Oklahoma football: You won’t believe where Bob Stoops ranks

I was looking at a list of Big 12 football coaches the other day, and it included ages. And I was stunned.

Mike Gundy, we still think of as a young coach. He’s 44. But we don’t really think of Bob Stoops as a young coach anymore. He’s coming up on his 14th season leading the Sooners. But in the Big 12, Stoops absolutely is a young coach. He’s the seventh-oldest coach in the 10-team Big 12.

Here are the rankings:

1. Bill Snyder, Kansas State, 72

2. Mack Brown, Texas, 60

3. Tommy Tuberville, Texas Tech, 57

4. Art Briles, Baylor, 56

5. Charlie Weis, Kansas, 56

6. Gary Patterson, TCU, 52

7. Bob Stoops, OU, 51

8. Paul Rhoads, Iowa State, 45

9. Mike Gundy, OSU, 44

10. Dana Holgorsen, West Virginia, 40.

Is the Big 12 just an old-coaches league? Let’s look.

In the SEC, six of the 14 coaches are older than Stoops, so he’s right in the middle. Here are the SEC coaches’ ages: Steve Spurrier 67, John L. Smith 63, Nick Saban 60, Gary Pinkel 60, Les Miles 58, Mark Richt 52, Gene Chizik 50, Joker Phillips 49, Kevin Sumlin 47, Derek Dooley 43, Hugh Freeze 42, Will Muschamp 40, James Franklin 40, Dan Mullen 40.

Four Big Ten coaches are older than Stoops; eight are younger. Here are the Big Ten coaches’ ages: Kirk Ferentz 56, Mark Dantonio 56, Danny Hope 53, Brady Hoke 53, Jerry Kill 50, Kevin Wilson 50, Tim Beckman 47, Urban Meyer 47, Bo Pelini 44, Bret Bielema 42, Bill O’Brien 42, Pat Fitzgerald 37.

Stoops is younger than seven of the ACC’s coaches, and Virginia’s Mike London is only a month younger than Stoops. The ACC coaches’ ages: Frank Beamer 65, Frank Spazinai 65, Tom O’Brien 63, Jim Grobe 60, David Cutliffe 57, Paul Johnson 54, Randy Edsall 53, Mike London 51, Larry Fedora 49, Jimbo Fisher 46, Dabo Swinney 42, Al Golden 42,