Similarities to Stoops made Riley hire easy
Joe Castiglione called David Boren last June and said there was a problem. Joe C. needed to bring Bob Stoops over to the president’s office.
Stoops was talking of leaving his job as the Oklahoma football coach.
It wasn’t the first time. A couple of dalliances with Florida.
And in particular the Cleveland Browns, who tried to hire Stoops in January 2001, when Boren was most concerned about losing Stoops and had to do a strong sales job to keep his coach.
Castiglione wanted Boren to use his potent power of persuasion.
“Joe said, ‘Bob's over in my office and he's kind of saying some things that I didn't expect to hear and I need to bring him over to your office. You need to talk to him,’” Boren said.
Stoops had been on the job 18-½ years.
He had been hired by Castiglione and Boren. They were college football’s longest-serving trinity.
Joe C. wanted that dynasty to continue. Boren’s ability to talk someone into, or out of, a big decision would come in quite handy.
And Boren tried.
“I said, 'You know, this could be a national championship year,’” Boren said. “‘Don't you want to be the one to win that national championship?' He said, 'No, the important thing is the program wins it and we have the right person to be head coach.’
“I heard him describe his own feelings, his desire to have a full life when his family had had a (health) history — and there was no immediate health problem — but his family had had a history, so he didn't want to have that kind of stress on himself and I heard him talk about Lincoln (Riley) and it was the right time
for a transition.”
Stoops has talked since of how promoting Riley to head coach was part of the deal, that without that assurance, Stoops would have stayed on the job.
So if Boren and Castiglione had wanted to keep Stoops on the job, telling him that Riley might not be promoted would have done the trick.
But that’s not the way these three worked together over 18-½ years.
“After listening to him in my office, Joe kind of nodded. 'Now's the time for you to tell him he shouldn't do it,’” Boren said. “I found myself saying, 'Well, Bob, I can't argue with your reasoning. I understand. It's the right decision for you
personally, but certainly it's a very generous decision in terms of the way you're looking at the program.’”
The hirings of Howard Schnellenberger, John Blake and Stoops had their particular dramas. This transition would be void of anything approaching intrigue.
Stoops’ endorsement of Riley was impressive. But it also was not necessary.
Boren said he had never talked to Castiglione
or Stoops about a succession. “Certainly not Bob,” not wanting to plant a seed that OU was ready to move Stoops aside.
But Riley long before had caught the attention of Boren and other upper-level OU administrators. In December 2016, I trotted out the theory that Stoops had done more than find a crack offensive coordinator when he hired Riley. Stoops likely found his successor.
“That’s so beyond me,” Riley said then. “That’s honestly hard to imagine.”
Riley was being humble. “He's known that I've always had my eye on him as a possible head coach someday,” Boren said. “I didn't know it would come so soon. Has the same values, the same manner, look you straight in the eye and tell you the truth, just like Bob Stoops. So he reminds me very much of coach Stoops when he was that age and in that position in his career.”
So last June, the selection of Riley became virtually automatic. No. Make that literally automatic.
And three months later, Boren himself announced his retirement, effective July 1. He says the way
Stoops stepped down was impressive.
“I thought about that a lot and I've been wrestling with when's the right time to leave and I thought, 'Well, he did it. Maybe it's time for me to do it,’” Boren said. “So it caused me to spend a lot more time thinking about it. It really did. I've admired him and come to know him as a friend so well that his decision really impacted me.”
And it should be for a president who hired three football coaches before finally getting it right.
Berry Tramel: Berry can be reached at (405) 760-8080 or at btramel@oklahoman.com. He can be heard Monday through Friday from 4:40-5:20 p.m. on The Sports Animal radio network, including FM-98.1. You can also view his personality page at newsok. com/berrytramel.