Steven M. Sipple: Stoops is a survivor
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KANSAS CITY, Mo. — Bob Stoops enjoyed a nice run as Florida’s defensive coordinator (1996-98). It obviously helped prepare him to become Oklahoma’s head coach.
Or so he thought.
“I thought I had ruined my life the first month on the job, it was so crazy,” Stoops said. “Then, of course, it grows on you.”
Yeah, winning conference titles by the bushel tends to grow on a guy.
The king of Big 12 football coaches held court Wednesday during the league’s annual media days at the Kansas City Marriott Downtown. Oh, and Mack Brown was there, too. But “Big Game Bob” was the star of the show. Yes, he’s still “Big Game Bob.” Never mind those four straight losses in BCS games. He’s still king of this jungle, for sure, last season becoming the first Big 12 coach to capture back-to-back league crowns. He’s won five in all, four more than Mack.
Don’t look now, but Oklahoma is the prohibitive favorite to again win the South Division. Nebraska will get a big taste of the Sooners Nov. 1 in Norman, Okla. Stoops vs. Bo Pelini. Two old chums from the Steel Valley of Ohio adding intrigue, toughness and class to a glorious rivalry.
Listening to Stoops reflect on his first season as head coach begged a question: Is Bo ready for all this?
Is any first-year Big 12 head coach really prepared for the meat-grinder that is the league schedule, for all those pinpoint passers these days, for all those savvy veteran coaches?
Pelini’s one of three new head coaches in the league. But the other two — Texas A&M’s Mike Sherman and Baylor’s Art Briles — have plenty of experience running programs. Pelini, of course, has never been a head coach at any level. But neither had Tom Osborne, Barry Switzer nor Joe Paterno, and they seemed to manage OK.
Not that there weren’t headaches along the way.
“As an assistant coach you make a lot of suggestions, and as a head coach you make decisions every minute that are affecting your team,” Stoops said. “You realize that really quick. My first couple days on the job, I can’t even remember. I had eight million phone calls and meetings with people.
“I was in a daze almost.”
Pelini can relate.
“A lot happens in a hurry,” he said Wednesday from Lincoln. “But you’ve got to get your first job somewhere. Everyone was an assistant at one time.”
Pelini is absolutely one of the most confident and self-assured people I’ve ever encountered. Nothing seems to rattle him. He delegates well. He’s willing to ask for advice. He hungers to keep learning. He’s tenacious. He wants to win RIGHT NOW.
But he’s learning there are a lot of people who want a piece of him — fans, boosters, former players, charity organizations, all sorts of media. You wonder if eventually he’ll relinquish his defensive coordinator duties under the weight of so many demands on his time.
Don’t bet on that happening anytime soon.
“The bottom line is, I enjoy doing it,” he said.
Stoops said it was easy for him to give up running the defense once he became Oklahoma’s head coach in 1999. He handed the reigns to his brother Mike Stoops and Brent Venables, who both had worked closely under Bob Stoops at Kansas State, where he was co-defensive coordinator from 1991 to 1995.
Like Stoops, Pelini also has defensive assistants he obviously trusts greatly, including brother Carl Pelini and Marvin Sanders, who both coached with Pelini at Nebraska in 2003.
However, “I’ve changed a lot in our defense the last few years,” Pelini said. “Some of the stuff we do is the same, but a lot is different.
“I have very capable assistants,” he added. ” So I give everyone a big say.”
Yet everyone knows who’s in charge.
It’ll require ample brainpower to devise ways to slow Big 12 offensive freight trains such as Missouri and Oklahoma. The Sooners return eight starters on offense, including Sam Bradford, who led the nation in pass efficiency last season as a redshirt freshman. He operates behind one of the nation’s premier lines.
“The guy’s just got a remarkable calm and cool,” Stoops said of Bradford.
Oklahoma lost consensus All-America linebacker Curtis Lofton, as well as battle-tested cornerbacks Reggie Smith and Marcus Walker. The D-line is loaded, but the secondary and linebackers will need to continue to improve, Stoops said.
But Oklahoma will benefit from a crucial intangible — the Sooners seem awfully hungry in the wake of a 48-28 pasting by West Virginia in the Fiesta Bowl.
You don’t have to search hard in the OU football complex to find posted a quote from West Virginia quarterback Pat White: “They were definitely bigger than we were. But I think we just wanted it more than they did.”
If that doesn’t stir a coach ...
After nine years leading Oklahoma’s program, Stoops insists he’s as passionate as ever. He’s savvy and self-assured. He’d probably make a heck of an NFL head coach, if he ever chooses that path (he’s not interested right now, he says).
The guy’s experienced a lot since that blurry first month in charge of a storied program.
“You get more comfortable as you go,” he said. “The challenges of the job become more and more routine. I thought it was a lot of fun after that first year once you really started figuring it out.”
After a 7-5 record in 1999, Stoops led Oklahoma to a national crown in his second year.
“As you look back, I’m sure I operated in the right way,” he said.
It’s difficult to argue.
Reach Steven M. Sipple at 473-7440 or ssipple@journalstar.com.
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