Is Bob Stoops planning to stay at Oklahoma?
Athletic director has been told to aim high for successor to Charlie Weis David Haugh In the Wake of the News November 29, 2009 * EmailE-mail * printPrint * Share * increase text size decrease text size Text Size PALO ALTO, Calif. — No matter how embarrassing the losses were, Bob Davie always showed up afterward to discuss them. No coach in Notre Dame football history faced the music with any more grace than Tyrone Willingham, even amid the chorus of boos. Charlie Weis? After the final game of his Notre Dame tenure, a gut-wrenching 45-38 loss to Stanford that finished the Irish season at 6-6, Weis hid behind the words of his players. For the first time a Notre Dame spokesman could recall, the football coach declined to comment to reporters other than one from the university’s radio network. If anybody needed further evidence of the type of leadership this once-proud program has lacked, this was it. Weis’ silence said everything: Fire me. Now. It was the second symbol Saturday night of
Too bad visiting Notre Dame was in much worse need of the diplomacy of Rice, who earned her master’s degree at the university in 1975. An Irish change of the guard appears to be under way that, if governed correctly, will alter college football’s balance of power. As Charlie Weis coached what was believed to be his final regular-season game in an entertaining 45-38 loss Saturday night on the Farm, Oklahoma coach Bob Stoops dodged rumors back in America’s heartland. Bob Stoops at Notre Dame? With the schedule and talent in place, Stoops could promise his next recruiting class it will play in a national title game, and it wouldn’t sound like blarney. But first things first. A national broadcast pregame report speculated Stoops would be on his way to South Bend, Ind., as early as Sunday. The only confirmation Irish fans wanted to hear was the time to meet Stoops’ jet at the airport. Slow down. Even if Stoops represents the best, most ambitious place for the Notre Dame coaching search to s
It didn’t take Oklahoma coach Bob Stoops long to take himself out of the running for the Notre Dame job. Stoops said Monday he plans to stay at Oklahoma “hopefully for a good while” and won’t be interviewing for any coaching positions after his worst regular season in 11 years with the Sooners. “What I’m saying is I’m going to be at Oklahoma next year, so I can’t be in two places at once,” Stoops said on a conference call. Sources: http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/2009/football/ncaa/11/30/stoops.oklahoma.ap/index.
