Tilting at Windmills

The University of Oklahoma just stepped up to the plate and again and made it even harder for Bob Stoops to leave, if he ever wanted to in the first place.

Stoops is set to become college football’s first $5 million man in the 2011 season.

Indeed we do.

According to the Tulsa World:

Stoops’ reworked deal, which was extended two years through Dec. 31, 2015, allows for a current guaranteed $2.975 million. It also calls for a $700,000 annual stay bonus, first payable Oct. 1. Meaning, when Stoops takes the sideline for the next OU-Texas game, he’ll be making $3.675 million.

An additional bonus, termed in the contract an “Additional Stay Benefit,” of $800,000 will be paid following Jan. 1, 2011. Factoring in the $700,000 bonus already in place, as well as the automatic $200,000 annual private-funds bump also built into the contract, Stoops stands to make $4.875 million in 2011. And that’s before performance-based bonuses also included in the deal. Should the Sooners compete for the Big 12 championship and a BCS bowl that season, as is typical under the coach, Stoops would clear the $5 million mark.

All told, his seven-year pact is worth $30.125 million.

It’s “interesting” that the story didn’t list Stoops’ performance bonus should he actually win a frickin’ BCS game, but I digress.

Stoops wasn’t the only benafactor of OU Regents’ largesse, though. Jeff Capel was rightfully extended through the 2016 season, receiving annual raises that will culminate in a guaranteed $2.84 mil in the 2013-14 season. The salary includes a retention bonus of $1.1 mil, payable on June 30, 2014. That’s a nice incentive to retain the services of a guy that will have every open job in the country thrown at him in the next five years.

The worst-kept secret around the OU hoops program this year finally became public: Juan Pattillo will not be in the Crimson and Cream next season.

The 6’6″ forward was expected to start after the Sooners lost both of the Griffin brothers. Unfortunately, disappearing in games and fighting over teammates’ girlfriends appeared easier than cracking a Theory of Basketball book (anybody who watched him down the stretch last year knew he wasn’t attending that class).

Pattillo was one of TaW’s favorite players last year and we’re sorry to see him go, but unless you’re Blake Griffin or the great Wayman Tisdale, one player does not a program make. His absence hurts the Sooners’ depth, though, and means Capel needs to coach some other guys up in a hurry.

OU will now be looking at Ryan Wright or Orlando Allen to fill Pattillo’s shoes. The safe bet is probably 6’9″ senior Wright, given his appearance in 31 games with four starts. Wright is a good defender and rebounder, but limited on the offensive end. His most meaningful minutes came late in the season when Blake was hurt. Allen is a 6’11, 260-pound sophomore with tremendous upside, but limited experience. He played in 19 games, mostly in mop-up duty in non-conference blowouts. If he develops well enough to start in the middle, that would allow McDonald’s All-American Keith “Tiny” Gallon to play his natural four position and pop outside to show his range and draw defenders out of the paint.