Former Oklahoma Sooners and current XFL Dallas Renegades head coach Bob Stoops made the media circuit last week. Stoops came out with a new book entitled No Excuses: The Making of a Head Coach. It is co-author by Stoops and Gene Wojciechowski.
Here are some highlights from the different shows he appeared on;
- Three different times he was approached by NFL teams during his career at Oklahoma.
- Believes in the leadership of the XFL, Oliver Luck, and Vince McMahon
- Wanted his own space and the XFL gives him that.
- Steve Spurrier’s experience with the AAF was an influence in his decision to join the XFL.
- Right now, Landry Jones is not on his team; that process is still underway.
- XFL is more focused on former NFL players who have finished their college career rather than players with college eligibility left.
- Thought Hal Mumme’s offense at Kentucky was the hardest he faced in college. That is why he brought him to Dallas
- Felt he had run his course with Oklahoma and was time to move on
In an interview with Clay Travis, Stoops was asked about a potential return to college football.
“Well we’ll see. I believe when I stepped away, if I wanted to continue to coach in college, I would’ve stayed at Oklahoma. I just felt I had run my course there, and, you know, just needed some time and space of my own. And I got that. Right now I’m excited about the adventure going into the XFL. Starting from scratch is really exciting as well. So we’ll see where it leads. I know everybody loves to…they want you to define your life from year to year, and everybody always wants forever and never. And I don’t know how you ever say that. You just never know what the good Lord’s going to bring.”
Note: he was asked about returning to college football at every interview we listened to. Pretty much gave the same answer.
Stoops appeared on
Press Release
From the legendary Oklahoma coach, a candid and inspiring memoir.
When Bob Stoops took over as football coach in 1999, the Oklahoma Sooners were in disarray with back-to-back losing seasons. But in just two years’ time, Stoops achieved the seemingly impossible: winning a national championship and returning the struggling Sooners to their powerhouse status, churning out NFL talent, Heisman Trophy winners and conference championships, bowl wins and national title runs on a regular basis.
During his 18 seasons at OU, his record was a remarkable 190-48. At only age 56, at the peak of his career, he stunned the college football world by walking away.
For the first time, Bob opens up about his career alongside the evolution of the game itself. From his unlikely emergence as a star player at the University of Iowa, to his coaching apprenticeships under giants like Hayden Fry, Bill Snyder, and Steve Spurrier, Stoops recounts how the game he fell in love with as a boy has evolved into a billion-dollar business often compromised by recruiting wars, aggressive agents, overzealous boosters and alumni, and the emergence of the CEO head coach rather than mentor and teacher. Bob holds nothing back while explaining why it was time to step away from the game–and players–he still loves.
Told with a rare combination of sincerity, vulnerability, and pure heart, No Excuses is both an engaging and eye-opening football memoir and an unprecedented portrait of a coach of one of the greatest legacy programs in the history of the college game.
