Impact of Bob Stoops’ Retirement in Recruiting for OSU

Bob Stoops abruptly announced his retirement on Wednesday, leaving offensive coordinator Lincoln Riley in charge of the reigning Big 12 title-winning Sooners.

It’s an impactful decision that is shaking up the college football landscape and the tremors Could be felt down the road in Stillwater for years.

Stoops was a successful head coach as he collected a 190-48 record in 18 seasons, but he was an even better recruiter. After being hired in 1999, his program never finished with a recruiting class ranked worse than 25th nationally.

Stoops’ excellence on the recruiting trail varied anywhere from No. 1 nationally (1999) to No. 24 nationally (2000), but his consistency never wavered after he found his footing. He reeled in 11 top-10 classes, four top-5 classes, and battled through 8-5 seasons in 2009 and 2014 with subsequent top-15 recruiting classes that helped produce 11-win and 12-win seasons the following years, respectively.

Although nationally OU’s rank in recruiting plateaued (yes, OU fans feel finishing anywhere outside the top-10 is unsatisfactory), its dominance in the Big 12 conference was as steady as any. Bob Stoops never signed a recruiting class that ranked lower than second in the conference. Truly stunning.

With first-time head coach Lincoln Riley at the helm, will OU’s respect on the recruiting trail fade? Outside of last season, the Sooners did slip a bit on a national level towards the end of the Stoops era—finishing outside the top-10 in six consecutive seasons and falling behind in the landscape of the region. Baylor and TCU were splitting recruits with OU before an uptick in action in what turned out to be Stoops’ final season.

Answering whether OU will regress in recruiting is impossible to predict, but in short: It’s too early to tell. Riley hasn’t coached yet. But the door is seemingly cracked for teams like Texas, TCU and OSU to at least gain ground.

“It might,” Bruce Feldman said on the ‘Solid Verbal‘ podcast about whether the coaching change will affect recruitment at Oklahoma. “Lincoln was a big reason they got a lot of the offensive guys they got. So we’ll see. They had a really good class of 2017. There’s still enough time between now and the early signing period where, I think people are going to wait and see how Oklahoma runs under Lincoln Riley. It’s a huge job.”

We’ve written extensively how Stoops’ early exit opens the door for Mike Gundy at OSU, and the biggest door now open is in recruiting—specifically in the state of Oklahoma.

The Cowboys have had relative success in-state in landing under-the-radar talent in the past, for example Jenks receiver Dillon Stoner, safety Dylan Harding, defensive end Jordan Brailford and quarterback John Kolar, to name a few. They have also had recent success landing top talent, like Union wide receiver pledge C.J. Moore, a four-star talent with dozens of offers.

But for every recruit landed there have been others who have slipped through the fingers and into OU’s hands. Guys like four-star safety Steven Parker, five-star lineman Brey Walker, four-star cornerback Justin Broiles, three-star safety Patrick Fields, and three-star defensive tackle Jordan Kelley are all recent examples of OSU targets who picked the Sooners—several of which have come in the Class of 2018 alone.

If Riley can get off to a fast start on the gridiron, it would expedite the trust process for top-rated recruits and silence any concern about the short-term future of the Sooners. If their trip to Columbus, Ohio to face the Buckeyes ends in a win, for example, the country will be buzzing about the young coach who inherited one of college football’s bluebloods. That would be a worst-case scenario for OSU and upstarts looking to crack the upper echelon of the Big 12.

Let’s face it, OSU might be destined for inferiority in the state of Oklahoma when it comes to recruiting in the Riley era. This would not be a change from the past. The Sooners have history on their side and a record to flaunt against their in-state rivals. But a small slip in on-field performance (especially if OSU catches lightning in a bottle this season) might be enough for Gundy to gain ground with recruits. An extended slip if OU went, say, 8-5 after Baker Mayfield left, would be butch wax for Gundy’s well-oiled recruiting machine. All of a sudden, maybe those 3- and 4-stars are 4- and 5-stars.

Taking that step up in recruiting is hard and it takes time, but OSU has been doing this at a high level for a decade now. The formula for them landing some big fish involves continued success and a bit of an assist from the Sooners.

OSU will likely never recruit consistently at the level OU does over a long period of time. But with a shaky beginning of Riley’s tenure, OSU could have a chance to stick its foot in the door without getting toes smashed for the first time in a long time. Getting in the door is priority No. 1, but unpacking the lawn chair and cracking a cold one in unchartered territory is an entirely different animal. One that even Wild Bill might not be able to assist Gundy with.