It didn’t take long for Bob Stoops to get the Oklahoma fan base fired up about the program once again. Timed at just under three minutes, Stoops’ passion for the program shone through in a major way Monday afternoon.

Not just the interim head coach, heck of a lot more than that.

“I'm talking to our recruits out there, I'm talking to our players' parents out there. I've had multiple meetings already with the players, going out recruiting tonight, and the message to all of you is listen, when I arrived here Dec. 1, 1998, there was something to be concerned about, a lot to be concerned about — four straight years without a winning record, no bowl games, da-da-da-da-da, two years later, we were 13-0 and won the national championship,” Stoops said. “This place is in a hell of a lot better *shape than it was Dec. 1, 1998.

“We're a perennial, top 5, 10, 15 team every single year, we're playing that kind of football. This job is going to attract the very best in the coaching world, and they're already lined up and calling, calling Joe, hitting people the way they do. This is a real job, this is a great job, a great university with great leadership.”

It was the shot in the arm anyone associated with the program needed after the jolt it received from former coach Lincoln Riley leaving for USC on Sunday.

Of course, it wasn’t just Riley. We’ve learned fellow coaches Alex Grinch, Dennis Simmons and Bennie Wylie are heading west, too, as is staff personnel Clarke Stroud.

A doom-and-gloom scenario if ever there was one. As Stoops referenced, though, 1998 was a true challenge. This? A blip on the radar.

“All you fans, and again, player parents, everyone, just understand, give it a little bit of time and you're going to see, this is just a little bump in the road,” Riley said. “There's not one guy, one person in the history of this program that's bigger than the program, coach Switzer, myself, or Lincoln Riley.

“And what I told the players is, they are the program, players throughout these decades, they are OU football, not us as a coach.

“They'll stick together, they stick together, they'll continue to be OU football, championship football the way we're used to playing it. And I look forward to doing everything that I can here in these next few weeks to help it continue to succeed the way it has.”

OU has lost six commitments (three in 2022, three in 2023) since the Riley news, but the tide began turning throughout Monday with recruits saying it’s time to put their foot down and represent the crimson and cream.

That’s what Stoops has always done, and it’s what he’s gonna do now. Meeting with players, talking with recruits and their families. He’s more than just a figurehead. He’s a program guy and willing to do whatever is necessary for OU.

What isn’t known, however, is what kind of staff he’ll have at his disposal heading into the bowl game. At 10-2 overall and 7-2 in the Big 12, OU’s regular season is over. The Sooners will find out their bowl destination Sunday afternoon.

And whoever is on the staff, well, they’ll find a way.

“That's not unusual. When you have coaching changes, assistant coaches are caught in the middle of it on whether to go or not to go,” Stoops said. “That's just ongoing. For me, I don't think it's definitive who would be staying, who would not be. We will have to wait and see this week how it goes with the assistant coaches. But there was a good number of them in our meeting this morning, ready to work and go out tonight to go to work recruiting.”

The uncertainty, obviously, isn’t just recruiting. It’s the current players. Quarterback Spencer Rattler and wide receiver Jadon Haselwood became the first players to enter the transfer portal Monday. They won’t be the last.

Stoops said this week will consist of a couple of lifting days Wednesday and Friday to keep themselves, at least, in a good physical frame of mind. Same for next week before the focus will turn to bowl preparation and whatever players are still left standing.

“They were, of course, blindsided,” Stoops said. “And so they were in shock. Yesterday, definitely. I was in the meeting. They were very respectful of coach Riley as he addressed them. Some even, you know, clapped for him as he left. But, in shock.

“But then after Joe (Castiglione) addressed them and then I had an opportunity to address them, again, to understand, they are OU football. Not this one guy didn't all of a sudden create OU football.”

What could have become a chaotic moment was calmed down by Stoops and his own shocking coaching announcement.

Stoops recollected about when he announced his retirement in the summer of 2017, some players were somber. Stoops compared it to a funeral. He got spirits high again by telling them it’s OK because it’s his decision.

He did that again Sunday, saying it was Riley’s decision.

Because in the end, even though Stoops looks like a savior of the program, he reiterated it’s the players that are always going to be OU football.

“You're the ones who are going to go make all the plays — or not make the plays,” Stoops said. “You guys win or lose. You’re OU football. He isn't. I'm not. Any other coach who comes here isn’t. OU football has been here a long time, and it isn't going anywhere else. It's going to be here and it's going to be at the top of college football and is going to continue that way.”

The on-field product will be a heavy point of discussion in the next month and there are a lot of questions to be answered.

It will be determined by what staff members stay. And with Riley calling all the offensive shots, it’ll be a group effort to call the show in the bowl game.

“Not yet. I would assume and believe it would be a group effort,” Stoops said. “That'll be something that I'll let the staff decide how they feel the most comfortable. It'll be a group effort, and those guys care about the program and these players. I'm sure they'll all give it their best to give us a great opportunity to win.”