Tramel's ScissorTales: Bob Stoops scratches the itch again as revamped XFL restarts

Thirty-five months ago, the pandemic ended the first reboot of the XFL. It did not end Bob Stoops’ football itch.

The XFL is back, relaunching Saturday, and so is Stoops. New ownership, new leadership, lots of new players.

But not a new coach in Arlington, Texas, where the Dallas Renegades have become the Arlington Renegades, and Stoops’ squad hosts the Vegas Vipers at 2 p.m. Saturday in Choctaw Stadium, which you will remember as the stately Ballpark in Arlington. The game will be televised by ABC.

“It’s been awesome,” Stoops said this week from Arlington.

Now as three years ago, Stoops has found his football outlet. He retired from OU in summer 2017, ready to enjoy life and be master of his own time, which a college football coach most assuredly cannot be.

The XFL has gives him a part-time job with a full-time gridiron fix.

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“I’ve always loved the football piece of it,” Stoops said. “And being able to work the roster, 51 guys, 10-week regular season. All of that’s simple.

“When I leave the field, I don’t have to go into an academic meeting, don’t have to go into a compliance meeting, don’t have to go to a recruiting meeting or up all night, making phone calls, because Johnny won’t go to class or won’t go to study hall.”

Stoops estimates 80% of his OU job was something off the field. Off the field is not where he wanted to be.

“I always loved to be on the field,” Stoops said. “Now, 100% of my job is on the field.”

Three years ago, Stoops raved about being around professional players, even on the minor-league level. He’s still raving.

“It’s been great,” Stoops said. “The players are awesome. They’re older, more mature, they get it. Fun to be around.

“All these guys, obviously, that’s why they’re here. They love football and want a chance to show what they can do. It’s like an audition for ‘em, to go out and play again.”

The 2023 XFL is a little different from the 2020 version.

Commissioner Oliver Luck – one of the attractions for Stoops being interested in the first place – is gone. So is league founder Vince McMahon of professional wrestling fame. Actor/promoter Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson bought the XFL and named himself commissioner.

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“Dwayne Johnson, Dany Garcia (The Rock’s business partner and ex-wife) and (XFL co-owner) Gerry Cardinale have been great to work with.”

Stoops has assembled a familiar staff. His co-offensive coordinators are his Iowa Hawkeye teammates Chuck Long and Jonathan Hayes, both of whom were Sooner assistants under Stoops.

Stoops’ long-time OU aide, Matt McMillen, is the Renegades’ direction of team operations. Hayes’ brother, Jay Hayes, is co-defensive coordinator. Scott Spurrier, son of Stoops mentor Steve Spurrier, is tight ends coach.

Two former Sooners – tailback Keith Ford and receiver Jordan Smallwood – are on the Renegades’ roster.

Stoops’ starting quarterback is 25-year-old Drew Plitt, who made 39 starts at Ball State. Plitt beat out Kevin Anderson, 28, a three-year starter at Fordham, and Kyle Sloter, 29, who quarterbacked at Northern Colorado.

“Feel great about all of ‘em, truth be told,” Stoops said of his quarterbacks. “I think we can win with all of ‘em. Quality guys, smart guys, have been in different football camps through the years.

“I think we did a better job as a league,” Stoops said of player acquisition. “Our player pool is stronger and better. I feel that I’ve got a veteran, stronger team than I did the first time around.”

Of course, this is spring pro football. We wouldn’t know either way.

All we know is that a week after the Super Bowl, football is back, baby, on ABC, coached by a very familiar face who is scratching his gridiron itch.

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Oklahoma State basketball defense misses Avery Anderson 

OSU has a quality, but strangely-constructed, basketball team. That was apparent Tuesday night as mighty Kansas beat the Cowboys 87-76 at Gallagher-Iba Arena, which was ready to combust but never got the chance.

OSU is a rare college hoops team. The Cowboys are deeper in big men than perimeter players. How is that possible? Who this side of Gonzaga and Duke ever has a roster like that?

Maybe it’s in the water. In recent years, Mike Gundy’s football team has been awash in quality defensive linemen while being a little scarce in some other areas. It makes no sense.

