Bob Stoops Defended Mike Gundy's Petty Handling of Wes Lunt Transfer, Continues to Be Mouthy in 2013

Bob Stoops: he just keeps talking. Earlier, Oklahoma’s head coach espoused paternalism and took on the SEC. Now, he weighed in on the West Lunt transfer saga. Surprise, he supports Mike Gundy, the man petty enough to block his third-string quarterback from transferring to 37 schools.

Stoops believes it “isn’t right” that a student-athlete can just “do what they want to do.”

"“It isn’t right that they can just do what they want to do,” Stoops said. “It isn’t good. I don’t believe in it.” “Nobody made them sign with me. I didn’t force them to, it was what they wanted to do. And because we’re limited in what we’re allowed per scholarship, it’s the right thing to have consequences, otherwise you’d have kids changing their mind every year. It’s not right,” he said."

If these are mere “students,” they should have the right afforded any other student to “do what they want to do.” This includes the opportunity to pursue an education elsewhere, to accept financial aid from that other institution and to participate in extracurricular activities elsewhere. Self-determination is healthy. It is what it means to be American. If coaches want to control kids, there is a fair way to do it: pay them. They sign an employment agreement. coaches can control how they extricate themselves from it.

Stoops is correct. Free movement of players can be harmful to college football programs. Even more harmful? Free movement of coaches. Programs direct three to four recruiting cycles to a coach’s system. He can take off without penalty and perhaps a mere awkward text message. Perhaps, Bob could follow his own logic and spearhead the movement to have non-compete clauses inserted into coaches’ contracts?

[Photo via USA Today Sports]