The Oklahoma Sooners will be honoring one of the greatest coaches in program history on Saturday. Bob Stoops, the winningest coach in OU Football history, will be celebrated on Owen Field as Oklahoma hosts the Alabama Crimson Tide.
He’s the final coach to be honored during home games this season, as Bud Wilkinson and Barry Switzer were also celebrated earlier this year.
Stoops took the reins of the program at a tumultuous time in Norman. Following Switzer’s resignation a decade earlier, the Oklahoma football program experienced a decade of darkness, looking nothing like the Sooners of old. For ten years from 1989 to 1998, OU cycled through three head coaches and failed to get close to winning at the level that the program was accustomed to.
But that all changed when Stoops was hired. Beginning in 1999, he brought the program back to its former glory, going undefeated and winning the national championship in 2000 in just his second year on the job. For his 18-year career as OU’s head coach, the Sooners were typically in the title hunt, as Stoops coached in three more national title games.
Oklahoma won 10 Big 12 championships, dominating the conference with Stoops at the helm. He produced two Heisman Trophy winners (Jason White and Sam Bradford) and coached two more who won later in their careers (Baker Mayfield and Kyler Murray).
From 1999 to 2016, Stoops amassed more wins than any other coach in the history of the program. His time in Norman was marked by a number of big wins and the rebirth of one of college football’s blue blood programs.
The legendary head coach decided to retire in the summer of 2017, passing the baton to Lincoln Riley, his offensive coordinator for the previous two seasons. He would dabble in tequila sales, college football studio analysis and coaching in the XFL over the next few years.
But when Riley decided to head west for Southern California in 2021, athletic director Joe Castiglione, who had hired Stoops way back in the winter of 1998, turned to Stoops again as the Sooners suddenly needed an interim head coach for the 2021 Alamo Bowl.
In addition to taking over as the interim head coach and leading OU to a bowl game victory over Oregon, Stoops was a calming force at a time of great uncertainty. Riley’s move was a shot across the college football landscape and Stoops was once again a steadying force for Oklahoma.
He passed the torch to Oklahoma’s current coach, Brent Venables, after the win over Oregon and has returned to coaching in the XFL and UFL over the past couple of seasons with the Arlington Renegades, winning a championship in 2023. He’s stayed very involved with OU over the years since he retired, and his son Drake Stoops enjoyed a long, productive career as a Sooner.
Now, Stoops will be honored for his accomplishments as Oklahoma’s winningest head coach.
It’s been a rocky season for the Sooners, and the best way to honor Coach Stoops would be with an upset win at home on Saturday. After all, he went 3-0 against the Tide, and would love to see OU earn bowl eligibility on national TV on the same night he’ll be celebrated on Owen Field.