Thursday, November 26, 2009

Source: Bob Stoops Will Be The Next Head Coach At Notre Dame


I know Foul Balls has never been known as a go-to destination for breaking news stories, but it seems that I've gotten my hands on some information regarding the future head coach at Notre Dame.

The Irish will finish their regular season on Saturday against Stanford, and then they'll return to South Bend where it's expected that Charlie Weis will be relieved of his duties as head coach.

According to a source that I spoke to Thursday night, that replacement will be current Oklahoma Sooners head coach Bob Stoops.



The source spoke to a high-ranking official at the school who claims that Stoops will be leaving Norman, Oklahoma to come to South Bend and take over the Notre Dame football program.

There were no details given on what kind of deal Stoops would be getting from Notre Dame or when the news would be officially announced.

The Sooners are yet to wrap up what's been a disappointing season for a team that was expected to contend for a Big 12 title and national championship in 2009.  Of course, that was before Heisman-winning quarterback Sam Bradford went down with a shoulder injury in the team's season opener against BYU, and before they lost star tight end Jermaine Gresham to torn cartilage in his right knee.

Since then the Sooners have stumbled to a 6-5 record and finish their regular season against Oklahoma State on Saturday.

In his career at Oklahoma, Stoops has compiled a record of 109-25 since taking over the Sooners program in 1999, and won the national championship in 2000.  He's also won six Big 12 championships in his eleven seasons at the school, with the latest coming in 2008 before his Sooners team lost to the Florida Gators in the BCS title game last January.

Ballhype: hype it up!

29 comments:

Rock Strongo said...

Great, if this turns out to be true then Notre Dame will have a whole new coach to get them to a BCS game and lose.

Anonymous said...

There is NO chance that Stoops will leave Oklahoma for Notre Dame. Your "source" is 100% wrong. You are a clown for even posting this. If you posted it as opinion that would be fine but to claim you have "information" is laughable. I will be back to gloat in a few weeks when Notre Dame has its new coach. Notre Dame right now is a step down from Oklahoma. Oklahoma doesn't have the entrance requirements that Notre Dame has and Oklahoma hasn't been irrelevant for the last 10 years. Plus Oklahoma has what most consider the best AD to work for in the country.

SHOW said...

Anonymous Tough Guy is so tough he couldn't even post a user name. What a joke. The cloak of anonymity is loved by losers everywhere.

Anonymous said...

You are calling me out when you don't use your real name either? Nice. My name is Timothy Lipman. I don't have a google account and don't feel the need to set one up so I can post with a username on a blog.

Fornelli said...

My source is pretty credible actually, but you're right, it could be bad info. If you feel the need to gloat about it later, well, okay. Have fun with that.

Also, that wonderful AD is rumored to be leaving Oklahoma for Michigan to replace Bill Martin. Which is also a reason why Stoops is leaving Oklahoma to go to Notre Dame.

Schruender said...

It will come down to one factor and that factor won't be the AD. It will be money. Will Stoops make significantly more with ND? If so, then yes I believe he will leave. That's how Nick Saben, Rich Rodriguez, and any of the coaches today are getting their jobs.

stalkingerinandrews said...

I won't doubt any rumored coaching hire at ND until the official announcement is made. Someone like Stoops has a great resume already, but how much better would that resume look if he is the coach that brings Notre Dame back to the forefront of college football? For that matter, the same argument goes for Urban Meyer.

Wendi said...

What does your source tell you about Brian Billick? There is a lot of website talking about Billick.

Anonymous said...

nd gets Stoops, and Okie gets Kelly of Cincy. Everyone wins

Fornelli said...

When I talked to my source on Thursday Brian Billick's name never came up.

I put absolutely no credence to CBS' report on Billick as the hiring makes no sense what so ever.

I mean, how did it work out the last time Notre Dame hired an NFL coach with an ego the size of South Bend itself?

Anonymous said...

