What do you think?
Rate this book
No Excuses: The Making of a Head Coach
From the legendary Oklahoma coach, a candid and inspiring memoir.
When Bob Stoops took over as football coach in 1999, the Oklahoma Sooners were in disarray with back-to-back losing seasons. But in just two years' time, Stoops achieved the seemingly impossible: winning a national championship and returning the struggling Sooners to their powerhouse status, churning out NFL talent, Heisman Trophy winners and conference championships, bowl wins and national title runs on a regular basis.
During his 18 seasons at OU, his record was a remarkable 190-48. At only age 56, at the peak of his career, he stunned the college football world by walking away.
For the first time, Bob opens up about his career alongside the evolution of the game itself. From his unlikely emergence as a star player at the University of Iowa, to his coaching apprenticeships under giants like Hayden Fry, Bill Snyder, and Steve Spurrier, Stoops recounts how the game he fell in love with as a boy has evolved into a billion-dollar business often compromised by recruiting wars, aggressive agents, overzealous boosters and alumni, and the emergence of the CEO head coach rather than mentor and teacher. Bob holds nothing back while explaining why it was time to step away from the game--and players--he still loves.
Told with a rare combination of sincerity, vulnerability, and pure heart, No Excuses is both an engaging and eye-opening football memoir and an unprecedented portrait of a coach of one of the greatest legacy programs in the history of the college game.
When Bob Stoops took over as football coach in 1999, the Oklahoma Sooners were in disarray with back-to-back losing seasons. But in just two years' time, Stoops achieved the seemingly impossible: winning a national championship and returning the struggling Sooners to their powerhouse status, churning out NFL talent, Heisman Trophy winners and conference championships, bowl wins and national title runs on a regular basis.
During his 18 seasons at OU, his record was a remarkable 190-48. At only age 56, at the peak of his career, he stunned the college football world by walking away.
For the first time, Bob opens up about his career alongside the evolution of the game itself. From his unlikely emergence as a star player at the University of Iowa, to his coaching apprenticeships under giants like Hayden Fry, Bill Snyder, and Steve Spurrier, Stoops recounts how the game he fell in love with as a boy has evolved into a billion-dollar business often compromised by recruiting wars, aggressive agents, overzealous boosters and alumni, and the emergence of the CEO head coach rather than mentor and teacher. Bob holds nothing back while explaining why it was time to step away from the game--and players--he still loves.
Told with a rare combination of sincerity, vulnerability, and pure heart, No Excuses is both an engaging and eye-opening football memoir and an unprecedented portrait of a coach of one of the greatest legacy programs in the history of the college game.
321 pages, Kindle Edition
Published September 10, 2019
58 people are currently reading
801 people want to read
Ratings & Reviews
Friends & Following
Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!
Community Reviews
Displaying 1 - 27 of 27 reviews
September 25, 2019
When Bob Stoops took over the football program at the University of Oklahoma in 1999, the program was only a shell of what it was during its glory days in earlier decades. In two short years, the Sooners were the national champions. While this memoir certainly talks about that extraordinary accomplishment, it is far from the only event of his life that Stoops writes about with pride in the book.
While Stoops does write with fondness about his siblings, parents and childhood, the book doesn’t feel like it has a personality of its own until Stoops enrolls at the University of Iowa and plays on the defensive side of the football. It was there that Stoops realized that he stands little chance to play professional football and if he wants to have a career in the game, he has to turn to coaching.
Starting as a graduate assistant under Hayden Fry in Iowa, the reader is taken on the journey Stoops undertakes on his way to Norman, Oklahoma. Stoops makes sure to praise all the mentors he had along the way for working as an assistant coach at Florida and Kansas State, where he was especially proud of being part of the staff that made the Wildcats a prominent program. Stoops does a good job writing about his coaching career in great detail.
However, the detail doesn’t delve greatly into either the life of coaches who work extremely long hours and there isn’t a lot of X’s and O’s during the football talk – instead he writes more about his family life, his players and his personal reflections. Some of them are touching, such as when he talks about fellow coaches, whether on his staff or elsewhere. Others can leave the reader as either angry or at least confused, as I was when he was trying to explain why he suspended running back Joe Mixon in 2016 after being charged with assaulting a woman instead of permanently removing Mixon from the team. He wrote about this in the same manner as everything else he writes about – with total honesty.
While it is clear from the book that Stoops is an honest man, he is a family man and has a coaching record that speaks for itself, this book only came across as a decent one for me. Hardcore fans of college football, especially those who follow the Sooners, will love reading Stoops’ stories, but if not, it will be one that will is okay and interesting but not one that will stand out as one of the best – fortunately for Stoops, no one will ever say that about his coaching abilities.
I wish to thank Little Brown and Company for providing a copy of the book via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.
https://sportsbookguy.blogspot.com/20...
While Stoops does write with fondness about his siblings, parents and childhood, the book doesn’t feel like it has a personality of its own until Stoops enrolls at the University of Iowa and plays on the defensive side of the football. It was there that Stoops realized that he stands little chance to play professional football and if he wants to have a career in the game, he has to turn to coaching.
