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Retired Oklahoma coach Bob Stoops made a brief comeback on Tuesday, coach Lincoln Riley said.
“We took Coach Stoops out of retirement today,” Riley said at his weekly press conference. “He was on the pitch training with us today. It was great to have him there.”
The Sooners’ game scheduled for last weekend against West Virginia has been postponed due to positive COVID-19 tests and contact tracing in the Oklahoma program. These results apparently had an impact on the coaching staff as well, creating the need for help.
Test results released Monday by the Oklahoma Sports Department showed there were 27 active COVID-19 cases among athletes and 13 among staff across all sports. It is not known how many of these cases in either category are specifically related to the football program.
The Sooners suspended their football activities last week after the positive cases emerged; they returned to practice on Tuesday. Riley said the Sooners have had this as a contingency plan with Stoops this season in case the need arises.
“It was awesome,” Riley said. “That’s good. We’ve kind of had in our hip pocket the entire time, that if we had a staff member falling down, we have a Hall of Famer sitting on the bench. It’s a really good bench. when you can call this guy. “
Stoops coached the Sooners for 18 seasons before retiring in June 2017. He led Oklahoma to a national championship in 2000, 10 Big 12 championships, 14 double-digit winning seasons and held an overall record of 190- 48 before handing over the program to Riley before the 2017 season.
“How much he cares about this program, I don’t think there is anything he wouldn’t do,” Riley said. “So it was great having him there today. It was awesome. Our kids were happy to see him, we were all happy to see him, so I think he had fun too. “
Stoops has been under contract with Oklahoma as a “special assistant” to athletic director Joe Castiglione since his retirement from coaching, making him eligible to assist the Sooners in that title. Stoops also spent early 2020 coaching the XFL Dallas Renegades.
The Sooners (6-2, 5-2 Big 12) are expected to return to the game on Saturday night when they host Baylor.
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