Bob Stoops

Bob Stoops is the former head coach of the University of Oklahoma football team, a position he held from 1999 until his retirement in 2017. Stoops began his football career at Cardinal Mooney High School and was a four-year starter and two-time All-Big Ten selection at defensive back at the University of Iowa.

Stoops started his coaching career as a volunteer and graduate assistant with the Iowa Hawkeyes program. He then served as an assistant at Kent State University in 1988 and joined Kansas State University the following year. By 1991, he was named co-defensive coordinator at KSU under Bill Snyder, and in 1995, he became the assistant head coach and co-defensive coordinator. Stoops went on to join the University of Florida as Steve Spurrier's defensive coordinator, where he contributed to the Gators' national championship win in 1996.

Under his leadership at Oklahoma, Stoops became the winningest coach in the school's history, securing eight Big 12 Conference Championships and achieving the most conference wins of any coach up to 2012. He led the Sooners to an Orange Bowl victory and the BCS National Championship in 2000, and he was honored with the Paul "Bear" Bryant Award and the Walter Camp Coach of the Year the same year. In recognition of his significant accomplishments, Stoops was inducted into the College Football Hall of Fame in 2021.

After briefly coming out of retirement in 2020 to coach the Dallas Renegades in the XFL, Stoops now serves as a special assistant to the athletics director at the University of Oklahoma. Additionally, he is a college football studio analyst on FOX's "Big Noon" college football pregame show. Stoops has co-authored the books "No Excuses" and "What it Means to Be a Sooner" and founded the Bob Stoops Champions Foundation in 2001, which supports children and families in the Norman and Oklahoma City areas.