Reports: Oklahoma Coach Bob Stoops will retire after 18 seasons

The Oklahoman's Berry Tramel and Bruce Feldman of Fox Sports reported Wednesday afternoon that Oklahoma football Coach Bob Stoops will retire immediately after 18 highly successful seasons at the helm. Offensive coordinator Lincoln Riley will take over as head coach.

Carey Murdock of WWLS in Norman, Oklahoma, says he also confirmed the news with Stoops himself. A team meeting will take place Wednesday afternoon.

Stoops, 56, won the Bowl Championship Series title in just his second year at the Oklahoma helm in 2000, setting an impossibly high bar for a tradition-rich program that had fallen on hard times in the post-Barry Switzer era. He followed with more success - 10 Big 12 titles, including the last two, and a 60-30 record against teams ranked in the Associated Press top 25 - but never won another national championship despite three more title game appearances. He finished with a program-record 190 wins - more than Switzer or the equally legendary Bud Wilkinson - and just nine home losses over 18 seasons.

Riley, who's just 33, inherits a team that returns quarterback Baker Mayfield, who finished third in last year's Heisman Trophy voting. Riley passed on numerous chances to take over other programs in the past.

'Great young coach, the program's in great shape,” a source told Trammel, speaking of Riley. 'Good recruiting class. Got a great young coach that anybody would want to have, ready to go. He's as good a coach as there in America, at this stage in his career.

'And Bob got to do it in his way. Doesn't get any better than that.”