History Lesson
Stoops makes sure his players know about those that came before them
Stoops makes sure his players know about those that came before them

By Scott Wright

Published: August 26, 2007

NORMAN — Oklahoma fans might have been a little nervous in December 1998, when an outsider was hired to guide the Sooner football program.

Sure, it would have been hard for Bob Stoops to do much worse than the 12 wins in three years that John Blake provided. But the fans remembered the last time someone from outside the "OU family” was the team's head coach.

His name was Howard Schnellenberger. And from the moment he took the job, Schnellenberger started talking about the legacy he would leave, seeming to ignore the one he was joining.

But that was never Stoops' plan.

From the day he arrived, Stoops has worked to make one point clear to each of his players: OU football is what it is because of the past, not the present.

"All the championships, all the great coaches they had, all the great players that came before us,” redshirt freshman DeMarco Murray said. "Oklahoma wouldn't be here without all the players from the past.”

Schnellenberger had his own inventions in mind for OU tradition — the walk to the stadium, stripes on the jersey sleeves — and abandoned some of the school's long-standing ideas. Like giving water to players during practice.

Stoops immediately embraced Sooner tradition. He routinely shows the team clips of historic OU games, teams and players. And he makes his players understand that Sooner football doesn't end with them.

"It really humbles you, knowing all the great players that played before you,” senior tight end Joe Jon Finley said. "No matter if you're here or not, it's gonna keep on going. In 10 or 20 years from now, there's still gonna be 80,000 or 100,000 people in that stadium.”

OU football history wasn't a new tale to Stoops. The stories of him watching the Sooners as a youngster in Ohio — painting his shoes silver to match Joe Washington's — have been told over and over through his eight seasons as head coach.

Stoops' early success at Oklahoma brought the motivation and the money to renovate the poorly designed and under-funded Barry Switzer Center in 2004, making it a place worthy of housing everything from national championship trophies to Bud Wilkinson's fedora.

Besides, OU's historic past is one of the best recruiting tools at Stoops' disposal.

"The history of this place — you walk into the Switzer Center and you see all that stuff — that's part of why you want to come here,” said quarterbacks coach Josh Heupel, who was one of Stoops' first OU recruits in 1999.

"Especially when coach Stoops first got here, there had been some down years in recent history. So a lot of those guys that were being recruited during that early time in 1999-2001 probably weren't familiar with what Oklahoma football and the tradition was.

"I think that was a key component of our success and what we did early on when coach Stoops got here.”

Stoops' trips into Sooner past play a motivational role as well, strengthening his players' understanding of the powerful expectations placed on the OU football team.

"It really motivates you to become a team and come together,” Finley said. "That's what they remember the most, the great teams.”

Added defensive tackle DeMarcus Granger: "It just reminds you, don't take it for granted, because Oklahoma football was here before me and it's gonna be here when I'm long gone. You make your mark in history and it just keeps rolling.”

The Sooners' success under Stoops has had a lot to do with the quality of players he brought in. But none of those players will discount that OU history was a factor as well.

"It's been proven in coach Stoops' time here, but dates back to the Switzer era,” Heupel said. "As much as you can feed your kids the history of what this place is — what it means to strap on that OU helmet, what the expectations are to go play in the big bowl games — that makes them understand the expectations as well.”

Comments