Stoops is one of six children born to Ron Sr. and Evelyn "Dee Dee" Stoops in Youngstown, Ohio. He is a 1978 graduate of Cardinal Mooney High School, where his father was the long-time defensive coordinator of the football team. Bob and his three brothers (Ron Jr., Mike, and Mark) were all coached by Ron Sr. at Mooney. During a game in 1988 against the team coached by Ron Jr., Ron Sr. began experiencing chest pains. He was placed in an ambulance following the game and died en route to the hospital.[5][6]
After graduating with a marketing degree in 1983, Stoops began his coaching career as a volunteer coach and graduate assistant in the Iowa Hawkeyes program under Hayden Fry. He next was an assistant at Kent State University under Dick Crum in 1988, and then joined the coaching staff at Kansas State University the following year. Stoops was named co-defensive coordinator at Kansas State under Bill Snyder in 1991 and assistant head coach and co-defensive coordinator in 1995. During his tenure on the Wildcats staff, Stoops played a key role in their impressive turnaround, helping take what many considered to be the worst program in Division I-A to national contention. During his final four seasons there, Kansas State was 35–12 with three bowl appearances.
Stoops then left for the University of Florida, serving three years as Steve Spurrier's defensive coordinator. Hired after Florida allowed 62 points to Nebraska in the 1996 Fiesta Bowl,[8] he was granted authority over the Gators defense; the team responded by winning the national championship over Florida State in the 1997 Sugar Bowl.[9]
Due to his success leading defenses at Kansas State and Florida, Stoops was mentioned as a future head coach.
Oklahoma
Stoops paces the sideline in 2006
The University of Oklahoma named Stoops its head coach in 1999. OU won seven games in Stoops' first year, taking the Sooners to their first bowl game since the 1994 season.
Stoops in 2009
In his 18 years as head coach of the Sooners, Stoops had a combined record of 190–48 (.798). On November 16, 2013, Stoops notched his 157th win as Oklahoma's head coach with a victory over Iowa State, tying him with Barry Switzer for the most wins in Sooners history.[10] A week later, on November 23, 2013, he surpassed Switzer's record with a 41–31 victory over Kansas State. Stoops accumulated a home winning streak of 39 consecutive games from 2005 to 2011. The streak was ended on October 22, 2011 when Texas Tech defeated Oklahoma 41–38. He also had the most wins of the decade of any BCS school with 110 (2000–2009). Along with Switzer, Bud Wilkinson and Bennie Owen, he is one of four coaches to win over 100 games at the University of Oklahoma; no other college football program has had more than three coaches accomplish such a feat. Overall, Oklahoma was 4–6 in BCS games and 9–9 in bowl games under Stoops. Stoops, along with Bill Snyder of Kansas State, were among the first to use the JUCO systems of their respective states to help their programs progress.[citation needed]
Stoops' teams finished the season ranked in the Top 10 of the polls for 11 of his 18 seasons, seven times finishing in the top five.
Stoops led his team to bowl games in each of his 17 years at Oklahoma, ten of which were Bowl Championship Series (BCS) bowls, including the Big 12 Conference's first Rose Bowl victory as the Sooners upended Washington State, 34–14, in the 2003 Rose Bowl. With Oklahoma's victory over Alabama at the 2014 Sugar Bowl, Stoops became the first and only coach to win all four BCS bowl games and a BCS National Championship.
Stoops' penchant for winning big games early in his career earned him the nickname "Big Game Bob", From 1999 to 2003, Oklahoma under Stoops was 18–2 (0.900) vs. ranked opponents and 3–1 (0.750) in bowl games, with one national title and three Big 12 titles.[4]
Late in the 2003 season, however, Bob's brother Mike Stoops left his position of defensive coordinator and associate head coach at Oklahoma to accept the head coaching job at Arizona. The Sooners promptly lost two games in a row against ranked teams after Mike's departure that season (a 35–7 loss against #13 Kansas State in the Big 12 Title Game, and a 21–14 loss to #3 LSU in the BCS National Title Game). Since then (2004–2016), Stoops' teams went 17–13 vs. ranked opponents, and 3–4 in Bowl Games with no National Titles (although they played for 3 more), and five Big 12 Titles. Stoops' teams did finish with two Heisman Trophy winners during this time, however, and two runners-up.
Under Stoops, the Sooners won ten Big 12 Conference championships, the most of any Big 12 team. Oklahoma is also the only Big 12 team to win back-to-back-to-back Big 12 championships. Stoops posted a 121-29 (.807) conference record during his career, and was named the Big 12 Coach of the Year six times.
