Texas football: Why wasn’t Mike Stoops added to Steve Sarkisian’s coaching staff?

Apparently, Mike Stoops will not be joining Steve Sarkisian’s Texas football staff.

While it looked to be a sure thing with Alabama Crimson Tide defensive analyst Mike Stoops following Steve Sarkisian to the Texas Longhorns, that deal fell through and the middle Stoops brother will be returning to Tuscaloosa to keep working for Nick Saban.

Stoops is best known for being the head coach of the Arizona Wildcats, as well as two-time defensive coordinator for the Oklahoma Sooners on his legendary older brother Bob Stoops’ staff. His younger brother Mark Stoops has had tremendous success in his own right as the current Kentucky Wildcats head coach and the Florida State Seminoles defensive coordinator before that.

This has everything to do with Stoops’ previous allegiances to Oklahoma

You better believe Texas football fans were not thrilled about the idea of a Stoops brother coming to work for their beloved football team in Austin. The animus existing between Oklahoma and Texas in Big 12 country is simply undeniable. Sarkisian and Stoops may have had good intentions, but longstanding rivalries such as Red River Showdown tend to take precedence over good faith.

Saban has lost a ridiculous amount of assistant coaches this offseason cycle, including two prominent ones to Texas in the new Longhorns head coach Sarkisian and offensive line coach Kyle Flood. While other teams ravaged Saban’s 2020 National Championship-winning staff, being able to retain a coach as successful as Stoops is a huge get for the Crimson Tide this offseason cycle.

In short, if your last name is Stoops, you are clearly not welcomed to be a Texas football coach.

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