Published: September 01, 2007 01:34 am            

Horning: Guarded Bob can't keep this story from coming out

Commentary

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.

It was the first hour of what would become a wonderful year in Sooner history. The only problem was it was Jan. 1, 2000, the ball had just dropped in Times Square and OU had just been Deuce McCallistered by Ole Miss in Shreveport, La. And while Independence is a wonderful thing, it’s a bad bowl in a bad town and the Sooners had just lost.

“It was brought up, “Look, we’ve been killing (McAllister), so don’t squib it here and give them field position, all they need is a field goal,’” Venables said of some late-game strategy. “So we kicked it and the next thing you know they return it to like the 50 and two or three plays later they kick a game-winning field goal.”

Not long after that, as Venables continued the story, Stoops’ genius was revealed.

“So we’re 7-5 and we’re on the bus and it’s 12:30 or one in the morning and we’re going across the river and everybody’s quiet and there’s fireworks over there and everybody’s feeling miserable and Bob says, ‘You know what guys? You don’t what to win too much too soon. You’ve got to keep people at ease. You don’t want people to get too excited too soon.’ And you know, that’s your boss!

“And it was just so ironic that he said that and then we went 13-0 the next season. So I’ve just always embraced that moment. It’s because of his leadership that you had a perspective on it,” Venables said. “You know, it’s human nature. You could just beat yourself up and be sick to your stomach but that’s not positive. It’s hard to grow in that environment. And that’s what Bob does. He allows you to grow and to use those experiences to your benefit.”

Surely, eight years of just such teachable moments is worth one little victory over North Texas today. Down the road, we’ll see what it’s worth to an entire season, the ninth since the coach from Youngstown left Gainesville for Norman.

And we’ll see if the armor goes back in the closet.

Venables tells a great story.

Still it would be nice to hear it from the horse’s mouth.

Clay Horning

366-3526

cfhorning@normantranscript.com

        

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