After Bob Stoops suddenly retired in June it sent ripples throughout college football but Lincoln Riley stepped in and filled the large shoes of Big Game Bob as Oklahoma has the game’s best young coach.
Back when a nation was worried about Y2K and NSYNC and Britney Spears were at the top of the charts, Bob Stoops was settling into his first year on the job as the head coach of the Oklahoma Sooners. Stoops came to Norman with a reputation as one of the top defensive minds in the country after a three-year run as the defensive coordinator for Steve Spurrier with the Florida Gators. Stoops helped the Gators win the 1997 Sugar Bowl and national championship and it didn’t take long for him to do that at Oklahoma.
After a 7-5 first season at Oklahoma, Stoops led the Sooners to a 13-0 record and the national championship over Florida State. His teams would play in the BCS Championship Game a total of four times and finished in the top 10 of the polls in 11 of his 17 seasons. By June of 2017, Stoops had enough and made the shocking decision to retire and walk away from a team coming off a Sugar Bowl win and a top-five ranking.
The news shocked the college football community. Was there some big scandal about to hit Oklahoma? Was Stoops facing a health crisis? Was there something forcing him out?
Those were the questions posed at the time of his abrupt retirement, but Stoops really did just want to walk away and enjoy some time with his family. He was still a visible part of the football program often seen in a suite at games or at the Heisman Trophy ceremony for Sooners quarterback Baker Mayfield.
But that was it as Stoops turned the team over to a 33-year-old Lincoln Riley who spent the last year as his offensive coordinator but had zero head coaching experience on his resume. For prestigous programs like Oklahoma, that may be perceived as a highly risky hire, but it proved to be anything but as Riley has shown to be the perfect successor to Stoops.
In just six short months at the helm of one of the best programs in the country, Riley led Oklahoma to the Big 12 title and a berth in the College Football Playoff. Further, Riley oversaw the nation’s top offense that averaged 45 points per game and made Baker Mayfield the latest Heisman Trophy winner at Oklahoma. In short, Riley filled the Shaquille O’Neal-sized shoes left behind by Stoops and is walking with quite the strut as the game’s brightest young coach.
Oklahoma is a win over Georgia in the Rose Bowl from playing in another national championship game, which would be the fifth since the turn of the century, and with two wins, Riley will match his predecessor with championship rings at one apiece.
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And he’s doing it quicker than Stoops who waited until his second season in Norman to win a title. Riley, a classic overachiever, isn’t wasting any time proving his worth to the fans who may have thought he wasn’t ready for a job like this and also showing he can hang with the Nick Sabans, Urban Meyers and Dabo Swinneys of the world.
Oklahoma should brace for another two-decade long stretch of dominance just like they enjoyed under Stoops. Riley is only 34 years old, five years younger than Stoops when he took over at Oklahoma, so while it’s early, Riley may prove to be an upgrade over the Hall of Fame coach.
So in 20 years, we could be looking back at this year’s College Football Playoff that served as the launching point for Riley to begin his march as one of the game’s best coaches, no matter his age.
Oklahoma plays Georgia in the Rose Bowl on Jan. 1 at 5:00 p.m. ET.