When Oklahoma faces Tennessee-Chattanooga at 6:10 tonight at Owen Field, the 10th season of the Bob Stoops era will officially begin. As usual, Sooner fans will expect it to include another Big 12 title, double-digit wins and a realistic shot at another national championship.

That has become the norm during Stoops’ tenure. He’s brought 97 wins, five conference titles and one national championships in the previous nine seasons.

But consider this: During Stoops nine seasons, his teams have gotten into November — the final stretch of the regular season — needing only to win out to play for a national championship six times in the last eight years.

For all the championships, victories and historic games, consistency is the best way to describe what’s happened at Oklahoma since a defensive coordinator from Florida become the program’s 21st head coach.

Facilities have grown larger and more lush. The stadium is more vast. But inside the Switzer Center, where the wheels of the Sooner program spin, little has changed since Stoops first arrived.

“Every season is different, but it all kind of feels the same,” said defensive coordinator Brent Venables, who is one of four remaining coaches from Stoops’ original OU staff. “We’ve always had that methodical approach. You recognize that even with the past success you have, you have to start over every year. Things can go really good or really bad. You have to keep your nose down and keep pounding away.”

The belief that everything feels the same is something Venables, secondary coach Bobby Jack Wright, defensive tackles coach Jackie Shipp and running backs coach Cale Gundy all can agree on.

They were all coaches elsewhere before joining Stoops. All believe the environment the Sooners have created is the key to sustaining success.

“When you have success, you keep the same philosophy,” Shipp said. “He’s always had a good plan. He set his goal and he had his plan to achieve those goals and he stuck by it.”

There isn’t any coach who wants to run a place where chaos reigns. But in many cases, it happens.

It was going on at OU prior to Stoops arrival. The Sooners went 54-46-3 in nine season prior. Three head coaches and a plethora of philosophies blasted any notion of consistency.

It wasn’t the spread offense OU employed in the early years of Stoops’ reign or a more complicated defense that set the success in motion. It was a plan that was going to be followed without exception.

Shipp played at OU and for the Miami Dolphins. During that time he spent four seasons under Barry Switzer and five under the NFL’s winningest coach: Don Shula.

Stoops shares a trait with both.

“Those are two of the greatest coaches at both levels,” Shipp said. “They both had a plan and philosophy they stick to in the bad times and the good times. Good things tend to happen when you do that. It’s been the same way here.”

Where Stoops’ philosophy came from can’t be pinned on any particular coach, but he admits the path that brought him to Norman played a significant role.

He was part of Iowa’s renaissance as player and graduate assistant in the 1980s. He was an original member of Bill Snyder’s staff at Kansas State, where a winning program grew out of a place it had never previously existed.

Stoops spent three seasons at Florida, where Steve Spurrier had already built a powerhouse in Gainesville.

“Being a part of programs like that helped me,” Stoops said. “I was part of two major building programs and then Florida where they were competing for national championships.

All shared a common trait to Stoops.

“I was lucky and fortunate to be around successful people,” he said.

OU’s assistants feel the same way. Over the years five — Mike Leach, Mark Mangino, Mike Stoops, Chuck Long and Kevin Sumlin — have left to become head coaches.

More will depart before Stoops’ tenure at OU ends. But it’s a system coaches want to be part of.

“When we have an opening here we get hundreds of calls from around the country,” Gundy said. “A lot of those calls are from guys coming from other good programs, even elite programs.”

Coaches, players and fans all want to know what they’re buying into before making the leap. Over the last decade, the Sooners stepped on a path toward success and stayed on it.

Bud Wilkinson did from 1947-63. Switzer did it from 1973-89. Stoops has been doing it since 1999.

All shared one trait besides there first name beginning with the letter B: Consistency was the key.

John Shinn

366-3536

jshinn@normantranscript.com