Top 82 Quotes & Sayings by Bob Stoops

Explore popular quotes and sayings by an American coach Bob Stoops.
Last updated on December 23, 2024.
Bob Stoops

Robert Anthony Stoops is an American football coach. He was the head football coach at the University of Oklahoma from 1999 through the 2016 season, and on an interim basis during the 2021 Alamo Bowl. He led the Oklahoma Sooners to a record of 191–48 over his career. His 2000 Oklahoma Sooners football team won the 2001 Orange Bowl, which served as the BCS National Championship Game, and earned a consensus national championship. Since 2020, Stoops has been a head coach with the XFL, having coached the Dallas Renegades in 2020 and re-signed for 2023.

At the end of the day, if someone tries to conceal something they will, and when you find out, you deal with it. That's it. We can't possibly know everything that happens.
Sometimes with these big long guys who are really athletic, you don't know when they're going to stop growing.
I've always believed if a young guy has a chance to play, why would you explain where his weakness is? The only reason would be to help the other team, or to help a gambler. — © Bob Stoops
I've always believed if a young guy has a chance to play, why would you explain where his weakness is? The only reason would be to help the other team, or to help a gambler.
I appreciate the history and tradition of Notre Dame. I also appreciate the history and tradition of Oklahoma, and I have been part of building that tradition here.
No one wants to hear that, but life changes. If it changes, you have to change with it, to whatever degree.
I'm thankful that my career at Oklahoma was marked with consistent leadership in president David Boren and director of athletics Joe Castiglione.
I have been very fortunate to coach a lot of very good secondary players through the years.
Depending on where you're at or the ownership you're working for, some of the college jobs may be better than some in the NFL.
I'm not looking to coach in Chicago.
This game we play is the ultimate total team game. Quarterback by himself isn't winning it. You got 11-12 coaches, you've got a lot of people that have a hand in it.
No, I'm never pleased if we don't win some type of championship, meaning Big 12 or national.
I'm big on that: In life, everything has its time.
Surely, AP or the coaches are all aware everybody has agendas. Anybody who's on TV has one. You know, that's viewership and ratings and those kinds of things. — © Bob Stoops
Surely, AP or the coaches are all aware everybody has agendas. Anybody who's on TV has one. You know, that's viewership and ratings and those kinds of things.
Spend a day around my players, around my African-American players, my Hispanic players, my Polynesian players, and you'll see the true beauty of who they are.
Everyone wants you to define your life until the end of your life.
Boomer Sooner!
It's impossible to remove agendas.
No matter how angry people on the outside were when you don't perform well, a coach is 10 times what anyone else is feeling. Nothing digs at you more. But that's part of our business.
Any time you experience adversity, whether you lose a game or maybe have an official who makes a poor call that costs you the game, you've gotta handle yourself properly. Just like in life, not everything will go your way.
We could fill up a whole hour's television show talking about coach's recruiting stories, I love them, they're the best.
I love Jim Tressel. I think he's a fabulous guy. He's overall been a strong example for all coaches.
I love college football. I love the game.
If you're winning and can stay on the field offensively and move the ball, that's what we want.
I'm very fortunate to work with a great group of guys that are great coaches, great motivators, excited about what they do, have a lot of enthusiasm and are excellent coaches.
There was a period of time where the two most wanted guys in the state of Oklahoma were me and Josh Heupel. Me for suggesting that you could throw the ball at Oklahoma and in the Big 12. And Josh Heupel for having the temerity to play quarterback and not be able to run faster than 5 flat.
The coaching life is like a relay race and I'm thankful for my turn and am confident as I pass the baton.
It's impossible to know what everyone does behind closed doors. Even in families, you don't know sometimes what's going on.
I just love to play football and enjoy it.
I have incredible respect for Coach Switzer.
It's very rewarding when you know you're affecting a young person in a positive way, when you know you're helping influence them in the right direction. Teaching them by example, giving them examples, showing humility and respect and love for your child and wife.
They said 'the SEC this, the SEC that.' I said, 'You talk like all 14 teams are this, that and the other thing.' I said, 'You have to give credit to the first one or two that have won the national championship, but don't act like they're all doing that.'
There has to be measures for players to know the consequences for their actions.
If you keep hanging on to something, you've got an opportunity to keep getting hurt by it.
Coach Spurrier was just an amazing competitor. I felt I learned to really love the competition of it all from watching him and being around him. All his assistant coaches were great recruiters, very professional in how they handled their business. So as a young guy, I got to see that all the time.
I've been with some great head coaches, but also some great assistant coaches, too.
I think all coaches look at it as a major part of our job: to build young men, not just ball players. To put the right things in front of them, and help them mature as men, not just as players.
Anytime you win 10 games, let's look around the world, the country, and there's not a lot that do it consistently.
It definitely gives you a boost away from home and being down and coming back. — © Bob Stoops
It definitely gives you a boost away from home and being down and coming back.
Football is all about repetition. The trick for a coach is to be innovative when you ask for it.
You don't really want to play your brother. You want to play your brother in a championship game because not only does someone lose, someone's going to win a championship, too. To me, that's the only time you're really looking to do it.
Sam Bradford was one of the most humble and grounded players I've ever been around; he got it. But I even told him, what makes you think those fans in the stands are wearing No.14 for you? Who says it's not an old Josh Heupel jersey?
Yeah, I've never tailgated.
Coaches around the country are influencing the next generation of men in a positive way.
I'm especially thankful for being able to coach so many talented young men over my 18 years here. It has been so rewarding to see these players come to OU and mature over a four- or five-year career, and not just on the field. To play a small part in their growth is what I will always cherish the most.
Our players are educated. They know. If you knowingly break the rules, we're going to move on. We'll find someone else to play quarterback.
I thought one of the best things I ever did in my career was getting my first staff together at OU... That's exciting to me. The opportunity to put it together and help it grow.
Coach Snyder was just a determined guy. I was at the ground floor at Kansas State. I learned a lot from that experience.
Carl Pendleton's the absolute best. He's everything you want in a student-athlete. — © Bob Stoops
Carl Pendleton's the absolute best. He's everything you want in a student-athlete.
The characteristic that every college football coach should look for in a wife is independence.
You know, if I've done anything right, it has been hiring the right people.
I was an undersized, undertalented defensive back. I knocked myself out multiple times running into people. I ended my career without an anterior cruciate ligament. I still don't have one. At a certain point, you realize: I've used up all I've got.
Every now and then a little bit of change never hurts.
Team chemistry is what really matters, your team chemistry and team toughness.
I've just been around a lot of just quality coaches that I've learned from.
I have this routine where on Fridays I sign balls that need to be autographed. One time, after my fortieth or fiftieth ball, I looked over at my secretary and said, 'Who is Bob Stoops, anyway?'
I remember embracing our championship tradition, telling our players that this is what we should expect to be; this is what Oklahoma is supposed to be. And we're going to do all we can to be that. And if we don't, there will be no excuses. You either do or you don't.
When I grew up, and I've said this a lot, but I was a long time Oklahoma fan. I always followed them all the way while growing up in Ohio.
It's a life issue more than anything when you're dealing with racism anywhere... It's a life issue - bigger than sports, bigger than football.
I think proximity in recruiting matters the most.
In the end, everybody's life's different. Some things fit certain ways for people, and it's right, and maybe it isn't for others.
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