Introspection from Stoops

Arkansas beat LSU. Missouri crushed Arkansas. OU easily beat Missouri. Stoops obviously had the team ready for the Missouri game. West Virginia got beat by Pittsburgh. West Virginia crushed OU. Stoops did not have the team coached and ready for that game. 4 years in a row, Stoops has embarrassed the state of Oklahoma in the BCS games. And again – he didn’t have the team ready to play CU and the same for Texas Tech.

I’d be happy to see Stoops and his staff get the hell out of Oklahoma.

An Okie at heart for 70 years,

As the previous person wrote, what happened to the games at Colorado and Texas Tech? Everyone is talking about the bowl loss, but those two games were worse losses than the bowl. (In terms of importance and getting the team ready for road games)
Which is why, in my opinion, every game during the season is like a playoff game.

Berry,

Thanks for the update on Coach Stoops introspection into the bowl preparation. But I am not sure this is good enough to explain the inconsistencies displayed through the whole season and how these inconsistencies showed up in the bowl game.

Lets reflect on the season : how about the following games: Colorado, Baylor, Iowa State, and Texas Tech? We either lost or came out extremely flat and started real play in the 4th qtr. None of the above mentioned games are bowl games. This leads me to believe the problems are deeper than just bowl game preparations. It starts with the players. Listen to Dean Blevins comments on this team.

What is wrong with benching a players such as Loadholt, Robinson or any player that consistently continues to play sub-par. Or any player for that matter. How about Sudden Sam? Did you see the deer in the headlight look again, the taking of the self tacklezation for a sack? I know he is a freshman, but he needs to take a very strong command of the troops in a huddle.

Someone somewhere on this team needs to and wants to be a leader and to build fire in the belly, build the right kind of confidence to produce consistent result in the win column. I do not think its all a coaching problem.

Berry, good blog in combination with an excellent column today.
I’ve had the pleasure of being with Bob Stoops in environments where he lets his hair down, and you’re entirely on the money. He’s a warm, funny guy and a pretty damn good dinner companion.

It’s kind of frustrating, frankly, to see that side of Stoops and then contrast that with a football program that’s set up like the Vatican – only the truly worthy ($$$) get an audience and the rest get shoved by the Pretend Cops who are EVERYWHERE out there.

I think Oklahomans always have felt an unusually strong linkage to their coach and their program – and it is their program. Bob and the program would benefit greatly from a closer bond with the fans.

Now, in response to Mr. Hal Smith:

Bob Stoops is an excellent football coach – albeit one who I think has become a tad complacent.

It’s a hideous overreaction to begin braying for another football coach. What we need is a coach with the fire that he had before he built his reputation.

i’m not sure what all the fuss is about. bob’s out there recruiting some of the finest thugs, pot heads and thieves on a national scale. i’m not willing to wait 30 years like the poor soles at florida state had to before their head coach lost all sense of institutional control. WE’RE A MODEL OF CONSISTENCY!!! we’ve lost 4 straight bcs games. i’m tired of all these so called “fans” complaining. the big 12 title is extremely important. do you think Va Tech fans are whining after last night? no way, they’re ACC Chumps, I mean champs. what about central michigan losing to purdue? who cares, they’re conference champs too! which conference, someone help me out here. and geez, look at the sun belt conference champs, they lost their’s too!

i meants souls, my bad

Berry Tramel said: “Stoops isn’t the only coach, or player or fan or writer or anyone else, who for some reason lessens the import of bowl games. I think bowls are terribly important. Like I’ve been saying for a month, bowls are great because they are showdown games. Remember the buildup to the Oklahoma-Alabama games? USC-Texas? Next year’s USC-Ohio State slugfest? The bowls give us a dozen of those kinds of matchups every year. Oklahoma hadn’t played West Virginia in 25 years; this Mountaineer team would have been undefeated if quarterback Pat White hadn’t been knocked out of two games. How could you possibly not be fired up about that?” . . . . . . . . . . . . . I agree completely. But as Bud Wilkinson always said, “It’s not the will to win that matters, it’s the will to prepare.” I’m sure that the Sooner players felt fired up–thought they were fired up anyway–before the game–at least the camera showed them doing a bunch of jumping up and down. But did they have the will to prepare while they were practicing for the bowl game? Or were they thinking more about their bags of goodies and what kind of jackets were available at Burlington Coat Factory?

And, to add to my previous comment, what role did the coaches take in giving the players the impression that the Fiesta Bowl was more about a vacation, or for practices for next season, than about winning the game against the West Virginia Mountaineers?

“Going 0-4 in the BCS games is better than going 2-2 in non-BCS games.”

Sorry, but I disagree, Berry. In this system, it’s all about impressing the voters and computers enough that you make it into the title game. In a year when you’re *not* playing for the title — and I don’t care if the BCS execs try to tell us otherwise — it doesn’t matter whether you’re in a BCS or non-BCS bowl. All that matters is winning a bowl game – any bowl game – and positioning yourself to make a run the next year. It’s better to be in, say, the Holiday Bowl and soundly defeat an overrated Pac-10 team, than to garner a BCS berth only to be humiliated by underranked competition on national television. The latter scenario only drops the losing team in the pre-season polls for the following year, and I believe we all know how important the pre-season polls are in determining post-season play.

