In Bob Stoops’ 10 seasons at Oklahoma, five different assistants have left to become head coaches. But none have created a bigger name for himself than Mike Leach

The Red Raiders’ success over the last nine seasons has given Leach a coaching identity that reaches well beyond Big 12 Conference borders. He’s 75-37 over the last nine years and brings No. 2 Texas Tech (10-0, 6-0 Big 12) to Owen Field to face the fifth-ranked Sooners (9-1, 5-1) with hopes of winning its first Big 12 championship.

That’s an obvious reason why Leach has broken from the crowd.

His quirky interests like in-line skating stand out. His impressive knowledge of Geronimo, obsession with pirates or the fact he’s a football coach with a law degree all make him different.

Leach doesn’t fit in any mold, and that makes him very unique from any of Stoops’ other assistants.

Mark Mangino, who succeeded Leach as offensive coordinator, was an assistant with Stoops at Kansas State.

Mike Stoops, aside from the family ties, also cut his teeth as a Kansas State aide.

Chuck Long, who succeeded Mangino and was Stoops’ first quarterbacks coach, played at Iowa, Stoops’ alma mater.

Even Kevin Sumlin, who left his job as receivers coach last season to take over at Houston, had deep roots in the Big Ten Conference.

Leach didn’t have their pedigrees. All he had was an in-depth knowledge of an offense Stoops greatly admired.

“I didn’t have any idea that he’d call me,” was Leach’s recollection of his first talks with the OU coach about joining him in Norman.

When Stoops was assembling his first staff in December of 1998, one thing that stuck in his mind was how difficult Kentucky had been to stop.

Hal Mumme, then Kentucky’s head coach, was receiving the credit for the record-shattering amount of points the Wildcats were putting up. The four- and five-receiver sets the Wildcats employed were new to the SEC. Throwing the ball 50 times a game was, too.

Stoops would have loved to have brought Mumme to Norman, but that wasn’t possible. He went with Kentucky’s offensive coordinator — Leach.

“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.”

It was different. And different turned out to be very good.

OU defensive coordinator Brent Venables still remembers the first scrimmage in the spring of 1999 as being one of his most frustrating days as a coach.

“They (OU’s offense) went out there and rolled up about 800 yards on us,” he recalled. “Me and Mike (Stoops) were going crazy.”

That offense helped OU go 7-5 in Leach’s only season in Norman. Texas Tech hired him away before the Sooners could even reach the Independence Bowl.

Elements of that offense remained, though. The run game received a bigger emphasis in following years and the three offensive coordinators that followed — Mangino, Long and Kevin Wilson — added their parts.

Stoops said the biggest imprint came in personnel.

The only OU recruiting class Leach had his hand in roped Josh Heupel, Nate Hybl and Jason White.

Those three quarterbacks ran OU’s offenses from 1999-2004, winning a national championship and three Big 12 titles between them.

“That part of it really got us going as far as having some quarterback play and being able to attract other quarterbacks,” Stoops said.

Leach used Stoops’ first season at OU as a blueprint when he took over at Texas Tech.

“I got to see how he (Stoops) put together the program, some of the pitfalls and just how to put it together and how he responded to things,” he said.

But they’ve been equals for some time.

Leach, who is 2-6 in his eight previous meetings against Stoops, will lead his team onto Owen Field for the fifth time Saturday night. The Big 12’s southern division and a shot at national championship all hang in the balance.

The stakes between the programs have never been higher. It won’t be a time for nostalgia.

“Once the game starts it’s the same as playing anybody else,” he said.

But nothing has been the same since Leach came to Norman in the winter of 1998. The Sooners and the Big 12 South have been altered by him.

John Shinn

366-3536

jshinn@normantranscript.com