Bob Stoops' Complete Disinterest In Multiple FBS Coaching Offers Exemplifies Insanity Of Life In College Football

Bob Stoops is not interested in coaching college football. The 62-year-old is very happy as the head coach of the Arlington Renegades of the XFL.

Head coach Bob Stoops of the Arlington Renegades looks on during the first half against the Vegas Vipers at Choctaw Stadium on February 18, 2023 in Arlington, Texas. (Photo by Sam Hodde/Getty Images)

His feelings toward various opportunities within the sport exemplify the insanity of the modern era of college football and he is not alone in his thinking. The college game is grueling.

Stoops, who won a BCS National Championship at Oklahoma in 2000, coached in Norman from 1999 to 2016. He won 10 Big-12 Conference championships with the Sooners and is the only head coach in the BCS era to have won the Rose Bowl, Orange Bowl, Sugar Bowl and Fiesta Bowl.

And yet, despite all of his success, Stoops chose to retire from coaching after an 11-win season in 2016. He stepped aside and allowed Lincoln Riley to take over.

The root for Stoops' decision was simple. He was done. That was it.

In the years since, Stoops has been around the Oklahoma program as an advisor and even coached his former team on an interim basis after Riley left for USC in 2021. He also served as an analyst on Fox's Big Noon Kickoff and coached the Dallas Renegades during the first XFL season back in 2020.

Bob Stoops is at the helm of the Renegades yet again in 2023.

Although Stoops has received multiple offers to get back to coaching college football in various capacities, the opportunties were not of interest. His days on the collegiate level are over. It's just too much.

This fits me perfectly. It's a 10-week regular season, one playoff game and a championship game. The proximity to my home in Norman, Oklahoma, works for my family and I. And let's face it — I don't have to go into a compliance meeting after practice, I don't have to go into an academic meeting, I don't have to go into a recruiting meeting. All I get to do is coach football and be on the field, and that's what I love to do.

There is no interest on Stoops' end in a return to the college ranks. Zero.

I've been asked still to go back and do what I did before at different schools and it's just not what I want to do at this point in my life. I'm enjoying this and, again, it's a period of time through the year that really fits my schedule and I love working with these guys — and, also, I've got a great staff. I love working with the coaching staff I've got. And so, all of that really works for me.

Bob Stoops is not the only coach who feels the way that he does.

In today's era of college football, in addition to the compliance and academic meetings that always existed before, there is also the transfer portal and NIL. There is a brief period in late February and a few weeks in June where coaches can be away from the facility and be home, but even those windows don't allow a complete break from responsibilities.

Former Ole Miss head coach and Georgia offensive line coach Matt Luke stepped away from the game last year at just 45 years old. He wants to spend more time with his family.

Kliff Kingsbury, who has coached in both college and the pros, said that he would do "anything" before he went back to the college ranks. He would do "any job" before coaching college football again.

It is exhausting to be a college football coach in today's age. Stoops isn't interested.