Bob Stoops

2000 Winner

Oklahoma University

In December, 1998, Bobby Stoops was introduced as head football coach at Oklahoma, a school with a proud football tradition, but one that had crumbled in recent years, losing 22 of 34 games from 1996-98.

Stoops gave the Sooner fans what they wanted to hear: a promise that OU football would be restored to its former glory. He didn't ask for time. He didn't plead for patience. He understood the fans' frustration and he vowed to change things for the better.

"There should be great expectations here," Stoops said. "It's a program with the championships that should expect championships. I know we'll operate with no excuses. There are no excuses. You succeed or you don't."

Stoops succeeded in dramatic fashion, leading the Sooners to a 7-5 record in his first season as head coach, then a 13-0 record and an undisputed national championship in the 2000 season. Oklahoma capped its season with a 13-2 win over favored Florida State in the Orange Bowl. The national championship was the seventh in the school's history but its first in 20 years.

The 40-year-old Stoops was the overwhelming choice for the Maxwell Football Club's Collegiate Coach of the Year Award, collecting 72 per cent of the votes. He becomes the 12th recipient of the George Munger Award, named in honor of the former University of Pennsylvania coach.

"You could see right away this guy has what it takes," said Barry Switzer, who coached the Sooners to national prominence a generation ago. "Personality, smarts and toughness, it was part of his package from the start. He was clearly a young man who didn't have to be shown things more than once."

Stoops, a native of Youngstown, OH., was an All-Big Ten defensive back at Iowa. He worked his way up the coaching ladder from graduate assistant at Iowa, to assistant at Kent State, to coordinator at Kansas State, where he built the nation's No. 1 ranked defense in 1995. The following year, Stoops became defensive coordinator at Florida and he helped the Gators win the national championship, defeating Florida State in the Sugar Bowl.

When he was hired as head coach at Oklahoma, Stoops set the same goal, that is, winning a national championship. As it turned out, he once again had to defeat Florida State to claim the title and he did it by keeping the Seminoles No. 1 ranked offense out of the endzone all night.

"We simply could not get anything going offensively," Florida State coach Bobby Bowden said. "(Stoops) did a great job of confusing us. I'd say he made all the right moves."

The Sooners were ranked 19th in the nation at the start of the 2000 season and they fought their way up the polls, winning six games against ranked teams, including wins against then No. 1 Nebraska (31-14), No. 2 Florida State and No. 3 Kansas State (41-31). They also blew out Texas, 63-14, in Dallas.

"As much as anything, I remember our kids not being in awe against Texas," Stoops was quoted as saying. "We (the coaches) told them, 'You are one of the elite teams. You are Oklahoma. We've won a lot of big games at Oklahoma. We fully expect to win this game and win a lot more.’"