Big 12 Capsules: Stoops, Leach leave lasting impact on each other

NORMAN, Okla. - To compare Bob Stoops and Mike Leach at first seems like a study in opposites.

One is the son of a football coach who built his reputation on a stingy, aggressive defense and puts forth a straight-laced persona that rarely cracks.

The other started out admiring the game from the stands, got his law degree before rising in the coaching ranks and then constructed the most productive offense of the past decade. Until his team's first legitimate bid for a national title this year, his quirky love of pirates and assortment of non-football interests made him something of a class clown in the Big 12.

Their paths intersected for only a year, but it left a profound impact on both Stoops' program at Oklahoma and Leach's at Texas Tech. The two meet again Saturday in a game loaded with national championship implications.

No. 2 Texas Tech (10-0, 6-0 Big 12) can clinch the Big 12 South with a victory and also move a significant step closer to the BCS title game, while the fifth-ranked Sooners (9-1, 5-1) can get back in both races if Stoops can beat his former assistant for the fifth straight time in Norman.

Stoops and Leach united in 1999 to turn around an Oklahoma program that had fallen on hard times. Stoops, who had helped Steve Spurrier win a national title as the defensive coordinator at Florida, would need to hire his first offensive coordinator and among the things he considered was who he'd had the most trouble defending.

He came up with Hal Mumme, whose offenses had been smashing records at Kentucky.

"I couldn't get him to come with me, so I figured I might as well try the guy that's been with him the longest and try and to do the same things here," Stoops said.

"There wasn't anyone else that I had seen that was like that, and I felt it would be different here as well, that it would give us an advantage maybe that people weren't familiar with."

Leach, who'd been with Mumme through early days at Iowa Wesleyan and Valdosta State before spending two years as his offensive coordinator at Kentucky, was caught off-guard when Stoops came calling.

"I was pretty surprised. And it all happened pretty fast, though, because he got the job pretty quickly and I didn't have any idea that he'd call me," Leach said.

The two knew each other mainly through pregame conversations when Kentucky and Florida would play, but together they started something special at Oklahoma.

Leach instituted his spread offense opposite Stoops' sturdy defense, and the Sooners were almost instantly back on the map. Even though Leach left after only one season to take over at Texas Tech, Oklahoma was headed in the right direction - and quickly. In 2000, Stoops won his only national championship with the Sooners.

Among the keys to maintaining that instant success was the stable of quarterbacks that Leach was able to attract to Norman with his wide-open attack. Josh Heupel, Nate Hybl and Jason White - who ended up winning the 2003 Heisman Trophy - were the quarterbacks for Stoops' first six seasons at Oklahoma.

"That part of it really got us going as far as having some quarterback play and being able to attract other quarterbacks like Sam Bradford now," Stoops said.

The Sooners still use a few elements of Leach's offense and practice plan, although much has changed through three offensive coordinators since Leach left.

Stoops' influence lingered in Lubbock, too, as Leach took the Red Raiders to bowl games for eight straight seasons for the first time in school history.

"I got to see how he put together the program, some of the pitfalls and just how to put it together and how he responded to things," Leach said. "It really helped me as I came to Tech and did the same thing just a year later."

And now - as Stoops has an offense that ranks second behind only Leach's in the Big 12, and Leach has a defense that's second only to that of the Stoops' - maybe the two coaches aren't so different after all.

"The media and even the fan base, they enjoy talking about him or reading about him because of some of the off-the-wall things that he might relate to football or different interests that he had - the pirate comment, or when he was here he was big into Geronimo," said Heupel, who's the Sooners' quarterbacks coach now but still holds Oklahoma's season records for yards passing, completions and attempts from the 1999 season under Leach.

"In the end, the guy is a football junkie and loves watching film, loves dissecting defenses and trying to put his offense in a great situation."

The stakes will be the highest yet when the two meet for the ninth time as head coaches. And even though one will be about to get a significant victory and the other a devastating loss, the two figure to meet at midfield and share a few moments over Leach's pregame cup of coffee just like every other time.

"You go out there, shake hands and maybe talk for a little longer before the game starts," Leach said. "But once the game starts it's the same as playing anybody else because you're just trying to solve the problems the other side presents."

Kansas St. still looking for Prince's replacement

MANHATTAN, Kan. - When Kansas State athletic director Bob Krause announced coach Ron Prince would not be back next season, the immediate focus shifted to Texas Christian's Gary Patterson.

