No Excuses

No Excuses

Story By: CHRIS PLANK

During his time at Oklahoma, Bob Stoops re-established the Sooners as a national power on the gridiron and did so with a no-nonsense attitude. But, did we truly know Bob Stoops? Did we truly understand what drove him, what was important to him and what led to his retirement?

Perhaps not. But, in his new book “No Excuses: The Making of a Head Coach,” the all-time winningest coach in Oklahoma football history opens a door into his personal and professional world, giving access like never before.

Before his Salute to Stoops celebration in April 2018, Stoops was asked if he had any interest in writing a book.

“I’m thinking about it,” Stoops said. “I don’t know if there’s a market out there for it or not. So, we’ll see.”

Some of his motivation may have come more than 20 years earlier, however, while traveling across the country.

“We drove in the middle of the night, so I went to the library, and I got the cassette to ‘Bootlegger’s Boy.’ It was Barry Switzer narrating his book,” Stoops said.

Joe Mixon, Lincoln Riley & Bob Stoops

Photo by: Mark Doescher

After finishing that book, he knew it was something he might do someday.

So, when he officially decided to tell his story, Stoops teamed with longtime ESPN writer Gene Wojciechowski.

“I’ve been asked through the years from coaches from all different sports, as well as levels, how did this path happen for you. How did you become the head coach and how can I do it?” Stoops said. “In a five-minute conversation, I don’t know how to answer that. I can’t tell you how to do it in a quick setting. So, I thought why not just lay out how it worked for me.”

But it has been more than just coaches who wanted advice on how to reach the next level.

“I’ve been asked through the years from even businessmen,” Stoops said. “How did you turn it around so fast from something that was really struggling? And then, how did you stay so consistent for 20 years? So, I lay out our thought processes and what was important to us and our program.”

Stoops and Wojciechowski would talk for hours on the phone to lay out stories and ideas. As the project progressed, Wojciechowski had just one request for the usually reserved and protective head coach.

“In covering him, he was always pleasant and helpful, but anyone who covered him would tell you that Bob wouldn’t let the shield down. When we first started the process, I told him he had to write an honest book. You owe it to the people that are going to buy the book,” Wojciechowski said.

“He, sort of in a polite way said, ‘you know me. That is all I know to be, honest. I didn’t bear my soul as a coach because that wasn’t my job’.

” I found it so refreshing and cool, and I felt like, as we were doing the book, I was learning about a new Bob Stoops, a person I had never known before.”

The 294-page book, released in early September, gives a glimpse behind the scenes of Bob Stoops, the head coach, and Bob Stoops, the person.

Stoops tells about how difficult it was to fire Josh Heupel, the Sooner’s national championship quarterback turned offensive coordinator. He also discusses how Lincoln Riley reached out to him before dismissing Mike Stoops as defensive coordinator and likened the decision to the Heupel situation.

But, perhaps the most emotional chapter is when Stoops discusses the courage of the young patients at Children’s Hospital at OU Medicine. Stoops never publicized his visits at the hospital, when he played games with the children, took pictures, laughed and sometimes cried.

“He was so honest and forthright and not afraid to say how he felt,” Wojciechowski said. “If it was about personal decisions that conflicted him, his personal life, his professional life, he was open about it all.”

For Stoops, the willingness to be open also led to some vulnerability.

“Nothing was really viewed as too personal to put in the book,” Stoops said. “The reason I was even reluctant to do it at all in the first place was some personal things. People talk about me losing my father young, and it surprised me when I was doing the audio book all the feelings came up again, and I had to stop and couldn’t read it all. “

Talking about my daughter, her health scare with brain surgery, it was the same thing when I was talking about my father. Those hard emotions came up again and the fear of what was going to happen. Those things are something the old me wouldn’t have done. This was my journey though, and people want to know about it. I’ve been really surprised that so many people have reached out, and they’ve been moved. That is just how it happened.”

At times, the stories are an emotional roller coaster. Wojciechowski recalled the time when Stoop’s father, Ron Sr., suffered a fatal heart attack while coaching on the sidelines during a high school rivalry game. Bob Stoops was playing in college at the time.

“It was a tragedy of unspeakable sadness,” Wojciechowski said.

“Bob was a great player at Iowa, and they won at the Rose Bowl when he was there. Before they closed his dad’s casket, Bob took off his Big 10 Rose Bowl ring and put it inside. His mom questioned it, but Bob felt so strongly about it. He wanted his dad to have it. It spoke to the unbroken chain of love and devotion of father and son and football, and it really is who Bob is as a person. It’s a sad story, but it illustrated truly who Bob is.”

While emotional at times, the book also goes behind the scenes of Stoops as a coach. One of the most difficult decisions of the Stoops era involved the Joe Mixon situation. Stoops even touches on the lure of other jobs.

Life Photos by: Mark Doescher

Stoops’ Book Offers Personal, Poignant Account of Coach’s

“There were times it was to be considered, but I was closer to leaving for Florida than I ever was for the NFL,” Stoops said. “The reason I never left for the NFL was I never felt the need to separate myself from OU because of how well it was all going. From the President (David Boren) and Joe C (Castiglione) pushing us forward.

“Little by little, the dorm improvement, the facility, little by little, we’ve always pushed to keep moving forward. I was enjoying it, and it was fun and exciting. I never felt I needed to do something different. I was always aware that the NFL was the elite of football, but that doesn’t mean the job is better than at OU. I always felt Oklahoma, when things are right, is probably better than 30 or 50 percent of the NFL jobs.”

Much like Barry Switzer’s book, Bob Stoops’ book “No Excuses: The Making of a Head Coach” is a must read for Sooner fans. It shows how much Oklahoma meant to Stoops, and it carries readers on an emotional roller coaster with a person who was incredibly guarded as a head coach. It relives the challenges, the turmoil and the celebrations that spanned Stoops’ Hall-of-Fame career.– BSM