Berry Tramel, Sports columnist

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Is NFL Stoops' next stop?
Which pro team would be able to lure Sooners' coach?

 
By Berry Tramel    Comment on this article Leave a comment
Published: January 4, 2007

Three NFL coaching jobs have opened, with more to come. That means more speculation on whether Bob Stoops might be tempted to jump to the NFL.

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CHEERS
•To the media power of the Dallas Cowboys. I caught an NFL game last Sunday in which the television analyst was Dale Hellestrae, the old Dallas deep snapper. Jimmy Johnson, Troy Aikman, Michael Irvin, Moose Johnston, Darren Woodson, Deion Sanders and now even the deep snapper are 1990s Cowboys employed by network TV.

•To deposed Minnesota U. coach Glen Mason. The posse finally caught up to Mason; he was fired Sunday after a 6-7 season. Mason coached at three tough jobs — Kent State, Kansas and Minnesota — and went 123-121-1. He avoided the axe until now. Mason is the best KU coach since Pepper Rodgers (1970) and the best Gopher coach since Murray Warmath (1971).

JEERS
•To Nick Saban, who on Dec. 21 said he would not be the next Alabama football coach. What's worse than lying? Lying even when everyone knows you're lying. Big-time football coaches are paid princely sums; the least they can do is shoot straight with the people paying the freight.

•To Sean Sutton, who ditched the OSU postgame press conference Tuesday night. When you have 750 victories and a bad back, that might be OK. In your rookie season as head coach, that's totally unacceptable. Part of the job is talking to the media who report for the fans.

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In all likelihood, not. But you never know.

Here are the possible vacancies and their potential attractiveness to Stoops.

Arizona: Weak. The Cardinals fired Dennis Green, but Bill Bidwill ranks among the worst owners in professional sports.

Atlanta: Weak. The Falcons fired Jim Mora Jr. but are an historically mediocre franchise, and their current roster is nothing special. Owner Arthur Blank appears to be solid, but no coach other than Dan Reeves has had any real success.

Dallas: Moderate. An early playoff exit could prompt Bill Parcells to step down, or Jerry Jones to step him down. Jones can't be easy to work for, but he wants to win at all costs, which puts him ahead of some owners.

Miami: Strong. This is an enviable job, because of owner Wayne Huizenga (provided he doesn't sell) and the Dolphins' long history of contention. And Stoops likes Florida.

New York Giants: Moderate. Tom Coughlin has the Giants in the playoffs, but the team is in disarray.

Oakland: Weak. Who knows whether Art Shell will be back after one year in his second go-round as the Raider coach?

Pittsburgh: Strong. Bill Cowher is expected to walk away from the best coaching job in professional sports. The Steelers always have a contending roster, and Pittsburgh is only 80 miles from Youngstown, Ohio, Stoops' hometown.

Tampa Bay: Moderate. Jon Gruden might survive a 4-12 season, but if he doesn't, this isn't a bad job.

Big 12 football
The quality of Big 12 football was poor during 2006. Then the bowl season arrived, and it got worse.

The Big 12 went 3-5 in bowls. Among the six power conferences, only the Big Ten has a worse record, and if Ohio State beats Florida in the Big Bowl, then the Big Ten passes the Big 12.

But the Big 12's bowl performance is worse under the microscope. While the Big 10 Ten's two bowl victories came over Arkansas and Tennessee, the Big 12's three bowl wins came over Alabama, Minnesota and Iowa.

'Bama's record? 6-6. Minnesota's record? 6-6. Iowa's record? 6-6.

That's right. The Big 12 didn't beat a bowl foe with a winning record. And those victories were by a whisker. OSU beat Alabama and Texas Tech by Minnesota by a field goal; Texas survived Iowa 26-24.

Which means the Big 12's best victory of the entire season remains Kansas' 13-7 win over South Florida. This was a bad year for Big 12 football. The bowl results only reinforced that truth.

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Related Topics: Sports, Football, Professional Football



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