Bob Stoops

When I grew up, and I've said this a lot, but I was a long time Oklahoma fan. I always followed them all the way while growing up in Ohio.

I've always believed if a young guy has a chance to play, why would you explain where his weakness is? The only reason would be to help the other team, or to help a gambler.

Depending on where you're at or the ownership you're working for, some of the college jobs may be better than some in the NFL.

I'm big on that: In life, everything has its time.

If you're winning and can stay on the field offensively and move the ball, that's what we want.

There was a period of time where the two most wanted guys in the state of Oklahoma were me and Josh Heupel. Me for suggesting that you could throw the ball at Oklahoma and in the Big 12. And Josh Heupel for having the temerity to play quarterback and not be able to run faster than 5 flat.

I thought one of the best things I ever did in my career was getting my first staff together at OU... That's exciting to me. The opportunity to put it together and help it grow.

No one wants to hear that, but life changes. If it changes, you have to change with it, to whatever degree.

You know, if I've done anything right, it has been hiring the right people.

I love Jim Tressel. I think he's a fabulous guy. He's overall been a strong example for all coaches.

Surely, AP or the coaches are all aware everybody has agendas. Anybody who's on TV has one. You know, that's viewership and ratings and those kinds of things.

Every now and then a little bit of change never hurts.

You don't really want to play your brother. You want to play your brother in a championship game because not only does someone lose, someone's going to win a championship, too. To me, that's the only time you're really looking to do it.

It definitely gives you a boost away from home and being down and coming back.

No, I'm never pleased if we don't win some type of championship, meaning Big 12 or national.

Anytime you win 10 games, let's look around the world, the country, and there's not a lot that do it consistently.

At the end of the day, if someone tries to conceal something they will, and when you find out, you deal with it. That's it. We can't possibly know everything that happens.

It's impossible to know what everyone does behind closed doors. Even in families, you don't know sometimes what's going on.

Our players are educated. They know. If you knowingly break the rules, we're going to move on. We'll find someone else to play quarterback.

The coaching life is like a relay race and I'm thankful for my turn and am confident as I pass the baton.

I'm very fortunate to work with a great group of guys that are great coaches, great motivators, excited about what they do, have a lot of enthusiasm and are excellent coaches.

I have been very fortunate to coach a lot of very good secondary players through the years.

Team chemistry is what really matters, your team chemistry and team toughness.

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.

Coach Snyder was just a determined guy. I was at the ground floor at Kansas State. I learned a lot from that experience.

Coach Spurrier was just an amazing competitor. I felt I learned to really love the competition of it all from watching him and being around him. All his assistant coaches were great recruiters, very professional in how they handled their business. So as a young guy, I got to see that all the time.

I've just been around a lot of just quality coaches that I've learned from.

I've been with some great head coaches, but also some great assistant coaches, too.