Starting as a graduate assistant under Hayden Fry in Iowa, the reader is taken on the journey Stoops undertakes on his way to Norman, Oklahoma. Stoops makes sure to praise all the mentors he had along the way for working as an assistant coach at Florida and Kansas State, where he was especially proud of being part of the staff that made the Wildcats a prominent program. Stoops does a good job writing about his coaching career in great detail.
However, the detail doesn’t delve greatly into either the life of coaches who work extremely long hours and there isn’t a lot of X’s and O’s during the football talk – instead he writes more about his family life, his players and his personal reflections. Some of them are touching, such as when he talks about fellow coaches, whether on his staff or elsewhere. Others can leave the reader as either angry or at least confused, as I was when he was trying to explain why he suspended running back Joe Mixon in 2016 after being charged with assaulting a woman instead of permanently removing Mixon from the team. He wrote about this in the same manner as everything else he writes about – with total honesty.
While it is clear from the book that Stoops is an honest man, he is a family man and has a coaching record that speaks for itself, this book only came across as a decent one for me. Hardcore fans of college football, especially those who follow the Sooners, will love reading Stoops’ stories, but if not, it will be one that will is okay and interesting but not one that will stand out as one of the best – fortunately for Stoops, no one will ever say that about his coaching abilities.
I wish to thank Little Brown and Company for providing a copy of the book via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.
https://sportsbookguy.blogspot.com/20...
January 13, 2022
I grew up in the Barry Switzer era and loved his combination of option offense and great defense. However, Bob Stoops will always be my favorite OU coach. As I often said during the few disappointing Sooner seasons, “In Bob I Trust”. He proved that a CFB team could play at a national level without sacrificing integrity, character, and fair play. His book only encouraged my appreciation for all things Bob Stoops. In 2022, the end of the book is somewhat disheartening as it ends with his belief that Lincoln Riley was a worthy successor. Thankfully, Brent Venables appears to be a more storybook ending to Bob’s legacy, and hopefully, it will play out that way. Highly recommend for college football fans.
January 27, 2020
Great on Audio. I loved hearing Bob’s stories from all of his career and revisiting all of my memories of these games too.
December 12, 2019
Lived up to the Title 'No Excuses'!
October 10, 2019
Loved It!
I enjoyed this book so much! You will laugh and you will cry. I so enjoyed hearing about Bob Stoops and THE Bob Stoops. I couldn’t put it down. It finally validated what I already assumed, Coach Stoops is not only a great Coach but a great person. Even if you are not an OU fan, you will enjoy this book.
I enjoyed this book so much! You will laugh and you will cry. I so enjoyed hearing about Bob Stoops and THE Bob Stoops. I couldn’t put it down. It finally validated what I already assumed, Coach Stoops is not only a great Coach but a great person. Even if you are not an OU fan, you will enjoy this book.
November 4, 2023
Absolutely loved it
December 27, 2021
No Excuses: The Making of a Head Coach by Bob Stoops and Gene Wojciechowski (Little, Brown & Co. 2019)(796.33623) (3599).
I am a huge college sports fan, and college football is at the top of my list of favorite pastimes. But I have never been a fan of Oklahoma University (Boomer Sooner!), nor have I ever paid much attention to Bob Stoops, who is the winningest coach in OU history.
Now that I’ve read No Excuses: The Making of a Head Coach by Bob Stoops and Gene Wojciechowski, I am a big fan of Bob Stoops too.
“Big Game Bob” Stoops grew up in Ohio and played football at the University of Iowa. After successful stints as a coordinator, he was hired to resurrect the stagnant Oklahoma program.
Stoops has been hugely successful - by Big Twelve standards, anyhow.
I picked up this book because of a recent blurb in my hometown newspaper regarding Josh Heupel, who is in his first year as the head football coach at the University of Tennessee. Heupel is from the Dakotas (that famous hotbed of college sports); he played for Bob Stoops at OU. In 2000, Heupel and Stoops led Oklahoma to its first NCAA Championship in many years. Heupel finished second in the Heisman Trophy balloting that year. He later became the Offensive Coordinator for Stoops’ OU teams.
According to the newspaper blurb that led me to No Excuses, Bob Stoops stated in the book that firing Josh Heupel as Offensive Coordinator was the hardest decision he ever made.
I wanted the full back story, so I found a copy of No Excuses via my library’s interlibrary loan program.
Sure enough, Bob Stoops said exactly what had been reported in the newspaper.
But there was barely any other mention of Coach Heupel in Stoops’ book.
I didn’t find what I had been looking for, but I found that Bob Stoops is worthy of the accolades heaped upon him by his players and fans.
I guess I’ll call that a win.
My rating: 7/10, finished 12/26/21 (3599).
February 5, 2020
If you're an University of Oklahoma fan, student or alumni; or if you're a fan of college football, I think you'll enjoy this autobiography of Bob Stoops. I was like many others who were shocked when Stoops retired from coaching the Sooners a few years ago, but I respect his decision just like people respected my decision to retire from my job a few years ago. We both felt is was the right time to leave our chosen professions (although his job was "a bit more of a higher profile" than my DC role).
