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SoonerSports.com
 
Bob Stoops

Head Coach
11th Season (1999-2009)
109-24 (.820) at Oklahoma
 
OU Football Coaching Staff
Bob Stoops

History is one tough customer at Oklahoma. The tradition, so rich and so long-standing, is as daunting as it is impressive. To be among the best at Oklahoma is to be among the best in college football.

Such dramatics are lost on Bob Stoops. The Sooner head coach befriended the would-be albatross of OU's successful past from his first day on campus and remains steadfastly focused on tomorrow and the championship it holds.

It falls then to long-time observers and experts of the game to define Stoops' impact. Rarely have the pundits had it so easy.

That was true again in 2008. Stoops became the first coach in Big 12 history to capture three straight conference titles (after last year becoming the first to win two in a row) and was one of several teams, in a year of parity, to contend for the national title.

It was the highest scoring team in the modern era of college football with more than 700 points and, despite the full or part-time loss of key starters on the defensive unit, still managed to rank among the top three in nearly every Big 12 category on that side of the ball. That potent offense yielded Stoops' fifth Heisman Trophy finalist and second winner, quarterback Sam Bradford.
 
Also during the `08 campaign, Stoops reached 100 wins for his career, and did so faster than any coach since before 1905.
 
In 10 seasons under Stoops, OU has won 109 games; the 2000 national championship; spent 140 weeks in the national rankings; played in 10 bowl games, seven of the BCS variety; taken part in four national championship games and captured six Big 12 crowns.
 
On a playing field leveled by scholarship limits and parity, this era stares down the Oklahoma standard and does not blink. The brilliance dulls the memory of what Stoops inherited. When he arrived in Norman, the proud Sooner program was five years removed from a winning record, four from a postseason appearance.
 
Those atypical days of angst are so forgotten now that they might as well be mentioned with the Land Rush and Dust Bowl. Stoops has been characterized as a grounded family man, big-game coach, relentless recruiter, strong leader and a person with uncommon perspective.
 
His success emanates from a disciplined style true to his roots in the Steel Valley of Ohio, but he is far from inflexible. The principles to which he holds are the tried and true axioms of the sport ... mixed with cutting-edge strategy and an appreciation for the calculated risk.
 
During his time, OU has produced record-setting passers and receivers, seven 1,000-yard rushers, suffocating defense and special teams units that rank among the most dynamic in the land. The Sooners have been nothing if not versatile.
 
The son of a coach, Stoops was a four-year starter at Iowa. He began his coaching career in 1983 as a volunteer in the Hawkeye program under Hayden Fry, working through the ranks until he became co-defensive coordinator at Kansas State (1991-95). There he played a key role in one of the most impressive turnarounds in college football history while serving on Bill Snyder's staff.
 
Eventually, he left for Florida and a three-year stint as Steve Spurrier's defensive coordinator. In 1996, he was part of a national championship team. It was with the Gators that the spotlight found Stoops and made him one of the hottest names in the profession. His hiring at Oklahoma was one for the ages.
 
Coaching Accomplishments
• Stoops is 109-24 overall, 72-14 vs. the Big 12, 39-10 vs. the Big 12 South, 31-4 vs. the Big 12 North, 6-1 in the Big 12 title game, 37-10 vs. non-conference opponents, 60-2 at home, 31-11 on the road, 16-11 on neutral fields, 33-12 vs. ranked opponents, 4-6 in bowls, 3-5 in January bowls and 2-5 in BCS games.
 
• OU has set or tied more than 180 school records under Stoops, not including bowl bests and marks specific to a particular position (i.e., receptions by a running back). Among those marks under Stoops are passing for a game, season and career; receiving for a game, season and career; and rushing for a season.
 
• Stoops has authored two of the seven longest winning streaks in Oklahoma history. His 2000 and 2001 teams won 20 straight, while the 2002 and 2003 teams reeled off 14 in a row. Those victories all came against I-A opponents.
 

