The conventional wisdom is it happened first thing last season. Discovered as ghostworkers, Rhett Bomar and J.D. Quinn’s media fallout included a point of view that said, well, that’s it, from the outside looking in, Oklahoma’s still an outlaw program.

Nobody — around here — said, wrote or reported the Sooners were living up to their historical mascot, ignoring the rules for greater bounty. The point was only that others from far away would see it that way.

Bob Stoops clammed up.

Bob Stoops had no time for any media availability that did not involve a lectern.

Access to the program lessened.

For a while, even this preseason, it wasn’t clear if media or the public could attend scrimmages. And to think, some people believe facing such music, even from keyboard and microphone know nothings, is one of the burdens OU’s head football coach must carry as long as he’s paid like a Rockefeller or journeyman left-hander.

It’s a shame the adoring masses get to see and hear so little of their favorite coach unguarded. He may not be that interesting, but wouldn’t regular folks like to know? And really, he probably is that interesting.

Rare is the dullard genius.

The good news?

Though he said little away from the lectern and he may be the world’s last introvert, Stoops was legitimately retrospective this week. He confessed his anxiety heading into opening day, who cares if that’s little old North Texas on the other side of the ball.

And he smells the roses.

“I think when you walk in here and you look at where we were eight years ago and where we are today and what’s sitting on the shelves [one national championship, four conference championships], for me,” he said, “I just feel incredibly fortunate. I just feel lucky to have worked with the people I have, because it’s considerable what’s there.”

The trophies aside, maybe most telling was the fact that “here” did not exist eight years ago. The setting of the Kerr McGee Stadium Club, the place where Stoops’ lectern rests, was nothing but open sky eight years ago. That was many capital projects ago, most of which never would have been impossible without the resurgence of Sooner football.

You’ve got to give him that.

And thanks to Brent Venables, Sooner defensive coordinator, you can take something, too.