"My source is pretty credible actually"

Actually your source isn't credible on this specific topic. Unless you have talked to Stoops, his agent, or the ND athletic director directly you really can't claim you source knows. Your source is speculating. I have no doubt that ND will go after Stoops, but I have spoken directly to one of the three listed above and there is absolutely no truth to what you posted and absolutely no chance that Stoops leaves Oklahoma to go to ND. End of story. This Castiglione rumor is once again being started by a Chicago paper with very little substance. Castiglione is in a very similiar situation to Stoops with young school age kids that are happy and a wife with no interest in moving. However, he is underpaid. I can see a small chance that he would leave but I would be shocked. Oklahoma will give him a raise and I think he will stick around. Stoops is one of the highest paid coaches in the country and Oklahoma will match whatever ND offers.

Fornelli said...

Anon- You're right, my source could be speculating but he told me it's the truth, and I've chosen to believe him. I wouldn't have posted this story if I didn't have full confidence in him.

Like I said, this isn't something I normally do on this site as I write it more for fun and my opinion. I've heard things like this before, and have chosen not to write about them.

Some turned out to be true, others to be bad info.

As for you talking to one of Stoops, his agent or Swarbrick -- and I'm not saying I don't believe you -- and their denying it, would you expect them to admit it now?

No, there's no coach or AD in the world who is going to admit it publicly when there is still a coach at the school in question.

Anonymous said...

I could believe it. I could definitely believe that Stoops will be our next coach. I could definitely, definitely believe that Stoops will be given the opportunity to turn down the job before Kelly can accept it.

And I'll be disappointed. I'd rather have Kelly. Nothing against Stoops, who seems fine, and is a clearly a big-time coach with a great resume and all the rest of it. But I think Kelly would be absolute dynamite at ND, more so than Bob Stoops ever would. IMO.

I'm concerned that Stoops to ND could essentially be a snap decision. If Sam Bradford never gets hurt or OU still manages to win nine games this year, does Stoops leave OU for ND? What is his motivation for making this move? Had he put any thought at all into something like this before his team had a freakish, flukish down year? Because Stoops is not going to win and return ND to the top because he's Bob Stoops, big-time coach and slam-dunk hire. He'll have to make it happen like any other coach would in a new job, especially in a place as tough to win as ND seems to be. Sometimes I get the sense that a lot of knee-jerk Bob Stoops supporters figure he'll succeed at ND for just that reason. He's Bob Stoops, after all, and he'll just wave his magic wand, just like he did at Oklahoma, and it will be just that simple.

IMO, Kelly has been dreaming of this day since he first became a head coach at the D-II level at 29 years of age. If he gets the job, IMO, he will arrive at ND hungry for success, and quite frankly, though he's rode a different path as a coach than Bob Stoops has, with a track record every bit as impressive.

Brian Kelly should be the one. I'm just disappointed there aren't even more fans who feel as I do. It's all speculation, most of it superficial and predictable, some if it deeper, and there would never be any way whatsoever to compare the two destinies of the two coaches as HC at ND; we have to pick one or the other, and then go with it, and we'll never have the slightest clue what would have happened if we'd picked the other.

But I get a better feeling about Brian Kelly taking over, akin to the arrival Lou Holtz, than I do about a fully established, and very possibly somewhat complacent Bob Stoops. Complacent is too strong of a word, perhaps.

But what do I know. There's no possible way to predict the future. We've got to pick one of the two. I'd go with Kelly.

Fornelli said...

Truth be known, I'm a Kelly guy myself. Though I would not be disappointed with Stoops.

Whoever gets the job will have a long road to hoe, though, that's for sure.

Anonymous said...

Re: ".....Oklahoma doesn't have the entrance requirements that any Jr. College in the country has."

FIFY

Anonymous said...

I believe this article way more than I believe the guy who boldly claims he is boys with jack swarbrick, Bob Stoops, or Stoops' agent. If that were true, i'm sure he wouldn't be bragging about it on some blog message board.

