If I had to bet on what caused Bob Stoops to retire from Oklahoma at the relatively early age of 56, I would look no further than the school's president, David Boren. Of course, that wasn't mentioned in all the glowing press releases honoring Stoops while pointing to a glorious future with 33-year-old head coach Lincoln Riley.
What if -- and it's a semi-educated if -- Stoops wanted no part of the coach-in-waiting process that almost never works. The University of Texas tried it with Mack Brown and his former defensive coordinator Will Muschamp, and it didn't work because Brown wasn't ready to retire.