Irish eyes on Stoops again? Wait just a second by: JOHN E. HOOVER World Sports Writer Monday, November 16, 2009 11/16/2009 6:51:58 AM OU analysis: Involving Ryan Broyles and DeMarco Murray lessens Landry Jones’ load. Well, it has begun. Bob Stoops to Notre Dame. We seem to hear this about every two or three years. Yes, Stoops is Irish. Yes, Stoops is Catholic. Yes, Stoops could recruit the heck out of the Ohio and Pennsylvania hotbeds that have long fed the Notre Dame talent pool. And yes, it seems Fighting Irish coach Charlie Weis is on the proverbial hot seat. I first heard the latest rumor two weeks ago after Weis’ team lost again to Navy. Then I got a call from a World staffer about more press box rumblings. Then, these two items from Sunday’s postmortem of the Irish’s latest defeat. From the Chicago Sun Times: “As much as Notre Dame coach Charlie Weis wanted to make this game about his team, the 27-22 loss to No. 8 Pittsburgh will serve as more evidence for those who want Weis’ tenure as Irish coach to end. “If athletic director Jack Swarbrick decides Weis’ Notre Dame career is over after his fifth season, a source said Oklahoma coach Bob Stoops and Iowa coach Kirk Ferentz will be in the mix to replace him. The source said Stoops has told confidants he would be interested in talking to the Irish. “Weis wasn’t asked directly about his future after the game, but he said he was focused on his players. "They just lost a tough game to a good team,’’ he said. ‘’Right now, I’m more worried about getting them out of the tank [mentally]." And this from the Chicago Tribune: “It’s not like you don’t evaluate during the year; you evaluate all year,” Swarbrick said. “But my practice is to make sure I’ve got the full season’s worth of information and then conclude the evaluation.” “There will be much to discuss. The latest deflation saddled Weis with the same overall record as Bob Davie (35-25) and made Notre Dame 0-for-its-last-8 against top 10 teams under Weis’ watch. “Were change afoot or not, it would seem to behoove administrators to work quickly and decisively. But Swarbrick currently doesn’t see reason to veer much from last year’s timeline, when he met with Weis on the Tuesday after a season-ending evisceration at USC. “I thought from a perspective of timing and communication, last year’s process worked well,” Swarbrick said. Another element that won’t change: The irrelevance of Weis’ buyout. It wasn’t an issue as the Irish stumbled to a 6-6 regular season in 2008. The latest report pegs the buyout at $18 million, but regardless it’s “not a factor” again in 2009, according to Swarbrick.” And from the Oklahoma perspective, consider that Stoops is on the stretch run of his most challenging season yet. He told me before the season began that chasing the three-nationalchampionship legacies of Bud Wilkinson and Barry Switzer was important to him, though not his driving force. Now, with three months to reflect on losing Sam Bradford, Jermaine Gresham and a fistful of games, who knows what Stoops is thinking? ... But think about it. If Stoops was ever going to take another college job, would this be the perfect storm?
Since bob makes close to 3mil a year, I'd think ND would have to offer up significantly more to lure him away. From a $$$ standpoint Brian Kelly would be cheaper. But if they still owe Charlie 3 million a year, whats another million or two. Of course maybe Bob sees a sinking ship there in norman and wants to get out before his stock drops too much.
Gary Patterson might get in that mix. His salary is $1,300,000 as far as I can tell, and he could get a sizeable raise, and still be affordable to ND.
The Irish wouldn't have a problem coming up with the money to pay him. It would be a great move for Stoops to go from a conference with two national title caliber teams to the singular island that is Notre Dame football.
Wow. When I first heard this, I thought "great, just another reason to hate ND." But now that I think about it, I think Stoops is one of maybe two or three coaches (Urban Meyer being another) that could really revitalize the ND program. I have no idea what would happen to 0U, but if this were to happen, ND would immediately be a force to be reckoned with.
I can actually see Gary Patterson as a stronger candidate to replace Stoops, if he leaves, than to be a candidate for the Neutered Dame job. That would not sit well with me...Patterson is a MUCH better head coach than I would like to see in residence up in Indian territory.
Patterson is not going to ND. His wife is a Ft. Worth native and he rarely has to spend the night away from home on a recruiting trip. He is doing just fine in FW and makes more than $1.3m. OU might be more enticing, but I just don't see him ending up in Norman for some reason.
Without Stoops- ou becomes Okie lite on a good day. As much as I enjoy seeing them suffer, I have mixed feelings about us going to the RRS every year if we are ranked #2 and they are ranked #24. It's nice when our matchup is one of the most important games in college football every year. If stoops goes to ND, he better bring in some good assistant coaches- he can't turn that program around alone.
I don't see it happening. I don't feel their program is better than OU right now. Seriously, as much tradition as the ND 'brand' carries, OU is one of the few programs that can claim much of the same. They have some built-in advantages, to be sure; national TV contract, no conference affiliation w/BCS free pass, lots of money, great school. But purely as a head coach, none of that would cause me to jump from a current Top10 program to a complete rebuild job. Then again, Stoops is the kind of guy who likes that sort of challenge (look at OU circa '99), so maybe he'd jump. You guys bust his balls, but all of you know Stoops is an above-average coach. He isn't the God some of our idiot fanbase makes him out to be, but he is still better than 95% of the head coaches in D-1. I feel confident in saying that w/o coming across as a total homer since I bet I could get affirmation from most objective followers of CFB. And I honestly don't see this huge recruiting disparity between OU and Texas, at the moment. Mack is pulling in who he wants (mostly) but OU is getting some really good players, especially this year. That is for the above poster who cites recruiting dominance as another sign Stoops might jump ship.
ou is a school with football tradition along with all the assorted baggage.. Comparing ou to ND is like comparing a gangster to a priest Regarding your conclusion stoops is a great coach...he is 0-12 with his team behind in the 4th quarter over the past 3 years, no need to bring up his bowl record.. Stoops could very well decide that mid west home cooking and a chance to rebuild the former "most elite" football program in history is a much better choice than hanging around norman watching TEXAS get better and tougher More reasons to leave than to stay
this would scare me if it were to become true. imagine if down the road the irish and sooners play eachother, maybe even in a bowl game....would i be in a constant state of joy, knowing that with each series, either stoops would be pissed and screaming, or that the sooners would be choking? who would I root for??
I want ND to suck until they join the Big XI and lose their most favored school status. After that, I will cheer for them.
Their last game against Stanford could get real ugly..I think ND is going to get hammered in that game and it's not going to be good for his last game of the season. (minus bowl game)
With the built in BCS advantages that Notre Dame has, it would be easy for Stoops to get them back to regularly playing in BCS Bowls. However, given Bobs performance in BCS Bowls, I am not sure if that is exactly what he wants. Imagine taking the Bowl record of Notre Dame and combining its forces with the Bowl record of Bob Stoops.
