?I hate it,? the Oklahoma coach said during an informal media meeting on Friday. ?We?ve been pretty used to it. I helped create that, and to me, it?s the pulse here. I don?t like it. But that?s me.?
Stoops understands that the Sooners? rabid fan base wants elite status. The 14-year OU coach always speaks fondly of the program?s Big 12 titles. But ...
?People get bored with just winning the Big 12 championship,? Stoops said. ?You?ve gotta win the national championship.?
Stoops continued by rattling off the program?s successes during the past few years. He mentioned winning two of the past three Big 12 Conference championships. Stoops pointed that OU has won more games ? overall and in league play ? than any other conference school. He said only two teams in BCS conferences since 2008 had won more games than OU in the past five years.
It sounded like the coach was trying to extinguish criticism following a 10-3 season punctuated by a disappointing 41-13 loss to Texas A&M in the Cotton Bowl.
Before the 2011 season, Stoops said it was time for the Sooners to win a national championship.
?I?ll say it this year; it?s true, right?? Stoops rhetorically asked. ?What you?re talking about is, this is the first time in four years we?re not competing for the national championship, since I got here.
?Every four years, within four years, we?re competing for the national championship. In the game. I don?t mean just part of it. In the game. You know, that?s not good enough if you don?t win it. That?s just how people are. I get it. I don?t care.
?All of what I just gave you is reality, right? I didn?t make any of that up. It?s all factual and true. No one else is doing it.?
Oklahoma defeated Florida State in the 2000 BCS Championship game and lost to LSU (2004) and Florida (2008) in title matchups.
How does the team improve when it seems the gap is widening for OU between being a very good program and an elite program? Oklahoma loses at least eight defensive starters, its top two wide receivers and a four-year starting quarterback in 2013.
?You never know,? Stoops said. ?We didn?t seem very close when we had a shot at it in 2000. You never know when it?s coming. We?re gonna work hard for it, and we?ll try and make some improvements through the winter and spring and hopefully have a chance to be better next year.?
Entering the fall, defensive coordinator Mike Stoops was hailed as a savior. After the Sooners gave up 41 or more points in three of their final four games, the assistant coach was heavily scrutinized.
?Early on in the season everybody?s singing his praises, and now everyone isn?t,? Bob Stoops said. ?You know what, that?s what fans do. That?s what (the media does). We don?t much care. You?ve gotta stick to doing what you do and improving it. Whatever issues there were, whether player issues or scheme issues or subbing issues, you just keep working to get them improved.?
Does Stoops feel good about the job Mike Stoops did? ?Mike didn?t do it. Mike didn?t make a play, or not make a play. Mike isn?t the only guy out there coaching, and Mike isn?t playing,? the head coach said. ?There?s a lot of issues that need to be addressed and improved.?
Stoops was asked about the defense tailing off at season?s end.
?Some of it?s due to the offenses we saw. I would say pass defense wasn?t as much of an issue as run defense. Some of that was what we were doing scheme-wise. Some of it?s technique,? Stoops said. ?It?s a little bit of all of that. In the end, I don?t feel we had as many mental breakdowns. But it still needs to improve. And we?ve got to do some things scheme-wise to make it improve. And players as well.?
Stoops says it isn?t just defense that needs to improve for 2013. It?s everything.
?That?s what you?re always trying to do,? Stoops said. ?Really, think about it. What?s ever good enough? Nothing.
?Unless you win them all.?
Source: http://www.tulsaworld.com/site/articlepath.aspx?articleid=20130111_92_0_NORMAN694093&rss_lnk=2
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