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 that 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. Just one year after a rare five-loss season, Stoops has quickly returned the Sooners to the national limelight by taking them to the College Football Playoff Semifinal at the Capital One Orange Bowl, which kicks off Thursday afternoon with Oklahoma facing Clemson.
"As a leader, he’s fearless," said Venables, Stoops’ former longtime defensive coordinator who now calls defense for the Tigers. "He exudes a very respectful, confident [air of], 'If you do X, Y and Z, then you’re going to [win]. He just has that kind of mindset and confidence and assuredness."
The Sooners haven’t always been at the top under Stoops. But Oklahoma has never been all that far away from it, either.
The combination of Stoops' steady hand and his bold willingness to reinvent when necessary is a big reason Oklahoma is as relevant in 2015 as it was in 2000 when the Sooners captured the national championship.
"Bob never gets too high, never gets too low," said Mike Stoops, his brother and defensive coordinator. "His patience, his balance, you really see it. I see it. The program has been run virtually the same way for 17 years.
"He doesn't waver."
Wavering would've been easy to do after the Sooners collapsed down the stretch last season. Coming off its Sugar Bowl triumph against Alabama after the 2013 season, Oklahoma opened in the top five of last season's preseason polls. But narrow fourth-quarter losses to TCU and K-State preceded embarrassing performances against Baylor and Clemson, which trounced the Sooners 40-6 in the Russell Athletic Bowl.
"Just one of those years," Venables called it.
Stoops, however, also sensed that the Sooners had gone stale in many ways and needed a spark. So for the first time in his career, he fired one of his play-callers, letting go of offensive coordinator Josh Heupel, who had also quarterbacked the Sooners to that 2000 title.
To replace Heupel, Stoops targeted a 31-year-old who had never coordinated a Power 5 offense before, but had a background in the Mike Leach Air Raid attack that had fueled Oklahoma's immediate turnaround in Stoops' maiden season.
"When that area code came up, I had a pretty good idea of who it was," recalled Oklahoma offensive coordinator Lincoln Riley, who was then the playcaller at East Carolina. "And [Stoops] was to the point.
"I [sensed] his desire to get back on track again and how hungry he was to do it and how close he felt like this team was -- if we could get a couple of things to go our way and get moving a little bit; he felt like we had some good players coming back offensively and that we were really, really close. I believed it."
Stoops' decision to bring in Riley and restore the Air Raid was a gamble. Not only was Riley relatively inexperienced, Oklahoma boasted one of the best rushers in the country in Samaje Perine, who seemed a ill-fit for the scheme. The Sooners also had only one proven receiver in Sterling Shepard, and complete uncertainty at quarterback after Stoops reopened the competition.
But even after the Sooners fell to Texas as a two-touchdown favorite in early October, Stoops' faith in Riley never flickered.
"He was 100 percent bought-in," Riley said. "There were times early in the year where he could have questioned it -- through three quarters in Tennessee or the first half of the Texas game -- he never did and he showed an unwavering belief in it, and that’s been a big part of why we’ve improved."
With a few personnel tweaks along the offensive line and a renewed focus on using Perine, Riley's offense finally found its footing the following week. Oklahoma blasted K-State 55-0 on the road, and from then on, the Sooners have been as dominant as any team in the country.
"[That's why] I love and respect so much about where their program is today," Venables said. "It’s just a lesson to all of us -- you know, not so fast."
Rumors of Stoops' demise, it turned out, were greatly exaggerated.
He keeps on ticking.
And in turn, Oklahoma keeps on winning.
"Bob is first class," Venables said. "He's never changed, from the time he recruited me to [K-State] to all the success he's had.
"You know, winningest coach ever at Oklahoma? Are you kidding me? That’s pretty special."