A Stoops Family Christmas

Nothing like the holidays to bring even the most divergent of families together. Take for example the annual Stoops gathering in Youngstown, Ohio.

There's Grandmama Stoops, sharing yuletide cheer with the wives and children gathered around her cracklin' fireplace. Eager hands empty platefuls of steamy gingerbread cookies, fresh from the oven, and hoist nutmeg-dusted cups of eggnog for yet another teary-eyed toast. Across the house the husbands sit in front of the big-screen TV, just like they always do, talking football.


It's just like any traditional family holiday. If family traditions include breaking down game film.

See, the Stoops family is to coaching what the Wallendas are to wire. Bob (above) is just finishing his 10th season as head coach of the Oklahoma Sooners. Bob's brother Mike (left), who was once Bob's defensive coordinator in Norman OK, now calls Tucson his home. He took over as coach of the Arizona Wildcats in 2004, leaving one brother and joining another by bringing Mark (below) on board as his defensive coordinator.


And what of Ron Stoops Jr. (below left)? Well, he fell closest to the Stoops tree. Literally. Ron coaches football a mile or two away at Youngstown's Cardinal Mooney preparatory school, as the late Ron Sr. had done for 28 years until his sudden passing in 1988 at the age of 54.

No fiction could better capture the events that occurred on that fateful October night. Cardinal Mooney was facing their arch-rivals from Boardman. The teams fought it out in a steady rain, dead even and destined for overtime. And who was up in the booth coaching Boardman's defense? Why Ron Jr., of course. Ron Sr. left the sidelines late in the game with severe chest pains, and with his son by his side, he took his last breath in an ambulance moments after Mooney's triple-overtime victory.

Ron Stoops' death rattled the Ohio rust-belt community to its very core. It was only natural that RJ jump sidelines, and that is where he's been ever since. Until his son--yup, Ronnie Stoops III--starts drawing up X's and O's and thinks he knows a thing or two more than his old man, that's where he'll stay too.


While these personalities are enough to make Christmas night anything but silent, this year in particular could well turn them into nail-salon regulars.

Mmmm-kay...'ssslike this: Bob's Oklahoma Sooners are gearing up for their New Year's Eve clambake with Stanford down in El Paso's Sun Bowl. And Mike's Arizona Wildcats--Mark's Wildcats too, for that matter--have a date with the Nebraska Cornhuskers in San Diego Wednesday night at the Holiday Bowl.

While Bob might not know the Cardinal like Mike does--or Mark, for that matter--Bob knows Mark and Mark knows Stanford since Mike's Wildcats--and Mark's too, for that matter--play them every year. Likewise, Mike and Mark may not understand the inner workings of your basic Cornhusker--but their brother Bob has a clear understanding of Nebraska, which is understandable since the Sooners tangle with them on a regular basis. Understand?


If ever there were a reason to work on Christmas Day, this family has found one. In lieu of making time and a half, they'll have to settle for shaving a point and a half off the Vegas books as they help each other improve his odds of emerging victorious. Talk about your insider information.

And despite the high school football season being over for more than a month, even Ron Jr. can't help but provide more engaging insight than the oft-forgotten and little-mentioned brother Zeppo (right), who toured with the Stoops Brothers for a season or two but ultimately chose to go his own way. Who knew the talkies were gonna catch on?