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"Spencer Tillman says problems Bob Stoops faces are politics, academic standards"
"NORMAN — Spencer Tillman isn’t afraid to voice criticism about the Oklahoma football program.
He did it two years ago after the Sooners were embarrassed 41-13 by Texas A&M in the Cotton Bowl, and did it again during Oklahoma’s 40-6, Russell Athletic Bowl shellacking from Clemson last week.
“This is a massive failure of leadership at Oklahoma,” Tillman tweeted during the game. “The decline began in earnest more than four seasons ago. Sad day. … Leadership missed it.”
Tillman, a running back and captain on OU’s 1985 national championship team who played eight seasons in the NFL, is now the lead studio analyst for CBS Sports’ college football pregame show.
Tillman was a co-captain on the San Francisco 49ers’ 1990 Super Bowl champion team.
In a telephone interview with The Oklahoman this weekend, Tillman expanded on his criticism of the college football program he loves.
Tillman said he thinks the biggest problems coach Bob Stoops faces are political, and relate to academic standards that might be preventing OU from getting top-flight talent.
“It begins with the uneasy tension between academia and athletics and the focus of the administration on dealing with the academic piece first,” Tillman said. “What’s driving the success of that program — whether they want to acknowledge it or not — is that football program.
“Bob’s problem is political and it’s practical because they’re not getting the best athletes because of it.”
Tillman said those problems are made worse by the rise of programs like Baylor, TCU and Texas A&M, all of which are recruiting the state of Texas — once Oklahoma’s bread and butter — as well or better than the Sooners.
Texas has obviously been down the last few years, but new coach Charlie Strong has recruited well and seems have have things moving in the right direction.
Tillman also said he thinks OU administrators made a mistake by awarding Stoops an annual “stay bonus” of $700,000.
“To me, it defies all logic and all science out there with respect to what motivates people to do anything,” Tillman said. “You should never, ever give anybody a $700,000 bonus to stay. That’s not what should motivate somebody to do their job.”
Although he declined to get into more specifics about the academic issue, Tillman said he believes that to be the biggest problem currently facing Stoops’ program.
“The difficult truth is, the problems go above Bob Stoops,” Tillman said. “Bob is complicating the matter probably by being more defiant and not being confident enough to articulate exactly what his challenges are.
“You can hide behind statistics all day, but my job is to look critically at all programs. I do tend to look at Oklahoma a lot stricter for obvious reasons.
“Bob makes it more difficult because he’s not articulating to the public — for political reasons — why he’s in the dilemma that he’s in.”"
Is he just making excuses for OU or is he onto something here?
"NORMAN — Spencer Tillman isn’t afraid to voice criticism about the Oklahoma football program.
He did it two years ago after the Sooners were embarrassed 41-13 by Texas A&M in the Cotton Bowl, and did it again during Oklahoma’s 40-6, Russell Athletic Bowl shellacking from Clemson last week.
“This is a massive failure of leadership at Oklahoma,” Tillman tweeted during the game. “The decline began in earnest more than four seasons ago. Sad day. … Leadership missed it.”
Tillman, a running back and captain on OU’s 1985 national championship team who played eight seasons in the NFL, is now the lead studio analyst for CBS Sports’ college football pregame show.
Tillman was a co-captain on the San Francisco 49ers’ 1990 Super Bowl champion team.
In a telephone interview with The Oklahoman this weekend, Tillman expanded on his criticism of the college football program he loves.
Tillman said he thinks the biggest problems coach Bob Stoops faces are political, and relate to academic standards that might be preventing OU from getting top-flight talent.
“It begins with the uneasy tension between academia and athletics and the focus of the administration on dealing with the academic piece first,” Tillman said. “What’s driving the success of that program — whether they want to acknowledge it or not — is that football program.
“Bob’s problem is political and it’s practical because they’re not getting the best athletes because of it.”
Tillman said those problems are made worse by the rise of programs like Baylor, TCU and Texas A&M, all of which are recruiting the state of Texas — once Oklahoma’s bread and butter — as well or better than the Sooners.
Texas has obviously been down the last few years, but new coach Charlie Strong has recruited well and seems have have things moving in the right direction.
Tillman also said he thinks OU administrators made a mistake by awarding Stoops an annual “stay bonus” of $700,000.
“To me, it defies all logic and all science out there with respect to what motivates people to do anything,” Tillman said. “You should never, ever give anybody a $700,000 bonus to stay. That’s not what should motivate somebody to do their job.”
Although he declined to get into more specifics about the academic issue, Tillman said he believes that to be the biggest problem currently facing Stoops’ program.
“The difficult truth is, the problems go above Bob Stoops,” Tillman said. “Bob is complicating the matter probably by being more defiant and not being confident enough to articulate exactly what his challenges are.
“You can hide behind statistics all day, but my job is to look critically at all programs. I do tend to look at Oklahoma a lot stricter for obvious reasons.
“Bob makes it more difficult because he’s not articulating to the public — for political reasons — why he’s in the dilemma that he’s in.”"
Is he just making excuses for OU or is he onto something here?
