2/6/19 – Bob Stoops is a legendary former Head Coach of the Oklahoma Sooners, and former Iowa Hawkeye player and graduate assistant under Hayden Fry. At the end of the 2016 season, Stoops chose to hang it up as the Head Sooner at the young age of 56 after winning ten Big XII football championships in 18 seasons in Norman. At the time, Stoops said his reason for choosing to end his coaching career was to spend more time with his family.
Now, just two years later, the football landscape is changing, and Bob Stoops appears primed to be making a return to not only the sideline, but also the front office. On Wednesday, XFL Commissioner and CEO Oliver Luck announced on the league’s social media outlets that they would be making a big announcement on Thursday to introduce its first head coach and general manager.
We will introduce our first head coach/general manager tomorrow in Dallas at 1 pm CT.
Watch the press conference LIVE here on Twitter or at t.co/hAlDLJcV0n. pic.twitter.com/FEss…— XFL (@xfl2020) February 6, 2019
Later Wednesday afternoon, Oklahoma television station KWTV revealed their confirmation that Bob Stoops would be announced as the first Head Coach and General Manager for the XFL’s Dallas franchise. News 9 Sports Director Dean Blevins broke the news on his verified Twitter account.
Confirmed. The source who would know best confirms to me that Bob Stoops will become general manager and head coach of Dallas XFL franchise. More to come. @NEWS9 @newson6 #Sooners— Dean Blevins (@DeanBlevins) February 6, 2019
Several other sports outlets have reported the same including CBS Sports, Yahoo Sports, The Daily Caller, and more.
Stoops is certainly a big hire for the XFL. If you’re unfamiliar with the XFL and its history, toss the term in your Google machine, and read up. You can also check out ESPN’s 30 for 30 on the failed first incarnation. However, the past is gone, and while Vince McMahon’s first attempt at creating a professional football league nearly 20 years ago didn’t go so well, the Sports-Entertainment mogul seems to have learned quite a lot from that failed first attempt. For starters, the league has brought in former NFL Quarterback, Oliver Luck as its Commissioner and CEO (he is also the father of current Colts star QB, Andrew Luck). The XFL has also hired former Buffalo Bills GM, Doug Whaley as the league’s Senior VP of Football Operations.
In December, the XFL named eight major United States football markets as charter cities for its return season in 2020. New York, Houson, St. Louis, Washington, D.C., Seattle, Tampa Bay, Los Angeles, and Dallas — the city where Stoops will apparently now call home. Many components are still taking shape for the league including test football games being run by junior college teams with several rule modifications intended to make the game more fast-paced, and more television friendly.
Hires such as Luck, Whaley, and now Stoops certainly help to add credibility that is desperately needed. A press conference in Arlington, Texas is slated to begin at 1 p.m. for the anticipated introduction of Bob Stoops by Arlington Mayor, Jeff Williams. The Dallas XFL franchise has an agreement to play their games at Globe Life Park, the home of Major League Baseball’s Texas Rangers.
Sound off in the comments. Is this a good career move for the former Hawkeye? Does the Stoops hire give you a more positive opinion of the XFL?
