College football legend Bob Stoops’ playbook for success
What does it take to achieve success? College football legend Bob Stoops says: No excuses.
“You either succeed and win or you don’t … At the end of the day, there’s a lot of good excuses out there but all they do is try to justify failure,” the former University of Oklahoma Sooners coach told FOX Business’, Stuart Varney.
In 2017, Stoops retired from his position as head coach of the Sooners after 18 seasons and 190 wins, making him the coach with the most wins in the school’s history, according to NCAA.com.
While discussing his coaching style, Stoops said, “It’s more getting [players] to understand what’s been working… and what hasn’t been working.” He aimed to teach his players about what does and does not work with the goal of correcting mistakes.
Stoops also discussed his American success story. He grew up in the “rough steel mill town of Youngstown, Ohio” where he played football and basketball in high school, getting “a lucky break” with a football scholarship to Iowa State. After his first semester at Iowa State, he was ready to quit, but his father “with a few choice words and some tough love, wasn’t having it.” His return put him on track for his remarkable career.
In his book, "No Excuses: The Making of a Head Coach," Stoops recounts his life in football and how he fell in love with the game.
For Stoop’s entire career, the mantra “no excuses” was plastered on the weight room wall, leaving him with the message: “You’ve got to find a way to succeed.”