How Bob Stoops Changed Arizona Coach Jedd Fisch's Life Forever
SAN ANTONIO — Despite years of coaching success on the Oklahoma sidelines, one of Bob Stoops' most successful play calls came off the field.
Stoops changed many lives for the better during his tenure as Oklahoma's head coach, but perhaps none more than Arizona head coach Jedd Fisch.
While Fisch never played under Stoops, the College Football Hall of Fame inductee gave the Wildcats' ball coach a piece of advice that changed his life for good over 20 years ago.
"I do know Coach Stoops. He introduced me to my wife in 2000 at the AFCA coaches convention. That's about the extent of my real experiences with Oklahoma," Fisch said.
Fisch originally mentioned that Stoops introduced the former Florida graduate assistant to his wife when he spoke on the Alamo Bowl coaches call back on Dec. 7.
At the Alamo Bowl coaches press conference on Wednesday in San Antonio, Fisch dove deeper into the story of his relationship with Stoops, describing how the national champion head coach played a major part in Fisch meeting his wife.
"I was a graduate assistant at the University of Florida. Back then, there wasn't, like, a hundred graduate assistants and 20 analysts. There were just two of us. We were at the coaches' convention," Fisch said.
"My wife was working for Grant Teaff at the AFCA (American Football Coaches Association), working for a company that put on their convention. Coach Stoops just won the National Coach of the Year, Oklahoma won the national championship in (2000), January of '01 is when the convention was. At the end of the night we were all getting done with the banquet. Amber and a couple of her friends were at the table next to us. He said, 'That might be a good person to say hello to, Jedd.'
"Twenty-one years later, here we are. Pretty cool story. Obviously Coach Stoops means a lot to us, as does Coach (Steve) Spurrier. We were sharing that story with Coach (Brent) Venables and Julie the other night."
Stoops and Fisch were both on staff at Florida under Spurrier, but never overlapped with the Gators, as Fisch arrived in Gainesville prior to the 1999 season.
While Fisch's marriage won't affect the outcome of Thursday night's showdown at the Alamodome, the relationship between Stoops and Arizona's head coach adds yet another intriguing storyline to what already had the makings of an entertaining contest.
No. 14 Arizona and No. 12 Oklahoma square off at 8:15 p.m. Thursday in San Antonio.
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