Bob Stoops needs to spend the next few days contemplating the Miami Dolphins opening. It is clear to see the difference between Stoops and Barry Switzer: Barry always had his team ready to play, physically and mentally. The last four BCS games have shown the Sooners have not come ready to play, and there has been an alarming new consistency in each. Fall apart in the first half, fan a spark and bring the Sooners close in the third quarter, then take a swan dive in the fourth. Stoops has proven he has what it takes to get OU as far as the Big 12 Championship. Unfortunately, he seems to forget there’s always one more game after that.
Fishers, IN

OU has been doing very good during the regular season. It seems to me that their goal every year is to just win the Big 12 Championship. If OU is all about winning Championships why aren’t bowl games or playing well enough in the regular season to play for the national championship. Every since the 2004 Sugar Bowl OU has played flat to start a game. They have the talent and the great coaches to beat any team they play yet for some reason cannot prepare themselves mentally well enough to come out strong their first possession. If OU would come out and score quick and early and set the tone for the game they would not have to worry about getting up to make a comeback. OU needs to get their killer attitude back from when Bob Stoops had an attitude of being the underdog with a chip on their shoulder. Get that chip back and play with fire and prepare mentally for games OU will win more than just a Big 12 championship. They will be National Champions and showing the world what they showed in 2000 and that is they are the best program in the country. I just hope that Stoops and his players figure out how to get that chip back on their shoulder and have some strong leadership. If they do not they will continue to disappoint their fans and their state by how they play in big games.

#5: Bo, I agree: you don’t replace a coach who brings home 11 wins a year. Most programs would kill to be top ten year in and year out.

There *is* a problem somewhere. Several, really. And I hope they’ll be corrected. But even so, I love my Sooners and I’m proud that a young Sam and the boys kept fighting.

Boomer Sooner!

Before spring practice even starts, Stoops needs to have a series of closed door, no holds barred meetings with all his coaches and come up with a new plan. Some things to examine include: The year long and game day preparation processes they’ve gone through every year since Stoops arrived at OU. What’s different between the winning years (particularly the national championship) and the losing years (particularly the last three losing BCS bowl games)? What are other schools doing? What does USC do (they have been successful, no matter what bowl they are in)? Maybe look at Ohio State (I don’t know what their success will be this year; but, they are not going to New Orleans until five days before the game as opposed to the 12 days from last year which was treated like a vacation). Maybe OU needs to do something like that. Maybe they need a bootcamp atmosphere prior to the bowl game. Whatever it is, they need a new plan, not just a tweak.

Everyone………..seriously! Replace the coaches?………throw the baby out with the bath water?………ridiculous!

These guys know what is wrong. The problem is they are dealing with young people. Young people who are not mature…..are consistently inconsistent. Knowing that, you cannot leave them to be ready on their own…..within a system. You have to get after them, push them…..keep them hungry.

You cannot let tradition and system take the place of pure motivation. OU does the strength in numbers thing really well. Lots of Heismans, National titles, All-Americans, Wins……lots of points on the board.

Sure….when everything goes well….its great. But when it doesn’t….a young person needs guidance and direction. They need the leaders to step up and show the way. Who does that on this team? Where is the leader on the field? Hard to pick one in this bunch. They all look the same all the time. No one stands out. Part of that is coaching.

You have to encourage this….foster it, facilitate it everyday in practice. Players have to be hungry….have desire, Have a greater will than the guy across from them. That comes from your coaches and system…..but mostly from within. These guys know this. They know that they looked ahead at CU……They know that they were unfocused at Tech…..and they still almost won. Good teams find a way in these situation. But the bowl situation………

Bo Schembechler used to put such a premium on the Big 10 title. Not the National Title, but the Big Ten. That was his goal each year. He won a lot of them. But he looked at the trip to the Rose Bowl as simply a reward for winning the Big 10 and the regular season. In fact, he won 13 titles in 21 years. He was 194-48-5 for a .796 winning percentage. A true legend. Yet, his bowl record was 5-12 including a 2-8 record in the Rose Bowl.

This was a reflection on his attitude toward the National picture. I am not saying Stoops and Co. is like this in attitude….but the team certainly does not look the same after a regular season and a 4 week lay-off. He is one of the best after a two week lay-off. Yet, this is different when they play in the post season. Is it more reward then importance? Not sure. Two of those were for a National Title. The USC game was dismal and the guys really looked unprepared. We should have beaten LSU if not maybe for a few injuries. The last two games….true lack of focus and preparation. True lack of hunger.

But they really look like they are lost when bad things happen. Players, coaches everyone. There isn’t an element of “oh, you want to play that way? Well, take this” They looked confused and scared and tight. That is coaching and leadership. I know that Stoops and the rest of the coaches know the issues. I am sure they know what they have and what they wish they had.