Rock Strongo said...

FWIW

I've been reading this site for years, so as far as I'm concerned, if Fornelli says it's true. It's true.

He doesn't break stories like this but in emails with him he's shared news he's gotten before and has been right about 90% of the time.

So in my mind, Stoops is the guy.

omahadomer said...

I believe this to be true.

Anonymous said...

i live in n.iowa, the same town that bob stoops father and mother-in law live. in fact they live 3 houses down from me. the mother in law says that bobby will not take the ND job because his wife, carroll, whom i happen to went to high school with is a multi-million $ mary-kay cosmetics exec. and their home is in dallas texas. that is a 4 hour drive for stoops back and forth to his home. it is the same reason he took the oklahoma job over that in his home state iowa. carroll did not want to move back to iowa even though she would have been closer to her parents. they decided that dallas was better suited for both of them. now i guarantee my source. (the mother-in law) stoops will stay in oklahoma. beat that

omahadomer said...

CBS now reporting that Stoops will be in South Bend tomorrow.

Anonymous said...

"I believe this article way more than I believe the guy who boldly claims he is boys with jack swarbrick, Bob Stoops, or Stoops' agent. If that were true, i'm sure he wouldn't be bragging about it on some blog message board."

I never claimed to be "boys" with anyone. You are making stuff up just like the person who wrote this blog. I'm not bragging I am stating fact. Unlike the other junk that has been posted on this blog. I think the CBS rumor has been proven wrong by everyone involved. I again spoke with someone directly tonight and there is absolutely no way that Stoops is taking that job. Admit you are wrong and move on.

Anonymous said...

no gmail account but go by buffettphan23 most places, Here is more info that strengthens the opinion in this blog post. http://www.irishroundtable.com/?p=1809

Anonymous said...

This is a pipe dream Stoops will never leave OU for ND why would you take a step down the money cant be much more (if any) than what he is making now, plus the two teams have been going in differant directions for over a 10 years.

Reality Check said...

Hmmm, Stoops confirms today that he will be in Norman next season. I guess ND Homer's multiple sources all lack a bit of credibility.

Leave the heavy reporting to the pros.

Fornelli said...

Speaking of homers, you must have not heard the first part of the quote when Stoops said "I intend to be at Oklahoma..."

Still, the quote does not do much for my sources theory, I'll admit that.

Also, if I get paid does it make me a pro?

Anonymous said...

buffettphan23 - funny how even after Stoops' expression of love for OU today there are still "sources" who think he ends up at ND. I give you this from Adam Schefter of ESPN "Going outside comfort zone here, but credible people saying today they believe Bob Stoops will wind up coaching at Notre Dame next season."

Anonymous said...

Well, it looks like FoulBalls just bleeped down their leg on this call. Oh sure, I'm sure your sources were solid - solid poop. And Schefter just made himself look like a total doof-ass with his call. He's backpedaling faster than Antoine Winfield on 3rd and 10.

buffettphan23 said...

buffettphan23 again - I don't know if Tom Fornelli is going to be right or wrong but the arrogance of the OU poster makes me hope he is right. I just saw this on the suntimes website.

BY NEIL HAYES nhayes@suntimes.com

Notre Dame’s new football coach could be named as early as Sunday. A source told the Sun-Times that Oklahoma coach Bob Stoops remains the leading candidate.

buffettphan23 said...

and Stoops says no again. Maybe since Urban's quest for a 3rd Nat'l title just died he can be rumored AGAIN!

"For the third, and hopefully final time, let me again state that I will continue to be the coach at Oklahoma. I appreciate the history and tradition of Notre Dame. I also appreciate the history and tradition of Oklahoma, and I have been part of building that tradition here.

"I work for a wonderful president and athletic director, who have created an incredible work environment at OU. There haven't been any plans for a meeting or negotiations with Notre Dame and there will not be. Any reporting to that fact is completely erroneous. I will not be the next coach at Notre Dame."