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Oklahoma President: Bob Stoops Refused Pay

At Thursday's Board of Regents meeting, Joe Harroz says he Sooners' new interim coach twice declined OU's offer to pay him $325,000 before they insisted.

John E. Hoover

Adding to his legacy at Oklahoma, Bob Stoops apparently declined compensation to be the Sooners’ interim head coach following Lincoln Riley’s shocking departure for USC.

That’s what OU president Joe Harroz told reporters on Thursday after a meeting of the OU Board of Regents in Oklahoma City. According to Harroz, Stoops said there was no need to pay him and actually declined the offer twice before Harroz and OU athletic director Joe Castiglione insisted.

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Stoops will get a one-time, $325,000 bonus as interim coach for as long as he’s on the job until Castiglione formally hires Riley’s replacement. Harroz explained it’s a pro rata portion of Riley’s salary.

The OU Board of Regents’ meeting Thursday and Friday is a regularly scheduled meeting in Oklahoma City. Candidates for the job might be discussed in executive session, but no candidates are expected to be presented this week for board approval.

Harroz said Castiglione’s “search is proceeding at pace. Recruiting is taking place … Joe Castiglione is engaged in the search process. … It is proceeding and proceeding well.”

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John E. Hoover
JOHN E. HOOVER

John is an award-winning journalist whose work spans five decades in Oklahoma, with multiple state, regional and national awards as a sportswriter at various newspapers. During his newspaper career, John covered the Dallas Cowboys, the Kansas City Chiefs, the Oklahoma Sooners, the Oklahoma State Cowboys, the Arkansas Razorbacks and much more. In 2016, John changed careers, migrating into radio and launching a YouTube channel, and has built a successful independent media company, DanCam Media. From there, John has written under the banners of Sporting News, Sports Illustrated, Fan Nation and a handful of local and national magazines while hosting daily sports talk radio shows in Oklahoma City, Tulsa and statewide. John has also spoken on Capitol Hill in Oklahoma City in a successful effort to put more certified athletic trainers in Oklahoma public high schools. Among the dozens of awards he has won, John most cherishes his national "Beat Writer of the Year" from the Associated Press Sports Editors, Oklahoma's "Best Sports Column" from the Society of Professional Journalists, and Two "Excellence in Sports Medicine Reporting" Awards from the National Athletic Trainers Association. John holds a bachelor's degree in Mass Communications from East Central University in Ada, OK. Born and raised in North Pole, Alaska, John played football and wrote for the school paper at Ada High School in Ada, OK. He enjoys books, movies and travel, and lives in Broken Arrow, OK, with his wife and two kids.

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