Bob Stoops visits Minco High School

By Jayson Knight
editor@tuttletimes.com

Minco Public Schools Superintendent Kevin Sims had a big surprise for his teachers Monday. While teachers were preparing for a day of professional development, Oklahoma football legend Bob Stoops walked in.
Stoops coached the University of Oklahoma Sooners for 18 seasons, winning about 80 percent of his games, including a national championship in 2000.

Mr. Sims, an avid OU fan, said Tuesday, “It was a really cool event and a great meeting, a great day with Coach Stoops for sure.”
Sims provided some insight into what Stoops covered during the meeting, saying, “He talked about his upbringing. His dad was a teacher and coach for 30 years, and so he grew up in a teacher’s home and he felt like his dad loved what he did. You can tell his father was a very big part of his life. He talked about his role as a coach. He (Stoops) felt like even though he (Stoops) wasn’t a teacher per se in a school, he felt like he was part of the education system, and he talked about the personal side of it and how he worked very, very hard to make a difference in his players’ lives. He said that every day at practice he made sure he touched every player, on a shoulder pad or something like that, every one of his players, 115 of them every day. He’d make sure he’d walk around and say something positive to them, hit them on a shoulder pad or whatever, even the ones that never played or you don’t know who they were, but they were as important to him as the ones that were All-Americans, and he talked about the personal connection you had to have to be effective.”
Sims said that the lesson absolutely translates to what it takes to be an effective educator.
“It was just a surprise for teachers and support staff. I didn’t tell anybody. I just had them here and we showed up and they were surprised. I just asked him. I reached out to his office and asked, and he agreed to do it. It was a real treat for our staff. I mean, you don’t get to meet people that have been in the limelight like that very often. I would say he was very down to earth. He wasn’t conceited, wasn’t arrogant. He was one of us, and it was really cool.”