It made sense. Patterson is a Kansas native, played at Kansas State as a walk-on, got his first coaching job in Manhattan under Jim Dickey in 1982.

It seemed so logical that the only surprise from an Internet report that Patterson had been hired at Kansas State was that it happened so quickly, just two days after Prince was fired on Nov. 5.

The problem was that the report was false - and Patterson didn't like it.

The Horned Frogs coach immediately denied that he had taken the job and ranted about the false report during his radio show later that day.

Even now, nearly two weeks after the report came out, Patterson is still bothered that he was linked to another job just hours after his team had been knocked out of BCS contention by a loss to Utah.

"I just had 65 guys fight their hearts out for a dream to get to a BCS game and they lost it," Patterson said this week during the Mountain West coaches teleconference.

"The first thing they did when they woke up after getting home at about 4 in the morning was to find out the guy they fought for had taken another job. It was very disappointing to me that that happened because there were a lot of people that had put a lot of time and effort into this season."

So does that mean Patterson is out of the running for the K-State job? Not necessarily. It just means he's not going to talk about it right now.

Neither is Krause.

At the time of Prince's firing, Kansas State's athletic director said he hoped to have a coach in place before the end of the season. The Wildcats finish up Saturday against Iowa State, so it doesn't look like that will happen.

Kansas State sports information director Kenny Lannou says Krause isn't going to comment until after a coach has been hired.

So if Patterson doesn't end up being the man, who might?

Oklahoma associate head coach Brent Venables would have to be considered a strong candidate after playing at Kansas State and spending six years there on Bill Snyder's staff.

Dennis Franchione is also a possibility. The former Texas A&M coach is from Girard, Kan., attended Pittsburg State in the southeast part of the state and has reportedly expressed interest in the job.

The most intriguing candidate might already be on campus.

Snyder has his name on the stadium and hasn't coached since 2005, but could make the transition to a new coach easier if he were persuaded to come back to the sideline for a year or two.

Whoever ends up in the Little Apple will face some difficult challenges.

The Wildcats have struggled in the difficult Big 12 over the past few seasons, closing last year with a four-game losing streak and entering Saturday's finale on a five-game skid. The offense has been decent, thanks in part to quarterback Josh Freeman, but the defense has been among the worst in the nation each of the past two seasons.

Manhattan also is a unique setting, a small college town in an isolated area roughly an hour from Topeka, two hours from Kansas City.

"It is not a big-city campus. You have to have a feel of the people," Kansas State tight end Brett Alstatt said. "I think we have to have somebody that just connects the Kansas life and the blue-collar people around here."

INTERESTED BYSTANDER

Texas' only path to the Big 12 championship game requires Texas Tech to lose to Oklahoma this week, but Longhorns coach Mack Brown says he knows better than to pull for his archrival.

"I remember I pulled really, really hard the time they were playing Kansas State in the Big 12 championship game (in 2003). I sat there and I was all pumped up because we were going to the Fiesta Bowl as soon as they won, and Kansas State beat them 35-7," Brown said. "I realized that night that me being a fan of either team doesn't really matter."

Texas is immediately behind Texas Tech at third in the BCS standings, and Brown noted that the Red Raiders still have another game after facing Oklahoma.

"There's so many different things that can happen over the next three weeks that I will simply sit back and watch and be a fan of the game," Brown said.

PAWELEK'S PICKS

Baylor linebacker Joe Pawelek intercepted a pass in the end zone for the third time this season on Saturday in the Bears' 41-21 win against Texas A&M.

With his two picks against the Aggies, Pawelek now has six interceptions this season, the most of any linebacker in major college football and the most by a Bears players since Michael McFarland had six in 1991.

All that added up to help Pawelek be named the Big 12 defensive player of the week.

"He's just smart. He understands, he anticipates and he pays attention. Those are all pretty good qualities to have as a middle linebacker," Baylor coach Art Briles said. "He studies the game."

Nebraska quarterback Joe Ganz was the offensive player of the week after racking up 365 yards of total offense, including two touchdowns rushing and passing, in a 56-28 win against Kansas State. K-State's Brandon Banks, who had a 98-yard kickoff return touchdown in the same game, was the special teams selection.

-- John Marshall