And Mike Boynton’s lack of perimeter depth was on display against the Jayhawks.

The Cowboys missed Avery Anderson. The senior point guard missed a fourth straight game due to a wrist injury that required surgery, and while Anderson wasn’t having a stellar offensive season, he was an impact player on both ends of the court.

Tuesday night, OSU’s defense finally gave in. The Jayhawks scored 87 points on 54 percent shooting.

“Offensively, that’s about as well as we’ve played over a period of time, especially out of our building,” KU coach Bill Self said. “I thought we played well. Oklahoma State’s got a terrific team.”

Gradey Dick’s buzzer-beating 3-pointer from the corner in transition gave KU a 39-37 halftime lead, and the Jayhawks came out in the second half in high gear.

Kansas scored on its first six possessions of the second half to take a 54-46 lead. Eventually, KU scored 25 points over an 8½-minute span.

“There’s a reason they are who they are and have been who they’ve been,” Boynton said of the defending NCAA champion Jayhawks.

“Sometimes you can beat yourself up over losing. Sometimes you gotta give credit to the other team for being good. You have to play really, really well to beat a team like that. And we played OK. OK’s not good enough.”

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Especially without Anderson. The truth about Boynton’s team is that it goes about seven deep without Anderson.

Three quality big men – particularly Kalib Boone and Mousse Cisse – plus perimeter players John Michael-Wright, Bryce Thompson and Caleb Asberry. Woody Newton serves as a ‘tweener, an outside-shooting power forward who is tall (6-foot-9) but not all that rugged.

With Boynton’s successful mid-season switch to a smaller lineup – only one center at a time, Newton starting – that leaves scant perimeter depth.

Anderson is OSU’s best perimeter defender, by a mile.

“I think the personnel we have is good enough to get the job done,” Boynton said. “He’s not coming back for awhile. He was a really important part of our defense, because of his awareness, competitiveness, but it’s not really something we can focus on.”

The Cowboys still have a quality team. Self called OSU one of the Big 12’s seven or eight “second-weekend teams,” which means he considers the Cowboys capable of winning two NCAA Tournament games.

And indeed, OSU went into Tuesday night with a chance to tie Kansas in the standings, a game behind Baylor and Texas for the Big 12 lead. Remarkable, from where this team was earlier in the season.

But the Cowboys will struggle to maximize their potential without Anderson. Not enough depth. Not enough defense.

Cisse is a defensive gamechanger, and Boone and Tyreek Smith are solid, too. So the Cowboys can more than hold their own inside.

But the perimeter is a problem. Wright is small. Thompson is not particularly athletic. Asberry is inexperienced at this level.

It showed against Kansas.

“Just didn’t think we had the right kind of resistance that we’ve been having,” Boynton said. “Every time they needed a basket, they got one.

“We gotta defend better. We’re a better defensive team than we showed. We didn’t have our fastball tonight, and our curveball wasn’t good enough.”

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Thunder Fellows a nod to statewide reach 

The Thunder practice facility – particularly when the Thunder is practicing – is a rather secure facility. Invitation only, and invitations are rare.

The media gets to enter at the end of most practices, to film the players shooting at the end of a workout and to wait on a few interviews conducted in the front corner of the expansive gymnasium.

But the last two Sundays, the court was a beehive of non-Thunder activity all practice long. The Thunder Fellows were guests.

The Thunder Fellows is a program established in Tulsa to help students realize their potential.

“It’s awesome,” said the Thunder’s Josh Giddey. “It’s one of the best things about the job we have, to be able to give back to the younger kids.”

Thunder Fellows from high school were on hand February 5. Thunder Fellows from higher education were in the gym last Sunday.  Before joining the players on the court, Thunder general manager Sam Presti hosted the Thunder Fellows for his Forward Thinking Leadership conversation, an hour-long training session.

“We love having them inside our building and around our players and continue to build that relationship even though they’re based out of Tulsa,” coach Mark Daigneault said.

The Thunder Fellows is designed “to address the prevalent opportunity and racial wealth gaps in our community,” according to the Thunder website.

