End of an Era

Photo by CBS Sports
Let me start this blog by stating that I have been a lifelong Oklahoma Sooners fan, as are my parents, grandparents, and most of my extended family. I am 35 years old, so most of what I remember about Sooner football has been the Bob Stoops era.

I was a Junior at Okay High School on December 1, 1998 when Bob Stoops became the head coach of “my team”. I had never heard the name Bob Stoops nor could I really remember the Sooners being a winning program or a prominent fixture on the national stage.

I had heard all about Bud and Barry, Joe Washington and Brian Bozworth, Steve Owens and Billy Simms, but all of those were before my time. The Oklahoma Sooners I knew were Howard Schnellenberger, John Blake, and mediocrity. Not exactly a great team.

Enter Bob Stoops.

Stoops came to Oklahoma with no head coaching experience, but had been on coaching staffs at Iowa, Kent State, Kansas State, and Florida. And the program he was taking over was not in ideal condition. The team posted a subpar 12-22 record in the previous three seasons before Stoops’ arrival. Their last winning season was in 1993, when they went 9-3 under Gary Gibbs.

Stoops did not waste much time turning the program around, going 7-5 in his inaugural season. In his second season, he led his team to a 13-0 record and a 13-2 win over the Florida State Seminoles in the National Championship game.

And as they say, the rest is history. Over his 18 year career, he tallied an overall record of 190-48, one national title, 10 Big 12 Conference championships, and nine bowl wins.

As a Sooner fan, I am thankful for the time that Stoops was at Oklahoma and sad to see him go, but at the same time I am excited to see the job that Lincoln Riley will do. He is inheriting a great program.

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