Maybe... just maybe.... he's truly retiring and decided he doesn't want to come to work anymore? When that happens it's not about doing it at the right time, because the right time is now. There have been a number of extremely successful people who knew they were eventually going to retire, but then one day they just decided to do it.
His brother didn't exactly knock it out of the park when he got his chance at a head coaching gig. He ended up getting fired by Arizona after starting the 2011 season 1-5. Maybe Stoops didn't feel good about going to bat for Mike and being accused of nepotism by donors and the fanbase.
Perhaps there was a strong push to get Riley the job, and it didn't come from Bob Stoops.
Yeah, it's a big stretch to suggest that the administration would force out such a successful coach, but then again if they really believe Riley is the next guy and don't want him to get away (and they've seen that happen--even if Will Muschamp has turned out to be a bad coach, he was the guy Texas wanted and they lost him because Mack Brown stayed on, and Texas hasn't exactly done better in his absence) they might turn up the heat a bit.
According to what people are saying, Stoops admits that the timing is awkward. Perhaps he had already had conversations about a close timeline to step down, and the administration negotiated with the idea that Riley should be the next guy and the need to accelerate to keep him?
I don't know. It's not very plausible when I type it out, but neither is anything else. This is really weird.
Riley is considered to be a genius and a wunderkind. Stoops is a defensive guy and has produced a half dozen offensive guru head coaches in his career, including Sumlin and Leach. He proabably wanted to ensure that Riley stayed at OU instead of leaving for the next hot job opening.
Oklahoma isn't exactly a stepping-stone job.
Barry Switzer put in some work there before falling face-first into the Dallas Cowboys job. It can happen.
It's pretty hard to do that when you retire in June. Retiring in June versus retiring at the end of the year wouldn't change much.
The only hypothesis I think makes sense if there is no scandal or health issue is he is pulling an Urban Meyer. Stoops may see his program taking a turn for the worse, and he may be trying to get out before he would have to take responsibility and ownership for it.
You think there's a scandal there. Got it. All I'm saying is there are many reasons for leaving a job that don't necessarily correlate with shennanigans.
I don't think I ever said I thought there was a scandal. My post actually says "if there is no scandal or health issue." I think the more likely scenario than a scandal is that he may see this team not being very good and decided to abandon ship. It would be harder to retire or switch jobs after a bad year.
Maybe the pressures of coaching up the 7th ranked recruiting class was weighing heavily on his mind.
Even with all of Stoops successes there, his classes were typically in the teens. If Alabama, Michigan, USC, Ohio State, etc. are A jobs, then OU is probably an A-. You could do slightly better.
Gonna have to disagree, OU is as blue-blood a brand as there is
but the recruiting rankings speak for themselves. It's hard to recruit at an top 5 level
"OU is probably an A-. You could do slightly better."
I agree with that. It pains me to say it, and we might need a more granular scale, but Michigan is really a notch below OSU and USC. Our ceiling isn't quite as high as either. No huge deal -- I feel the same about Alabama at baseline.
The last 7 years pre-Harbaugh have sucked. We are still the winningest program percentage and win total in college football history. Yeah Spartys will point out that a lot of those wins were when we were teaching other schools how to play, but we're still at the top. ...and to my knowledge we didn't have to do any Barry Switzer payola to be there.
Speaking of losing a bet with Father Time . . .
what happened
It causes a lot of stress trying to defend the SEC with a straight face.
BTW, Sepp Blatter of FIFA was only 32.
...with ears.
He didn't lose any bets. The guy is 61 and appears to be in decent shape. You have to filter hair loss when you're aging a dude.
Avatar checks out.
But keep in mind, he has been the head coach at OU for 18 years. That's a long time no matter who you are.
Well that came out of nowhere. Also, poor 8th ranked recruiting class.
I never knew how much stock to put in this, but I remember hearing that Fleck didn't want to leave the Midwest because his children live in Illinois with his ex-wife.
That would have been a huge jump. In the modern era, there haven't been many coaches who went straight from the MAC to a blueblood program. It's easier to go from a coordinator gig at a blueblood to a head coaching gig at a blueblood than it is to go from a head coaching gig in the MAC to a head coaching gig at a blueblood.
That I don't think Fleck was ready for the jump to OU. WMU to OU is a bit of a jump. Makes sense to go from WMU to Minny and then to the blue blood type
Shocking. He's only 56.
I got some insider info on this one. But I guess this was a possiblity for a bit, which is why OU gave a massive extension to Lincoln Riley. Also the recruits weren't committing to OU because of Stoops. True story, he is the worst person ever with names.
Stoops hanging up the ole visor? Well I'll be.
WOW. Stunned.
I'm guessing we'll hear more to this story.
And quietly, Mike Man Gundy ascends to the throne as Mullet King of Oklahoma
He is from Ohio and grew up Catholic, and I would love to see Notre Dame fire Kelly before opening up the season against us. However, I can't imagine him leaving a town he would be revered in forever to take on the pressures of a struggling program with a fanbase that has ridiculous expectations. Maybe.
Yup, and then he ends up at Florida.
So weird. He gave no indication he was going to do this, it's not about his health, and there doesn't appear to be a scandal brewing.
is probably that time for coaches right now where they really have to start getting down to business with opponent scouting, film, specific schemes, etc. It has to be a grind. He has all of the money he'll even need. I can see a person just waking up and deciding they don't want to do it anymore.
In the ESPN article, it says that his dad was a coach and that he died at age 54 after suffering a heart attack during a game. I can imagine that something like that would affect your perspective on when to retire from a high-stress job.