Lincoln Riley departing Oklahoma for USC means the Sooners are going to have to find a new head coach. And while that search could heat up quickly, OU already has their interim head coach for whichever bowl game they land in: Bob Stoops.
Stoops is obviously a legend in Norman, though of late his football work has been on the broadcasting side, as he took over for Urban Meyer on Fox’s Big Noon Kickoff show. Stoops has clearly remained close with the program, to the point he was in the room with the team when they learned of Riley’s decision to leave.
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Amusingly, Stoops played coy recently when asked if his name was a possible option at USC. Stoops coaching the bowl game as a sort of interim emeritus isn’t unprecedented; Barry Alvarez has actually done it multiple times at Wisconsin where he moved from football coach to athletic director.
Stoops doing it from the broadcast studio is definitely his own spin on the Alvarez Maneuver. With Oklahoma set to move to the SEC in the near future, and possible recruiting fallout from Riley heading to another big-time job at USC, having Stoops back on board here for whatever responsibilities he’s handling actually makes a lot of sense for the Sooners.
He’s still a brand name in the sport, and has the kind of gravitas that could help galvanize a locker room and, maybe most importantly, help prevent players from choosing to hit the transfer portal before Oklahoma has a shot to get a long-term coach in place to start working the room. He’s also connected to just about any OU-related name they might be considering; Stoops coached Tennessee HC (and rumored OU favorite) Josh Heupel to a Heisman and gave him his start in coaching.
Hell, maybe Stoops himself considers taking the job. That feels impossibly unlikely, but if it happens, we might start wondering if that analyst slot at Fox is sort of a Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher situation.