 
 Coach Stoops
 Hometown Youngstown, Ohio
 High School Cardinal Mooney, 1978
 College Iowa, 1983
 Family wife, Carol
daughter, Mackenzie
twin sons, Isaac and Drake
 
 
 Coaching History
 1999-2009  Oklahoma - Head Coach
 1996-1998  Florida - Asst. Head Coach & Def. Coord.
 1991-1995  Kansas State - Co-Def. Coord.
 1989-1990  Kansas State - Defensive Backs
 1988-1989  Kent State - Assistant Coach
 1985-1987  Iowa - Volunteer Coach
 1983-1984
 
 Iowa - Graduate Assistant
 
 
 Coaching Record
 Year  School  Title  Record
 2008  Oklahoma  Head Coach  12-2
 2007  Oklahoma  Head Coach  11-3
 2006  Oklahoma  Head Coach  11-3
 2005  Oklahoma  Head Coach  8-4
 2004  Oklahoma  Head Coach  12-1
 2003  Oklahoma  Head Coach  12-2
 2002  Oklahoma  Head Coach  12-2
 2001  Oklahoma  Head Coach  11-2
 2000  Oklahoma  Head Coach  13-0
 1999
 Oklahoma  Head Coach  7-5
 1998  Florida  Def. Coord.  10-2
 1997  Florida  Def. Coord.  10-2
 1996  Florida  Def. Coord.  12-1
 1995  Kansas State  Co-Def. Coord.  10-2
 1994  Kansas State  Co-Def. Coord.  9-3
 1993  Kansas State  Co-Def. Coord.  9-2-1
 1992  Kansas State  Co-Def. Coord.  5-6
 1991  Kansas State  Co-Def. Coord.  7-4
 1990  Kansas State  Def. Backs  5-6
 1989  Kansas State  Def. Backs  1-10
 1988  Kent State  Asst. Coach  5-6
 1987  Iowa  Vol. Asst.  10-3
 1986  Iowa  Vol. Asst.  9-3
 1985  Iowa  Vol. Asst.  10-2
 1984  Iowa  Grad. Asst.  7-4-1
 1983
 
 Iowa  Grad. Asst.  9-3

• Oklahoma owns the nation's longest home field winning streak at 24. That's the second longest streak in school history just one behind a 25-in-a-row string that ended in 1953. Stoops also has fashioned two other streaks of 19 straight.
 
• OU won the 2000 national championship, played for two more and captured six Big 12 South crowns and six Big 12 titles. Oklahoma has spent 24 weeks at No. 1.
 
• OU has held a double-digit lead in 112 of Stoops' 133 games.
 
• Oklahoma has played in 10 bowl games. Never had an OU coach taken even his first three teams to bowls. Prior to Stoops' arrival, OU had not played in one of what is now a BCS game since the 1988 Orange Bowl (1987 season). Stoops, in his second season, led OU to the 2001 Orange Bowl (2000 season).
 
• An OU player has finished among the top seven in the Heisman voting six times on Stoops' watch: Sam Bradford (No. 1 in 2008), Adrian Peterson (No. 2 in 2004), Jason White (No. 3 in 2004), Jason White (No. 1 in 2003), Roy Williams (No. 7 in 2001) and Josh Heupel (No. 2 in 2000).
 
• Under Stoops, OU has produced 29 All-Americans; two AP Players of the Year (Heupel, White); two Nagurski Award winners (Williams, Derrick Strait); two Thorpe Award winners (Williams, Strait); two Butkus Award winners (Rocky Calmus, Teddy Lehman); one Bednarik Award winner (Lehman); one Lombardi Award winner (Tommie Harris); one Walter Camp winner (Heupel); three O'Brien Award winners (Sam Bradford and White twice); a Maxwell Award winner (White); a Unitas Award winner (White); an Outland Trophy winner (Jammal Brown) and one Mosi Tatupu Award winner (J.T. Thatcher).
 
• OU has had a Butkus finalist in four of the last eight years and a Lombardi finalist in three of the last six. The Sooners also have had finalists for the Biletnikoff, Groza, Guy, Hendricks, Mackey and Doak Walker awards.
 
• In 1996 and 1997, his Florida defense scored eight touchdowns. The 1996 Gators won the national championship.
 
• During his final four seasons in Manhattan, Kansas State posted a 35-12 record and played in three bowl games.