The program was developed by the Thunder and Creative Arts Agency, which represents a variety of sports and entertainment talent.

The program “aims to unlock new opportunities in sports, entertainment, and technology for Black high school and college students in the Tulsa area.”

The Thunder Fellows is located in the historic Greenwood District. It’s a 30-week program that leverages a pipeline of local and national corporations “to provide exclusive access to mentors, professional coaching and meaningful employment opportunities.”

It’s cool that the Thunder’s civic reach extends to Tulsa.

“It’s exposure to them, but it’s exposure to us, too,” said Daigneault. “It’s a very tangible example of the reach we have in the state and that these guys have in particular with younger people.

“Not only how they play but how they conduct themselves. It’s always been a strength of this particular group of guys (players). But I think it’s always a good reminder the more exposure we get to that as well.”

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Mailbag: Lincoln Riley to USC 

Lincoln Riley’s jump to Southern Cal still reverberates with OU fans.

Walter: “Painfully true sports story that will never be reported by the OKC sports media: Riley left OU because he was afraid of playing and recruiting in the SEC. Kind of hard to be King of the Hill when you are sitting on Black Mesa and looking up at Mount Everest.”

Tramel: I often say I have the world’s greatest readers. I stand by that statement.

That doesn’t mean some goofballs aren’t reading, too.

Literally an hour after the Riley news broke on November 28, 2021, I wrote these words, which were published a few hours later: “Why would Riley leave OU for USC? Seems pretty clear Riley didn’t want to coach in the Southeastern Conference.”

With some time and clarity, we know that Riley didn’t leave for just one reason. Sure, the SEC probably had something to do with it, and Riley got his own curveball with USC's decision to jump to the Big Ten.

We know Riley and OU officials were sideways on finances, with the Sooners slowplaying some increases Riley sought (and OU paid much more for Brent Venables’ demands in terms of budget increases).

And we figure Riley was realizing the slippage of OU’s talent, which was taking the Sooners further, not closer, to a coveted national championship.

But the idea that no one would jump aboard the Riley-didn't-want-to-go-to-the-SEC train? I bought the first ticket.

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The List: Super Bowl losers 

The Philadelphia Eagles lost a classic Super Bowl, 38-35, on Sunday to the Kansas City Chiefs.

Time was, losing a Super Bowl was ominous, because the data suggested that teams took a step back in subsequent years. But that seems to be changing. In recent years, the Super Bowl loser has had a brighter future than the Super Bowl winner:

Super Bowl 56: The Rams beat the Bengals 23-20, but Cincinnati returned to the AFC Championship Game this January, while the Rams skidded to a 5-12 season.

Super Bowl 55: The Buccaneers routed Kansas City 31-9. Tampa Bay went 13-4 in 2021 and beat Philadelphia to reach the NFC semifinals. But since then, the Buccaneers are 8-11 and could be starting over. Meanwhile, KC returned to the 2021 AFC Championship Game, then the 2022 Chiefs won the Super Bowl.

Super Bowl 54: The Chiefs beat the 49ers 31-20. Kansas City has flourished. But it’s not like San Francisco has disintegrated. The 49ers dipped to 6-10 in 2020 but are 23-11 in the last two regular seasons, with back-to-back trips to the NFC Championship Game.

Super Bowl 53: The New England Patriots beat the Rams 13-3. The Patriots are 37-31 since then (Tom Brady’s departure might have had something to do with it), including 0-2 in the playoffs. Meanwhile, the Rams went 31-18 over the next three regular seasons, capped by a Super Bowl title.

Super Bowl 52: The Eagles beat the Patriots 41-33. Philly went 31-33-1 over the next four seasons, including 1-3 in the playoffs, while New England rebounded to win the next Super Bowl.

Berry Tramel: Berry can be reached at 405-760-8080 or at btramel@oklahoman.com. He can be heard Monday through Friday from 4:40-5:20 p.m. on The Sports Animal radio network, including FM-98.1. Support his work and that of other Oklahoman journalists by purchasing a digital subscription today. 

This article originally appeared on Oklahoman: OU legend Bob Stoops scratches the itch again as revamped XFL restarts