A DECADE AGO, just after a 40-6 loss to Clemson in the Russell Athletic Bowl, Oklahoma coach Bob Stoops called longtime assistant Cale Gundy.
Stoops asked Gundy if he could meet him at Bison Witches in downtown Norman. There, Stoops told Gundy he was going to fire his offensive coordinator, Josh Heupel.
The Sooners had just suffered through their worst season under Stoops. TCU and Kansas State upset them. Baylor blew them out.
And Oklahoma State, propelled by Tyreek Hill's punt return, rallied to win a Bedlam overtime thriller. Then, in the bowl game, Brent Venables' Clemson defense shut down the Sooners in a humiliating defeat. «Bob had to make a change,» Gundy recalled. «I don't know, it was tough.… it wasn't just struggles on the offensive side.