Stoops was a finalist for the award and won it in 2000, the season Oklahoma won its most recent national championship.
The OU head coach of 17 seasons has been a finalist for the Eddie Robinson Coach of the Year Award for times previously. In addition to 2000, Stoops also was a finalist for the award in 2003, 2006 and 2008. In three of the four previous times he was one of the finalists, the Sooners played in the national championship game.
The other 2015 finalists as Coach of the Year are Dabo Sweeney of Clemson;, Tom Herman of Houston, which Oklahoma opens the season with next fall; Kirk Ferentz of Stoops alma mater, Iowa; Mark Dantonio of Michigan State, Notre Dame’s Brian Kelly; David Shaw of Stanford, and Matt Ruhle of Temple, which compiled a record of 10-3 this season and played last weekend for the championship in the American Athletic Association, losing to Houston.