Replacing Bob Stoops will be Hard for Even Lincoln Riley

In 2009 when Sam Bradford suffered a shoulder injury in Oklahoma’s season debut against BYU, many fans in Stillwater, Austin, Waco and elsewhere collectively exhaled a breath of “finally.”

In came freshman Landry Jones, a goofy-looking freshman from a city of about 11,000. He didn’t play bad as Bradford’s replacement, but the No. 3 Sooners did lose 14-13 that day. Jones went 6-for-12 for 51 yards, no touchdowns, no interceptions.

Again collectively, a lot of the nation must have thought “finally.” Until the next week and the week thereafter when Jones beat (yes, I know) Idaho State and Tulsa a combined 109-0 while throwing for 622 yards, nine touchdowns and three picks.

Saturday, Bob Stoops retired as coach of the Sooners, and former offensive coordinator and (by most accounts) wizard of football Lincoln Riley was named his replacement. The transition won’t be flawless. There will be times when he looks more like the coach of his hometown 3-A Muleshoe High School up in the Texas Panhandle.

But don’t be fooled. Riley is not inept at coaching football. Nov. 4 is quickly approaching, and Riley’s (not Stoops’) Sooners will be prepared for Bedlam.

The move from Stoops to Riley seems simple enough. Riley was one of the hottest coaching commodities in the nation late in the 2015 season when OU was headed to the Orange Bowl. He won the Broyles Award that year for the country’s top assistant and conducted the third-best offense in the NCAA by yardage.

But it’s not going to be easy. Stoops was a defensive guy. He was the defensive coordinator at Florida from 1996-98 and the co-DC at Kansas State from 91-95. But even still, OU had the 75th-ranked defense in the nation last year in terms of points per drive given up. For perspective, OSU was 54th.

It’s unclear whether Mike Stoops, Bob’s brother, will remain as defensive coordinator under Riley, but with Bob gone, it is hard to think the defense will get better, at least in the short term. And offensively, the Sooners lose Biletnikoff winner Dede Westbrook and running backs Joe Mixon and Samaje Perine.

OU probably won’t go 11-2 and finish fifth in the nation like it did in Stoops’ last season, but they won’t lose to UTEP week 1. They won’t lose to Tulane week 3 or probably not Kansas (State), Iowa State or Texas Tech. That’s about where you have to draw the line though.

Under Stoops, you could pencil in West Virginia, Baylor and (yes) the Cowboys of OSU. That’s the gray area for Riley in year 1.

Stoops was, still is, a legend in coaching. He won 10 Big 12 titles in 18 seasons. I don’t know, for the most part, what Stoops’ culture was like within the walls. And no one knows about Riley’s yet, but regardless, it won’t be as seamless as it will (probably) appear on Saturdays.

Imagine your favorite U.S. president of all time. Now imagine if he had just walked away midterm and left you with the vice president. For you, the U.S. citizen, or OU football fan, not much will change in your daily life. But for those within the administration or program, the reporters or his peers, more than a name plate outside an office will change.

Some of those changes won’t be felt in the first week or the sixth week or the eighth month. But things will change in Norman, and unless you think Lincoln Riley is equivalent to the best coach in Big 12 history, then they won’t necessarily change for the better.

Don’t get me wrong, Riley might be great, but Stoops was a legend. That’s tough to replicate as it looks like OU is trying to do. I think Mike Stoops of all people might have put it best.

“I think it’ll be strange for everybody,” he said. “But I think it’s easy to see what Lincoln brings to the table.”