Bob Stoops Says Players Paid "Quite Handsomely"

Apr 10, 2013, 12:53 PM

Posted: 10:39 a.m. Wednesday, April 10, 2013

Bob Stoops, Oklahoma's $40 million coach, says players paid 'quite handsomely'

By The Hater

Oklahoma coach Bob Stoops has a message for any of his players who have the audacity to think that maybe they deserve more than their scholarship money:

Shut up and play.

OK, those weren't his exact words. What he said to The Sporting News was actually worse.

“I tell my guys all the time,” Stoops says, “you’re not the first one to spend a hungry Sunday without any money.”

This is true. Lots of people go hungry. Most of them aren't part of a skilled, scarce labor pool that generates lots of revenue in return for a tiny percentage of $35.5 million in profits while actually losing money because of extra fees for the job, but still.

More Stoops: “I don’t get why people say these guys don’t get paid. It’s simple, they are paid quite often, quite a bit and quite handsomely.”

Stoops will make $4.55 million in 2013 as part of the eight years, $39.4 million (minimum) extension he signed in 2011. But, hey, Stoops is worth every penny because he's a middle manager for a money-making enterprise.

The players? Well, they might be the faces of the program. Perhaps all that money wouldn't roll in if Oklahoma didn't get players good enough to compete at the highest level of football.

But Stoops doesn't want to talk about what players do to help the program (and him) make money. He just tells them what the school does for them, comparing them to “regular” students who don't generate revenue for the school beyond the overinflated tuition they pay.

“You get room and board, and we’ll give you the best nutritionist, the best strength coach to develop you, the best tutors to help you academically, and coaches to teach you and help you develop. How much do you think it would cost to hire a personal trainer and tutor for 4-5 years?”

Oklahoma will give players all of that for as long as they are useful. If they aren't, then suddenly that year-to-year scholarship is not renewed. And to make sure they stay useful, the players need to put a lot of time into football, so it's probably not a good idea to major in a subject that will take too much time studying.

And what about all those fans buying up jerseys because the players make them popular? Stoops has an answer for that, too.

“Sam Bradford was one of the most humble and grounded players I’ve ever been around; he got it,” Stoops said. “But I even told him, what makes you think those fans in the stands are wearing No.14 for you? Who says it’s not an old Josh Heupel jersey? I tell our guys all the time. It could be you—or it could be anyone else.”

So, you see, Stoops has to make sure he gets his message across about players not being worth as much as they or others think even if those players are “grounded.” Don't want them to get uppity.

Stoops adds that “70,000 fans in the stadium are cheering and buying tickets to see Oklahoma” and not the players. If that's true, then Oklahoma should go ahead and drop down to Division III. Then the Sooners don't have to give the players any scholarship money at all and the athletes will be true students.

Surely, those 70,000 people still will come out and cheer on Oklahoma because it's all about the school.

In the meantime, Stoops, millionaire and leader of men, doesn't want these kids to go off thinking they might be worth more than what they are getting. Stoops should hope the players don't get them too much education at Oklahoma because then they might learn some critical thinking skills and figure out the coach is full of ish.

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No? Didn't think so. The only time a football program doesn't have a full roster or doesn't use all its scholarships is if it is passing on players because it doesn't want them for four years because it thinks it can get better players next year.

Players aren't "underpaid" and the reason I know this is that there is more supply of players than there is demand for their services.

The day we see Oklahoma playing ironman football because they can't get enough players to play for them is the day "paying players" should be looked at.

What needs to happen is that someone with some financial resources needs to establish a new NFL developmental league that provides kids who have no interest in a college education with the opportunity to develop their skills in their chosen profession (football). You could play in the Spring, the championship could be in the summer (and therefore could be anywhere), you could incorporate basic Communications and PR training so that they can enter the NFL ready to get endorsement deals, etc. You could tweak the game like other small-time leagues have (ie, get rid of all reviews so that the game flows more smoothly). And, of course, you could offer a salary. Then any amateur player who thought college was being unfair would have an option. The fact that that option is fairly unavailable today is NOT the fault of college football or the NCAA.

Bob Stoops Says Players Paid "Quite Handsomely"

"The Hater" is a good name for that writer

Well, I basically agree with Stoops, although I wouldn't put

"The Hater" overlooks one key point that Stoops doesn't

These folks wearing the 14 jersey

Yes, but Spiller certainly had a lot to do with the #28's

Spiller was the best player on the team. I think the point

Re: I very proudly wear my # 15 3/4 jersey

These writers are so myopic

That is the chief issue to me.

Is there a football program struggling to fill it's roster?

You honestly think the idea never came up or that

Well, that's all speculation, but even if it were true, so?

It's not some super secret hush hush contract. it's simply

that author is an absolute moron.***

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