Don’t call it a comeback.
On Sunday, the high crown and headset is back in the saddle again. Former Oklahoma head coach Bob Stoops will lead his Dallas Renegades of the XFL onto the field just like he did for 18 years from 1999-2016 for the Sooners.
His Oklahoma tenure stopped at the drop of a dime the summer of 2017, and no one is more ready to be back on the field than Stoops.
“Oh, it was awful,” he told USA TODAY Sports about being away from football the past three seasons. “The first year was incredibly awful. The second year was awful. And the third year was just really bad.”
Stoops was adamant at that time that it was the right time to step down to hand off the Oklahoma baton to someone else. His protege Lincoln Riley has proved him right this far, taking the Sooners to three College Football Playoffs in the three years since Stoops’ retirement.
“Everyone acted like there was another shoe to drop,” Stoops told USA TODAY Sports. “And three years later, no other shoe has dropped. I felt completed. I’d completed 18 years and we’d had great success. I felt like I had done what I was to do.
“I believe in life, you don’t know what’s next until you open yourself up for it. What else is out there?”
The XFL is being innovative.
New scoring, new rules, new … everything.
It’s a league meant to showcase its talent for the NFL, provide football addicts its needs and generate revenue through lucrative television contracts.
Stoops, though, has one thing in mind—attempt what he chased for 18 years at the helm of the Oklahoma football machine.
“I want to win championships.”
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