Bob Stoops Retires from Coaching at the University of Oklahoma
Head coach of the Oklahoma Sooners for 18 seasons, Bob Stoops, announced Wednesday (June 7) that he is retiring from the university according to ESPN. Offensive coordinator Lincoln Riley will take over as head coach.
For us UT fans, Stoops has been a thorn in our side during the Red River Rivalry each season. He went 11-7 in those games. Overall, he has the most wins of any Oklahoma coach, 190-48. He never had a losing season, with only four seasons with less than 10 wins.
The Sooners played in a bowl game each year he coached, going 9-9 overall. He lead the team to a national championship in 2000 and played in three others losing to LSU in 2003, USC in 2004 and Florida in 2008.
Bob Stoops had this to say during his news conference Wednesday,
Stepping down after 18 years as the head football coach here at Oklahoma. I feel like I've been absolutely the luckiest, most fortunate guy in the world and incredibly blessed to have experienced what we have over the last 18½ years. I felt I just didn't want to miss the right opportunity to be able to step away and hand this baton off to Lincoln Riley and to help this all just keep going in a great direction.
Lincoln Riley will become the youngest coach in college football at 33. Riley has been called a rising star among college coaches.
As a Longhorn fan, it was always great to watch UT vs OU during the State Fair of Texas. While I did chant "O Who!" and don't like when our Texas players cross the Red River, I had a huge respect for Bob Stoops with the way he coached. I don't see him coaching anywhere else. I have a feeling he will end up behind the desk or in the booth of a TV network in the future.