days before he’d retake the reins from Riley.

Stoops’ return gave Oklahoma’s roster a chance to play under the coach that many of the Sooners grew up idolizing. It even gave him a chance to coach his sons, as Isaac is a grad assistant for OU and Drake is a redshirt junior receiver. 

"The guy’s a legend. He has a statue out front," said sophomore defensive end Reggie Grimes. "I, personally, was never coached under him, but we got Isaac here, we got Drake here. So, (Bob) was always around. … He’s a great guy. He’s a guy I would run through a wall through. Whatever was asked of me from him, I would be more than happy to accept it, just because he is everything that has been said about him. He is who he says he is.”"

More so, he re-entered the program at a time it needed him most. Senior linebacker DaShaun White said the team felt broken after Riley’s departure to USC. This feeling was amplified after defensive coordinator Alex Grinch and wide receivers coach Dennis Simmons flew to Los Angeles with Riley on Nov. 29. Defensive ends coach Jamar Cain and cornerbacks coach Roy Manning followed suit on Dec. 6, along with inside linebackers coach Brian Odom. Cain and Odom have stayed on to coach Wednesday’s game before departing, and Odom will serve as OU’s interim defensive coordinator. 

Director of football operations Clarke Stroud and director of sports performance Bennie Wylie have also joined Riley’s Trojan staff, and Oklahoma has lost quarterback Spencer Rattler, H-back Austin Stogner and receiver Jadon Haselwood via the transfer portal. 

"It was really big for us," White said of Stoops’ return. "We needed someone to step in and help us keep each other together. Really, he got in there with the leaders and he was like, 'I know there's a lot of things that we really don't know right now, but the most important thing is that we stay together.' We all just followed his lead, and I think that that was definitely what we needed at the time. So, obviously, I’m really thankful for him."

'In good hands'

Tommie Harris was dumbfounded when he learned of Riley’s decision to leave the Sooners.

But as the former Oklahoma defensive tackle, who played at OU from 2001-03 before spending eight seasons in the NFL, came to terms with the news, he was relieved to learn Stoops would lead the program one more time.

"When I think of Coach Stoops, I think of 'K-I-S-S,'" Harris said. “Keep it simple, stupid. Coach Stoops was good at keeping your mind off all that other stuff. … OK, (Riley) left. It happened. What are we gonna do about it? He's always been that assignment guy of keeping things that we try to make complicated, simple. I think that's his gift, just keeping everything simple. 

"These kids are in good hands. The program is going to do well. They’re gonna recover. And these are Sooners. These are the greatest people in the United States (and) all over the world."

The last time Oklahoma faced Oregon, chaos erupted. During the 2006 season, the Sooners were up 33-20 with 3:12 left in the game, the Ducks roared back with a 65-yard scoring to cut the deficit to 33-27 with 1:12 remaining. Oregon then attempted an onside kick, which went nine yards before it was touched by a Duck. Players then dogpiled for the ball and OU’s Allen Patrick came away with it, but the game’s officials awarded Oregon possession. 

The play was reviewed, but not overturned. The Ducks then went on a two-play, 53-yard touchdown drive to go up 34-33 with 21 seconds left. The Sooners subsequently missed a 44-yard field goal try and suffered their first loss of the season.

The botched onside call resulted in that game’s officiating crew serving a one-game suspension. Stoops voiced his frustrations in the days after — and even still doesn’t like discussing the game today — but once it was time to move on and get his team prepared for its next objective, he did, just as he’s hoping OU will do now with the loss of Riley.

"I just remember admiring how he put it behind us," McMillen said, thinking back on the season in which OU finished 11-3, including an infamous loss to Boise State in the Fiesta Bowl. "Those things, you can’t dwell on. You can’t go back. … That’s his mindset. 'Look, we got another game this week.' I always admired him for that. He knew (the call) was wrong, and it was clearly wrong, but just put it behind him, and never looked back after that."

‘Just have a great time, coach’

Redshirt senior Tyrese Robinson, like the rest of his teammates, wants to send Stoops off with a win. Robinson is one of the few Sooners to have been recruited by Stoops.

"I’ve been looking forward to this opportunity to play under Bob Stoops," Robinson said on Monday. "I’m excited. He's a great guy, a great coach obviously, and I'm more excited about this game and having him as a head coach for this game."

Stoops holds a 190-48 career head coaching record at the college level, and Wednesday’s game will count toward that total. He concluded his OU career with one national title win and a victory in every BCS bowl. The Youngstown, Ohio, native also won 10 Big 12 championships, two Walter Camp Coach of the Year awards and led the Sooners to the CFP in 2015. Only one other College Football Hall of Famer has returned to coach in an interim role before, as Barry Alvarez came back to coach Wisconsin’s bowl game in 2012 and 2014 after being inducted in 2010.

But, Stoops isn’t worried about his own win-loss record this time. He wants to win this last game for his players.

"As far as, ‘Do I need something to punctuate what I've done?’ No,” Stoops said on Tuesday. “That’s not my style. (Do) I need this to finish my career? Not really. … Am I going to do everything I can to win? Absolutely. (I’ll) try to give our players the best opportunity to win. But I don't look at it as a big deal as far as my career goes."

Most won’t remember Oklahoma’s 2021 season by the final score of Wednesday's Alamo Bowl. It may not even be remembered for the Sooners’ six-year Big 12 title win streak coming to an end. Instead, this season will be remembered for Riley’s departure, how OU responded and how the program enters Venables’ first year at the helm.

"Man, (Stoops) already won," Harris said. “It doesn’t matter what the scoreboard says, man. (I hope) he just keeps a smile on his face. … I just want him to enjoy himself. That’s it. If we get a win, that’s good, that’s cool. But, I’m already on reset. … There was dynamite thrown at the program. He came in and pieced it together real quick. It’s not fair to even gauge what the outcome is, it’s ‘let’s just get through this together.'

"Just have a great time, coach."