COMMENTARY
MORGANTOWN, W.Va. — Oklahoma football became a program-in-transition Wednesday, with Bob Stoops traipsing off to early retirement and Lincoln Riley being gifted early advancement.
From my seat, this ranks among the top three tectonic shifts within Big 12 football since West Virginia joined up in 2012. The other two: Texas pushing out Mack Brown in 2013 and the league declining to expand last October.
Stoops made the Sooners great again, playing for the national championship four times. (The sequence of those proved crucial. Seizing his first opportunity in 2000 only exposed Stoops to heightened criticism upon falling short in the subsequent three.