We have a lot of talent, but I am not sure its as good as everyone thinks. I believe these coaches have a good eye for it (Sam Bradford at QB….instead of anyone else) and have made chicken salad out of a lot of chichen…well, you know. Problem is……they turn downright chichen when the going gets tough and that is hard to overcome in the moment.

I hope that these guys have built some character with this. I hope that they are looking at themselves as having something to prove. Yeah, we have a bunch of National Titles……but someone else won those. Someone else made their mark in those seasons and you simply can’t rely on program, tradition and who you think you are. You have to show up everyday. As far as i am concerned, we are just another college program. I am about proving it over telling you IT and showing off my flashy past. Big Deal. I love it for the fans and the history. But history is made someplace between opportunity, challenge, adversity and outcome.

Oklahoma….and US, as fans, need to get over ourselves. We have something to prove. Did you see the Kansas fans?….the WVU fans? They were jacked, they had chips on their shoulders. That all translated onto their teams as well. They didn’t looked down or up at anyone….they looked em in the eye and said “lets go”. We have been whooped everytime someone has done that to us.

I hate to lose…but if I am going to, then I want to make it as tough on the other guy as I can. We need to get back to that energy. We have something to prove. Doesn’t matter what has been done in the past. The next one matters most. This program has lost that. These coaches…and they are the ones I want…….need to find it again.

Stop calling for the coaches to leave or be fired. That is stupid. Plain stupid. They are great coaches and people. Turn your anger onto yourself……what type of fan are you? Is your support as good as it could be? Worry about that……..and look forward to next year!

I fully support these guys.

Keep your perspective!

Go Sooners!

Jeff

It’s refreshing to hear from folks like Jeff in Vermont,Bo and others with a sane and rationale perspective on the state of our program. I am also shocked by the perception that West Virginia was suppose to be a roll-over. Before they lost to Pitt, I and many others around the country thought they were the best team in the country. The only reason they lost to Pitt was because White went down, as he did in their other loss. With a healthy White, they compete with anybody. I am convinced they could beat either LSU or Ohio State. Back to OU – as poorly as we played (13 penalties – lack of enthusiasm in the first half), we were in position to win this game late in the third quarter. With our without Kelly, Robinson and Smith, I really believe that next year we will win the Big XII and play in the BCS Championship game, or win whatever Bowl game we are in. I am so much looking forward to watching Bradfords development – he will be our best Post Switzer era quarterback to date, and the development of Murray, Tennell. Gresham, Johnson, Iglasious, and Brown and the entire O-Line. I was looking forward to 08 before the 07 season began – our success in 07 was just a glimpse of next year.

Hey JJWOU78,
Did Barry have his team ready against Arkansas in ‘78 Orange Bowl? How about Washington in ‘84 Orange Bowl? Stanford? West Virginia? etc. etc. I believe that Coach Stoops’ teams have won more Big 12 championships than any other coach. They probably need to revamp some Dec.-Jan. preparations, but I believe he knows that without your expert advise.

The only thing that I noticed this year with OU; is that the schedule is one of the first places they need to look. I know it’s set for a few years in advance, but look at the non-conference part of the schedule. They are all at home. No, you can’t count the Tulsa game, because it’s basically like a home game. The Sooners have looked horrible and out of sorts on the road this year, and it continued in the fiesta bowl. OU has great coaches. Maybe having more road games in non-conference would help them in conference play, and bowl games.

Jason,

Sooners have home-and-away with Notre Dame and Ohio State coming up. (Notre Dame was really good when we scheduled that one.)

Next year Washington is at Washington, and if you stayed up late to see the end, you know Washington pretty much beat Hawaii fair-and-square in that game. QB Locker is great and that game will be no gimme for the Sooners. But your point is valid. One Utah State per season is probably more than sufficient.

-

I’ve heard comments elsewhere that one of the differences between modern Stoops coaching and early Stoops coaching is that in the beginning there was an element of fun for the kids. You would see Stoops on the sidelines encouraging the kids and loving every minute of it. Everything is so business like now that the kids aren’t able to find the joy that enables them to get “up” for the big games. I don’t know if there’s any truth in that but I thought it was interesting.

stoops is not great or not real bad.Hes somewere in the middle with a lot of others.
He is just good enough to hang in there without ever really winning anything really big anymore.It will always be o boy just wait till next year were really going to be good.
As a l.a. sports writer said bob stupid (plasche i think)after 55-19 he may have nailed it

Bob Stoops knows football and is a great coach – but he does have some weaknesses (as we all do). I am telling you – the play-calling by Kevin Wilson has been absolutely horrible at times – i am serious. Others see it too. First half against Texas tech was inexcuseable. And the play calling against W.V. in the Fiesta was largely bad, predictable, etc.

Get rid of Kevin Wilson. I am telling you. Get RID of him. and also, need we have to see any more of Brent Venables failed schemes and lack of proper adjusting?

GET RID OF WILSON AND VENABLES.