This comes from out of nowhere.
Bob Stoops, one of the three coaching giants of Oklahoma’s century-long football excellence, plans to tell his team Wednesday that he will retire after 18 seasons as the Sooner head coach.
An OU source said offensive coordinator Lincoln Riley will take over as head coach.
It is expected that Stoops will remain with the university in some capacity.
I know Riley is well thought of as an OC, but that’s quite a leap for a major program like Oklahoma. Interesting transition coming, to say the least…
Get The Picture 
Verry Interesting.
LikeLike
NCAA been snooping around Norman? Maybe Stoops is planning his escape to take over at Ole Miss when they fry Freeze?
Weird and odd timing. Hopefully nothing health related for him or any family members
LikeLike
OU for Ole Miss….you gotta be joking?
LikeLike
We can speculate that it’s for many reasons but, considering that I’ve never heard anything about him cheating, I think maybe he’s made a good living and is done with the grind.
LikeLike
He’s 56, I think, and his dad died of a heart attack while coaching in his early 50’s. I bet he’s got enough money to live out his days comfortably and doing the ESPN gig once a week or some such.
LikeLike
Yep. We’ll be seeing Big Game Bob on TV.
LikeLike
Big Screen Bob on Gameday
LikeLike
Big Screen Bob just not on Big Game Day.
😉
LikeLike
And 18 very successful years at one school and fans who still complain. Nearly 24/7 recruiting grind. Many will say “well he makes millions” and there you go. Higher pay, higher expectations….”early” retirement. Of course it could be infidelity, health, recruiting violations or any number of reasons, too, but people in all forms of sport are getting out earlier than previous generations.
LikeLike
The thinking is odd but I can see him spending the off-season with his family and saying I’m done. Speculation is fun. Lol
LikeLike
Timing
LikeLike
Can we start a Les Miles sighting in Norman rumor?
LikeLiked by 1 person
I got a friend who is a real estate agent in Norman, and he has an appointment to show Les Miles’ wife some homes.
LikeLike
btw, this is complete BS, but you asked for a rumor….
LikeLike
I hope his health is ok. That’s the first thing that comes to my mind with a sudden change in the middle of the off-season like this.
LikeLike
yes.
and a pending NCAA investigation.
LikeLike
I think he saw what happened to his friend and mentor, Steve Spurrier, and said, “No way will that happen to me.” He’s on the Sooner Mount Rushmore. No reason to put that at risk. The only thing odd to me is the timing.
LikeLike
it was gonna happen….Sooner or later.
LikeLiked by 1 person
I see what you did there. 😉
LikeLike
After Spurrier left UF he commented something that amounted to the time was right because no matter how successful you are, half the fans love you and the other half hate you. Good for Stoops.
LikeLike
I’m sure Big Game Bob saw what happened to CMR, too.
LikeLiked by 1 person
Retiring with 190 wins, that’s a lot like a MLB pitcher retiring with 290 wins odd not to try to reach that milestone.
LikeLike
SEC told him OU would be in the west division when they joined, but Stoops had requested to be put in the east.
LikeLike
Somehow I doubt that joining the SEC West or East scared him very much. He has had his way with SEC teams recently.
LikeLike
Tired of it,I imagine. Hope he is good health.
LikeLike
Going from OC to HC is quite a jump for a major program….or something like that. I saw what you may have done there.
LikeLike
Chuckle. I noticed that as well. Is the slight against Riley or UGA 😉
LikeLike
“My health was not the deciding factor in this decision…”
The key word there is ‘deciding,’ so his health was a factor in some capacity.
LikeLike
Reminder that the number of National Championships won by active coaches not named Saban or Meyer has dropped from 3 to 2. The new 10 longest tenured coaches are:
Kirk Ferentz, Iowa
Gary Patterson, TCU
Kyle Whittingham, Utah
Frank Solich, Ohio
Mike Gundy, Oklahoma State
Rick Stockstill, Middle Tennessee
Pat Fitzgerald, Northwestern
Mark Dantonio, Michigan State
Troy Calhoun, Air Force
Nick Saban, Alabama
LikeLike
Kiffin to OU?
LikeLike
Joe Mixon = Aaron Hernandez for Stoops
LikeLike
I won’t miss his little man cheap shots at the SEC but, in general, Stoops goes down as one of the good guys who ran a pretty clean program, and put a good product on the field. Timing makes me think there is definitely a health issue that we will find out about later, Stoops would leave them at this time otherwise.
Not sure how good a HC Riley will be in Norman but he will always be the OC UGA should have gone after. Wouldn’t normally be supportive of a program like Oklahoma hiring a coordinator but in this case there is really no other reasonable alternative. The very unfortunate timing means you cannot change scheme nor have the usual available list of candidates to choose from. The AD had no other choice but to take someone on staff, at least they knew the strengths and weaknesses of this particular coordinator. Riley has to feel like he hit the coaching lottery both financially and with the returning talent.
LikeLike