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Bob Stoops: OU's Move to the SEC is 'Best for Oklahoma'

Former Oklahoma coach pens an op-ed for The Oklahoman defending the Sooners' motivation for leaving the Big 12 behind.

John E. Hoover

Former Oklahoma football coach Bob Stoops, winner of the program’s last national championship and owner of the school record for most coaching victories, wants to “set the record straight” about the Sooners’ move to the SEC.

READ BOB STOOPS' FULL PIECE 

Stoops penned an op-ed piece Tuesday for The Oklahoman, in which he disagreed with new Oklahoma State president Kayse Shrum’s series of tweets saying the Sooners’ team-up with Texas to migrate to the Southeastern Conference was “to the detriment of the state of Oklahoma.”

“Let’s set the record straight: OU’s move to the SEC is what’s best for Oklahoma,” Stoops wrote. “The reality is that conferences are now more important than ever and, with limited spots, the strongest conferences would not accept OU if we were to require OSU to join as well.”

Stoops said the move is “necessary for the future of our school and football program” and said aligning with the most powerful conference in collegiate athletics will “ensure the state’s flagship university will be represented nationally while protecting our rich football history for many years to come.

Stoops also described the many advantages OU gets to being in the SEC: “greater financial opportunities, better exposure, stronger recruiting and increased competition. Playing in front of full, huge stadiums will be attractive to our players, recruits, and our supportive fans. OU will be competing at the highest level of college football, which is exactly where we should be.

“To move forward in any other manner would be to the detriment of OU and the state of Oklahoma.”

Published
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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