Is Bob Stoops Replacing Gus Malzahn At Auburn?
Is Bob Stoops Replacing Gus Malzahn At Auburn?
Is Bob Stoops Replacing Gus Malzahn At Auburn?
Is Bob Stoops replacing Gus Malzahn at Auburn?
He just might be, according to recent reports emerging from the college football world.
The rumors of Stoops potentially ending up at Auburn first started at the end of last season.
Stoops promptly denied them then, and he is denying them now.
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While appearing on 105.3 The Fan in Dallas ,Stoops said that he and Auburn had “nothing to talk about.”
“It’s ridiculous … I would never, ever speak with anybody that had an existing head coach … there’s nothing to talk about with me,” he continued.
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I reported that Auburn SuperBooster Jimmy Rane was targeting Bob Stoops as a possible replacement for Gus Malzahn if Auburn loses to Alabama.
I did not report that Rane was in contact with Stoops at this time nor characterize Bob’s interest in the job.https://t.co/2oKk4L0Go7
— Sports by Brooks (@SportsbyBrooks) September 19, 2019
And yet the rumors persist.
A big reason why the Stoops-to-Auburn hype train picked up this week is because of a report by Sports By Brooks indicating “that the richest man in the state of Alabama, Auburn superbooster Jimmy Rane, is targeting Bob Stoops to replace Gus Malzahn if the latter fails to beat Alabama this season.”
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Seeing as Rane is worth nearly a billion dollars, he would appear to be just the type of booster who could change a reluctant coaching prospect’s mind.
Currently, Stoops is slated to lead Dallas’ Renegades XFL team in 2020 – but he has left the door to coaching college football open in the recent past.
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“Well we’ll see,” Stoops told Clay Travis last week.
“I believe when I stepped away, if I wanted to continue to coach in college, I would’ve stayed at Oklahoma.
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“I just felt I had run my course there, and, you know, just needed some time and space of my own. And I got that.
“Right now I’m excited about the adventure going into the XFL. Starting from scratch is really exciting as well.”
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All that being said, Stoops refused to definitively shut the door on a potential return to the college coaching ranks.
“So we’ll see where it leads. I know everybody loves to…they want you to define your life from year to year, and everybody always wants forever and never.
“And I don’t know how you ever say that. You just never know what the good Lord’s going to bring.”
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Stoops is a 10-time Big 12 champion, so it is easy to see why a program as antsy for improvement as Auburn would be knocking on his door.
In the five seasons since the last reached the BCS Championship Game, Auburn has recorded eight wins on four separate occasions.
While that may be good enough at some institutions, it does not fly in Auburn.
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For his part, Malzahn realizes that.
“Yeah, I’ve got a job that expects to win championships and I knew that when I took this job,” he said back in July.
“I love the fact that is part of the job description here. In the years you don’t win championships, you hear stuff like this. I guess I’ve been the head coach six years and, what, four of those years you hear hot seat this, hot seat that. That’s just part of this job. So, I understand that.
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“We weren’t happy with the way we only won eight games last year. I know our players weren’t (happy). We had guys come back and like I said earlier, they’re hungry, and our staff is hungry. That’s just part of this job description and I love that fact. We need to play our best football.”
Will Stoops ultimately end up at Auburn?
Time will tell.
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Charles Kruger has been credentialed to cover two Super Bowls, four NBA Finals, and one World Series. A 20-year veteran in the sports world, he has sources spanning the NBA, MLB, NFL, UFC and NASCAR. Currently residing in Los Angeles, Calif., he is Game 7’s go-to source for rumors surrounding the Lakers, Clippers and Dodgers.
