FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. — After Brent Venables resigned from Kansas State to join Bob Stoops at Oklahoma, Bill Snyder made one last-ditch attempt to keep his linebackers coach in Manhattan, using a carefully crafted question.
"How do you know," Snyder asked Venables, "that he’s gonna win, though?"
To Venables, the possibility Stoops wouldn't win never occurred.
"That didn't come anywhere in the equation," Venables recalled. "I'm like, 'That's just gonna happen. It's Bob Stoops.'"
Seventeen years later, now the longest-tenured head coach in college football, Stoops continues to win at Oklahoma.
This season, the Sooners reached double-digit victories for the 13th time since he took over and captured their unmatched ninth Big 12 title.