In his 18 seasons as Sooners' head coach, Stoops was 11–7 against the Texas Longhorns in the Red River Rivalry. During a five-game winning streak in that rivalry from 2000 to 2004, his Sooners handed the Longhorns two of their worst defeats in school history, 63–14 in 2000[11] and 65–13 in 2003.[12] Since then, he led the team to additional large-margin wins of 55–17 in 2011[13] and 63–21 in 2012.[14]
On July 11, 2007, Oklahoma was placed on probation for two years by the NCAA for a rules violation involving quarterback Rhett Bomar and offensive lineman JD Quinn, whom the university had previously suspended from the team due to the players' efforts to obtain payment for hours not worked.[15] While the students who violated the rules were reinstated by the NCAA and allowed to play for other schools, the university, which had self-reported the violations, was initially directed to vacate all wins during the 2005–06 season, which included a 17–14 win over the University of Oregon in the Holiday Bowl.[16] Oklahoma appealed the NCAA's ruling of a "failure to monitor" the employment of players in the program, as well as a reduction in scholarships and probation lasting until May, 2010.[17] On February 22, 2008, the NCAA reversed part of the decision and reinstated the vacated wins.[18]
Stoops' 2008 team went down in the history books as the highest scoring team in college football history, scoring a total of 716 points, averaging 51 points per game. Over five consecutive games, the Sooners scored 60 points or more, another record (in the game prior to the streak, the Sooners scored 58 points). After a four-week layoff, the offense was held in check against the nation's best defense of the Florida Gators in the National Championship game, scoring only 14 points and committing two turnovers near the Florida goal line. The Sooners were without one of their star offensive playmakers in DeMarco Murray, who sat out with an injury.[19] However, the Sooners' 2008 defense, which was much maligned during the season for allowing a Stoops'-worst 25 points per game average, held the Florida Gators' high-powered Tim Tebow-led offense to only 24 points, 21 points below their season average.
Stoops' success at Oklahoma made him the frequent subject of head coach searches by NFL teams and college programs alike, which he repeatedly turned down.[20] He was reportedly the top-paid coach in Division I-A football with annual compensation in excess of $3 million until Nick Saban was signed by the University of Alabama for $4 million per year in 2007. However, Stoops did receive a "longevity bonus" of $3 million at the end of the 2008 season (his 10th), making his annual salary in 2008 approximately $6.1 million (equivalent to $8.3 million in 2022) .[21]
On June 7, 2017, Stoops announced his retirement from college coaching. He was succeeded by Lincoln Riley as Oklahoma's head football coach.[23]
XFL
On February 7, 2019, Stoops announced his plans to come out of retirement, as he was named head coach/general manager of the Dallas Renegades in the XFL.[24] He served in this role until the league ceased operations on April 14, 2020 due to bankruptcy stemming from the COVID-19 outbreak.[25] On April 13, 2022, Stoops re-signed with the XFL.[26] In 2023, the now-renamed Arlington Renegades finished second in the XFL South Division—despite the fact the Renegades finished the regular season with a sub-.500 (4–6) record—and advanced to the XFL playoffs. In the South Division championship game, the Renegades defeated the Houston Roughnecks to advance to the XFL Championship Game, where the Renegades defeated the DC Defenders, 35–26.
Oklahoma (interim)
On November 28, 2021, Stoops was named interim head coach for Oklahoma's bowl game after Lincoln Riley took the USC Trojans head coaching job.[27][28] The head coaching position was filled by former Stoops assistant Brent Venables.[29] Stoops coached the Sooners in the 2021 Alamo Bowl; the Sooners won 47–32.
Personal life
Stoops is married to Carol Stoops, a Mary Kay National Sales Director.[30] They have three children: a daughter, Mackenzie, who now attends the University of Oklahoma, and twin sons, Isaac and Drake. Drake Stoops plays wide receiver for the Oklahoma Sooners.[31] Isaac Stoops has coached at the high school level as a wide receivers coach for Moore (OK) High School [32] and took a position as a volunteer analyst with the University of Oklahoma Sooners for the 2021-22 football season.[33]
Stoops' younger brother, Mike, is the former defensive coordinator for the Sooners and was previously head football coach at the University of Arizona. He currently serves as inside linebackers coach for the football program of University of Kentucky. Another brother (the youngest), Mark, became the head coach at the University of Kentucky in November 2012. Stoops' older brother, Ron Jr., was an assistant football coach at Youngstown State University in Youngstown, Ohio.[34]
Stoops remains close with Steve Spurrier, his mentor from the University of Florida.[35]
