NORMAN, Okla. -- Talk that Oklahoma head coach Bob Stoops
was thinking about taking the Cleveland Browns' head coaching job
turned out to be just that.
|  | | Oklahoma football coach Bob Stoops tells Sooners fans to forget everything they're reading, that he plans on staying put in Norman.
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Stoops said Saturday that he plans to remain at OU "for a long
time," ending speculation that the coach who led the Sooners to a
national championship might move on after just two years.
"Regardless of what you hear, I plan on being at Oklahoma for a
long time," Stoops said to thunderous applause from a near
capacity crowd during halftime at the Kansas-Oklahoma men's
basketball game Saturday.
"I still believe it's a privilege to be the head football coach
at Oklahoma," Stoops said. "I've got the very best assistant
coaches in the country and I get to coach the best players in the
country."
The Browns fired coach Chris Palmer on Thursday, and Stoops said
he would talk to representatives of the Browns if they called. That
night, Stoops said Browns president Carmen Policy had been trying
to reach him for two days.
"But my cell phone went dead for two days and I just got it
working again and got my messages," Stoops told the Tulsa World.
"I don't know if that (job opening) is why Carmen Policy has been
trying to call me, or if he just wanted to offer congratulations on
winning the national championship."
But Stoops declined to say Saturday whether he had been
contacted by the Browns.
"I'm not getting into any of that," he said during a news
conference. "That's something that's personal and whether I did or
not or whether I will ever or have I doesn't need to be discussed
or hashed around anymore.
"In my life right now, I'm fortunate to be the head football
coach here. Hopefully they'll have me here for quite a while. I
plan on that. Life's never certain of anything, but right now I
believe I have the best football job in the country and that means
college or pros."
University president David Boren said he is "pleased that Bob
Stoops has reaffirmed his clear decision to stay at OU."
Stoops, 40, had said he was intrigued by the prospect of
coaching a professional team but would not say whether he had to
decide between the coaching jobs.
"That's not fair to them or me to get into particulars about
any of it," he said. "A lot of things intrigue me. Coaching high
school intrigues me ... I don't think you ever say never to
anything. That's a long time and you never know from year to year
what your life brings you or what you want out of it."
Stoops, who grew up rooting for the Browns, and Policy share a
background.
Both are from Youngstown, Ohio, and have known each other for
several years. One of Policy's sons played for Stoops' late father,
Ron Stoops Sr., at Cardinal Mooney High School.
Stoops said the interest expressed by the Browns and earlier by
Ohio State University has not affected his staff's recruiting
efforts.
"In fact, it enhances it," he said. "I think all those
recruits, they recognize when that happens and particularly if the
NFL's calling, that this staff is really a quality staff. It only
hurts it if you leave, and I don't intend to do that."
Stoops recently received a five-year extension on his contract
at Oklahoma, and a raise to $1.4 million a season.
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Fired Browns coach Palmer inteviews with Redskins
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