FROM THE LEGENDARY OKLAHOMA COACH,
A CANDID AND INSPIRING MEMOIR

When Bob Stoops took over as football coach at the University of Oklahoma in 1999, the Sooners were in disarray, with back-to-back losing seasons.  But in just two years, Stoops achieved the seemingly impossible, winning a national championship in only his second season and returning the struggling Sooners to their powerhouse status.

During his eighteen seasons at OU, Stoops churned out NFL talent, produced three Heisman Trophy winners, clinched multiple conference championships, made regular national title runs, and notched a remarkable 190-48 record.  Then, at fiftysix, at the peak of his career, he stunned the college football world by retiring.

Now, for the first time, Stoops 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 head coach as CEO rather than mentor and teacher.  Stoops holds nothing back while explaining why it was time to step away from the game - and the players - he still loves.

Told with a rare combination of sincerity, vulnerability, and pure heart, No Excuses is 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.

BOB STOOPS was the head football coach at the University of Oklahoma from 1999 until his retirement in 2017.  During his career he led the Sooners to an Orange Bowl victory and a national championship and coached three Heisman Trophy winners.  He continues to live in Oklahoma with his wife and children.

GENE WOJCIECHOWSKI is a reporter for ESPN.  He has authored or coauthored multiple bestsellers, including The Last Great Game: Duke vs. Kentucky, as well as autobiographies with Jerome Bettis and Paul Finebaum.  He lives in Wheaton, Illinois.,