Why Bob Stoops is leaving Fox to return to coaching in the XFL | Opinion
OKLAHOMA CITY, Okla. — Bob Stoops’ cottage industry continues. Stoops just can’t quit coaching, but that’s OK, because he keeps finding ways to stay in the game without it consuming him.
But there’s a downside to the announcement Wednesday that Stoops will return as a head coach in the XFL: He no longer will be part of Fox’s Big Noon Kickoff Show.
Stoops was a hit, especially among Oklahomans, on the Fox pregame show last season, which also featured former Southern Cal stars Matt Leinart and Reggie Bush, along with former Notre Dame quarterback Brady Quinn.
Stoops replaced Urban Meyer on the show, after Meyer became coach of the Jacksonville Jaguars.
The XFL will be televised by ESPN, while Fox will televise the USFL, another spring league which debuts this week. The XFL relaunches in 2023. Stoops coaching on ESPN was considered a quasi conflict of interest, so the parties mutually agreed to split.
“Fox was great to me, loved every minute of it, but the XFL and other terms were too positive to not go through it,” Stoops said. “Truth is, I want to watch my son (Drake) and OU play anyway. Sort of works out OK.”
Drake Stoops is a senior wide receiver for the Sooners, and Bob Stoops’ long-time lieutenant, Brent Venables, has returned as head coach, succeeding Lincoln Riley, who left OU for the Southern Cal job.
Stoops said he has no idea if ESPN would reach out about any possible television work.
“I don’t know if there’s any opportunity or not,” Stoops said.
But clearly, Stoops is smitten with the XFL concept, since he tried it in 2020, before the pandemic shut down the fledgling league halfway through its maiden season.
Stoops coached the Dallas Renegades in 2020, but the XFL has yet to announce if each team will be based in local markets or if all will be staged in a central location.
And in between the XFL gigs, Stoops was OU’s interim coach for the Alamo Bowl last December.
Stoops retired from OU in June 2017 after 18 seasons as head coach, saying he was ready to control his own time. Stoops has not wavered from that desire, with the XFL, television and the Sooners giving him quite the gridiron fix.
The XFL announced its coaches Wednesday, including Stoops and former NFL head coaches Wade Phillips and Jim Haslett. The other five coaches are former NFL players Hines Ward, Rod Woodson, Terrell Buckley, Reggie Barlow and Anthony Becht.
Dany Garcia, Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson and RedBird Capital investors acquired the XFL in bankruptcy court for $15 million in August 2020.
The XFL achieved a major coup with the announcement this week that former NFL director of officiating Dean Blandino will serve as the XFL’s vice president of officiating and playing rules innovation. Blandino has gained fame as an on-air officiating analyst for Fox.
“I believe in the ownership group,” Stoops said. “People who have been incredibly successful. I trust their vision for the league and what they’re going to do moving forward.”
Stoops said his 2020 XFL experience was “incredibly positive … the first time around. I enjoyed working with older players who still have a love for the game and a lot of talented guys.
“The fact that it’s just football and not everything else I dealt with in college, everything fit.”
Stoops said the older players are “guys that really catch onto football fast. They’ve been around so much football, they just pick it up. There isn’t any young drama, somebody missing their girlfriend or being homesick. These guys are all mature guys that get it. And their love for football. That’s why they’re still playing.”
Stoops’ love for football is why he’s still coaching. Only without transfer portals and NIL and 18-hour days.
Berry Tramel: Berry can be reached at 405-760-8080 or at btramel@oklahoman.com.