Texas Football: Mike Stoops wasn’t hired because of potential ‘backlash’
More details started to come about heading into the weekend regarding the hire that almost happened for the Texas football program last week of the former Oklahoma Sooners defensive coordinator and linebackers coach Mike Stoops. A report came from Matt Zenitz of AL.com on Jan. 22 that the reason why Texas did not hire Stoops to be their next linebackers coach last week was largely due to the backlash that emerged from the fan base.
Instead of electing to hire Stoops, newly hired head coach Steve Sarkisian and the Longhorns went with the former Montana State Bobcats head coach and Washington Huskies assistant Jeff Choate. There was a large draw of former coaches from the Washington football program that encompassed the staff of Sark up to this point.
Moreover, no one former Sooner as prominent as Stoops wound up getting on Sark’s staff. If this was largely due to the backlash of the Longhorns fan base as to why Stoops didn’t get the linebackers coach job, that is an interesting move from the administration and Sark himself.
What the report says about Stoops and Texas football
Here’s more on what that report from Zenitz of AL.com had to say on the matter of the Longhorns and Sark passing on the idea of hiring Stoops to their staff last week.
"Stoops to Texas was enough of a done deal that Stoops informed Alabama and head coach Nick Saban of his plans, said goodbyes to people around the Crimson Tide program and was expected to fly to Texas on Friday to begin the process of finding a new place to live with his wife.A Friday morning call from Sarkisian changed those plans.Sarkisian, the former Alabama offensive coordinator, shared during that call that he could no longer make the hire. Multiple sources referenced that backlash regarding the potential of hiring Stoops may have played a role in eliminating the possibility. AL.com had reported Thursday evening Stoops was expected to join the Texas staff as linebackers coach."
Stoops was Oklahoma’s defensive coordinator until the end of the 2018 season. He also served in various other roles on Oklahoma’s coaching staff over the course of more than five years in Norman. Stoops was also a defensive backs coach and linebackers coach during his time with the Oklahoma program.
He’s also served as an associate head coach with the Sooners from 1999-2003, and was the Arizona Wildcats head coach from 2004-2011. His other significant role in the Power Five came in the 1990’s as a defensive coordinator with the Kansas State Wildcats.
It is easy to understand how a lot of Longhorns fans were unsettled by the potential hire of Stoops. But it is pretty unusual that this cause for passing on a hire would happen for a newly hired head coach like Sark.
Next. McConaughey on the hiring of Sark. dark
Texas parted ways with now former fourth-year head coach Tom Herman back on Jan. 2, replacing him with the former Alabama Crimson Tide offensive coordinator and the reigning Broyles Award winner Sark. The coaching staff surrounding Sark has largely been rounded out of late too.