Bob Stoops admits he cheered for Kentucky over Iowa

The Music City Bowl tugged at the heartstrings of the Stoops family. This was especially true for Bob Stoops, who went to Iowa but whose brother Mark Stoops (also an Iowa graduate) is currently the head coach at Kentucky.

The problem for someone like Bob Stoops was obvious. Should he root for his school or his brother? At the Bear Bryant Awards, he admitted that he chose his brother and was rooting for Kentucky.

“I watch them a lot,” Stoops said of Iowa. “I love watching the Hawkeyes and record them about every week. You know, so proud of Kirk Ferentz.”

Iowa won the Music City Bowl 21-0, though neither team had its starting quarterback in the game. All 21 of those points were scored in the second quarter of the game, with two interceptions for scores in the quarter.

“Hate that they beat Kentucky, just because blood’s thicker than water. My brother’s on that side. But if anyone’s going to beat him, I’m glad it was Iowa and Kirk Ferentz.”

During his own career, Bob Stoops was the longtime head coach of the Oklahoma Sooners. There, he won a national championship and consistently produced one of the best teams in the country. In 2011, he took on Iowa, and beat the Hawkeyes, in the Insight Bowl.

Mark Stoops on the difference coaching in a bowl game

After the bowl loss, Mark Stoops clearly wasn’t happy with the result. At the same time, he argued that coaching in a bowl is a unique situation.

“Very different. Very different. I don’t know what else to say,” Stoops said.

“We compete to win the game. We came up short. None of us are happy with that. You know, these guys work and prepare to win, but is this exactly a great situation to throw him into? Here’s a bowl game against a top-ten defense and because of the way this is. I don’t know if that’s right either, but I don’t have all the answers. You know, I know we tried our best. I know we compete to win no matter what the stakes are, and we lost today, and I give Iowa credit for that.”