It's been two full regular seasons without Bob Stoops on the sideline. Today, Urban Meyer formally announced he'd be joining the ranks of his coaching colleague as a retired coach following their Rose Bowl game.
Stoops has spent his time away from football enjoying himself rather quietly, no doubt relishing the success that Lincoln Riley has had since, leading the Sooners to back-to-back College Football Playoff appearances, and surely Urban hopes to see the Buckeyes follow that same smooth path with Ryan Day taking over, effective January 2nd.
With so many comparisons being drawn to the two situations already, USA Today reached out to Stoops, who provided some advice to Urban as he embarks on this new chapter, noting that the most difficult part of retirement is "all of it."
From USA Today:
“The intensity, the competition, the challenge of this,” he said. “But also for all of us that played as well as coached, it’s been 40 years of my life I’ve been with a gang of guys. It’s like, you always had your crew and all of the sudden you don’t have a crew anymore. You’ve got your players and your coaches and a fraternity of guys you’re constantly interacting with every single day, and all of the sudden you go to being alone. So that’s not easy to handle.”
Even two years removed from coaching at the highest level, Stoops still struggles with some things, and shares that Urban needs to "have some patience. It takes time. It's such a drastic difference. It takes a lot."
Head over to USA Today to read the full piece.