Who's on the hot seat now?
Bob Stoops vs. Mack Brown
Brown silenced his critics; now ‘Big Game Bob' needs a win

By Berry Tramel

Published: October 4, 2006

NORMAN — Bob Stoops' press conference was 35 minutes old Tuesday, and nobody had uttered the magic words.

Mack Brown.

Quizzing Stoops about his hex over the Longhorn coach usually is an OU-Texas week tradition.

Hey, Bob. Will Mack ever again beat you?

Hey, Bob. Why do Mack's teams play so tight in the Cotton Bowl?

Hey, Bob. How do you figure Mack will foul up his quarterbacks this year?

But that was before UT's 45-12 rout last October. Before Brown silenced all critics with the Longhorns' first national championship since 1970. Before people forgot they ever doubted that Brown could coach.

Now, the coach on the hot seat, the coach whose team seeks a return to past glory, the coach who needs back his mojo, is Stoops.

Stoops' Big Game Bob reputation has long since left him. Defining big games as Texas, Big 12 title or BCS title, Stoops is 2-4 since November 2003, and one of those wins was the 42-3 laugher over Colorado in the 2004 Big 12 title game that hardly counts, since the North Division had to send up some sacrificial lamb.

It seems ages since October 2004, when Stoops outsnookered Brown for the fifth straight time.

This is a series long defined by coaches dominated by their arch-enemy. Bud Wilkinson couldn't beat Darrell Royal; Wilkinson lost his final six OU-Texas games. Royal couldn't beat Barry Switzer; Royal failed to win any of his final six OU-Texas games. Gary Gibbs couldn't beat David McWilliams; Gibbs went 0-3 vs. McWilliams, then 1-2 vs. John Mackovic. Brown couldn't beat Stoops.

But if Browns wins Saturday in the Cotton Bowl, his record vs. OU will jump to 4-5, and Brown likely will win next year, too (who's going to quarterback the '07 Sooners?). OU domination of the 'Horns and Stoops' status as high priest of the Texas State Fair soon could be a faint memory.

Is coaching overrated, in this game or any other? Yes. Was Stoops' mastery of Brown overrated? Yes. Was the prestige that went with such status overrated? No. No way.

Stoops accelerated to the top of the coaching profession in large part because of his dominance of Texas. That 5-0 run in 2000-04 allowed OU to play for three national titles and win the Big 12 North four times.

Stoops established ultimate confidence in his players, who in turn developed ultimate confidence in their coach.

"We feed off of him," said OU free safety Darien Williams, a fourth-year junior. "He was confident; when your coach believes in you, who else do you need?"

Stoops deflects praise to his program, but it's really all the same thing. The program is the coach. The coach is the program.

Stoops was a national darling, in the eyes of fans and media and even opposing players. I've seen visiting players at Owen Field seek out Stoops after games for a handshake, their eyes wide the way 12-year-olds used to look at Mickey Mantle.

Despite the successes of Larry Coker and Jim Tressel, Stoops was the golden coach.

Then came Nick Saban and Pete Carroll and, gulp, even Mack Brown. Now Stoops is void of the stardust that once bathed him along the Sooner sideline.

His players say they still believe in him and they no doubt do.

"We feel he'll get us ready to play in any game we play in," said linebacker Rufus Alexander. "Coach Stoops is always going to do a great job coaching."

Williams says it boils down to trust: "Basically trusting the offense we're running and the defense we're running. Trust in what we're doing."

Exactly. And Texas players for the longest time didn't trust Brown. OU had better teams from 2000-04; it is debatable that OU had better players. Just at quarterback, Texas lost with Chris Simms, good enough to win an NFL playoff game with the Buccaneers last season but not good enough to outplay a green Jason White or Nate Hybl in the Cotton Bowl.

The trust level changes with a championship. The 'Horns no doubt now are all in with Brown, and while there are no signs of crimson feet-draggers, the confidence level is not where it was.

No way it can be until Stoops gets his mojo back.