Good background, some nice stories of how Stoops worked his way up the chain from player, to graduate assistant, and to a series of assistant coaching positions before he got the call for OU. The book nicely covered his coaching career; his national title year, the number of Big 12 titles, the Texas-OU Red River rivalry, and his relinquishing the OU reigns to Lincoln Riley in 2017. A few of the chapters dealt with personal issues and focuses, but it was mainly on his career on the football sidelines.
It was a quick read, but a good one for me; having earned my MA from OU in 1999. Sooner fans will enjoy this book on a coach who re-established Oklahoma as national power in college football.
Good background, some nice stories of how Stoops worked his way up the chain from player, to graduate assistant, and to a series of assistant coaching positions before he got the call for OU. The book nicely covered his coaching career; his national title year, the number of Big 12 titles, the Texas-OU Red River rivalry, and his relinquishing the OU reigns to Lincoln Riley in 2017. A few of the chapters dealt with personal issues and focuses, but it was mainly on his career on the football sidelines.
It was a quick read, but a good one for me; having earned my MA from OU in 1999. Sooner fans will enjoy this book on a coach who re-established Oklahoma as national power in college football.
October 30, 2019
In No Excuses: The Making of a Head Coach, Bob Stoops explores his life, his career as a college football coach and his philosophy concerning each. You need not be a fan of Oklahoma football or a fan of Stoops to enjoy the book. When Stoops took the job as the head coach at OU, the record of the program was dismal at best; within two years, Stoops and his team had won a National Championship. The story of Stoops' life is also an important aspect of the book beginning with his life as the son of a high school football coach and continuing with his life with his family as a coach and all that it entails. Stoops tells his story honestly and sincerely and gives great insight into his views as a winning coach. While it would probably help if the reader were a football fan, it is not necessary to enjoy the book.
September 10, 2019
I wanted to review this book mainly due to Stoops growing up in Youngstown Ohio, and hoping for some good stories. I was not disappointed. There are plenty of tales about Youngstown (not far from me), and how the culture made him into the person he is. There are some great football tales in the book, from former coaches, players, and friends who add their take on the stories.
This is a good sports book for fans to read, along with non football fans, who think all the books are just filled with too many stats (me included).
For a in depth review, go to : https://lancewrites.wordpress.com/201...
This is a good sports book for fans to read, along with non football fans, who think all the books are just filled with too many stats (me included).
For a in depth review, go to : https://lancewrites.wordpress.com/201...
February 26, 2020
I liked this book so much that i read it twice. It is one of my favorite book because I love Oklahoma University football. Bob Stoops was on of my favorite coaches. He loves football and so do I. He tried to make Oklahoma a much better school, and that is what he did. He could not do any better for the Oklahoma football program.
July 31, 2020
This is a must read for anyone who wants to go into sports coaching. Bobby Stoops provides an inside look at the sacrifices and tenacity required to succeed in sports and life. He also conveys the importance of family and parenting, giving important insights for up and coming coaches into life balance.
May 31, 2022
Stoops chronicles his entire life, from growing up in Youngstown to playing at Iowa to his tenure as the head football coach at Oklahoma. As a coach, there was much to take away, especially about toughness. However, I also appreciated Stoops allowing readers to see behind the curtain as he struggled to balance with work with family life.
January 29, 2025
Exactly what you think it would be. Good coach, good man. Enjoyed reliving some of the moments through his eyes, didn’t enjoy reliving Boise State or passing the torch to Lincoln. Wish there has been an addendum explaining his true thoughts after Lincoln left for USC. Anyway, good book, once I got to the OU sections I flew through it. Childrens Cancer Hospital chapter nearly had me in tears.
June 17, 2020
Very nice book and well written. Tough follow the first few chapters while Bob is in high school or college...once he made it in coaching you could follow better because you had read about him as he progressed through the coaching ranks...
March 12, 2025
Very good Bob Stoops biography. If you are a fan of his, of college football or of Oklahoma football, it’s particularly good. I grew up as a fan of Barry Switzer and his 70’s/80’s Sooners apparently Coach Stoops did too.
December 20, 2019
This book offers a sincere looks inside the ups and downs in the life of a coach. Heartfelt and moving, at times. Great book, especially for sports fans.
February 4, 2020
I listened to the audio and especially like the fact that Stoops did his own narration. Not knowing about him or the OU program but knowledgeable about football it held my interest.
July 27, 2020
Loved reading about Coach Stoops. Boomer!!!
August 25, 2020
Great read for all Sooner fans!
October 25, 2020
Fantastic, no-spin tell all. Really enjoyed reading this book.
April 6, 2021
Great book. Enjoyed the background he gave on his early coaching career. Nothing too surprising in here.
March 23, 2022
Bob is the man
December 27, 2022
Masterpiece; unparalleled wisdom & insight on football, coaching, and how to not only overcome challenges but truly embrace the inherent beauty and mystery of life.
August 3, 2024
Amazing insight into one of the best head coaches of all times.
October 16, 2025
Good story. Good leadership principles sprinkled through also.
June 16, 2025
A well-written autobiography by a beloved college football coach. He is an excellent coach and an even better person. A must for college football fans.
Displaying 1 - 27 of 27 reviews