Mike Stoops Hired as FAU Defensive Coordinator

Alabama football analyst Mike Stoops is anticipated to join Willie Taggart and be Florida Atlantic's next defensive coordinator, Pete Thamel of Yahoo Sports reported.

Stoops was recently rumored to be joining former Alabama offensive coordinator Steve Sarkisian's staff at Texas as a linebacker coach. That deal fell through, and Stoops returned to Alabama in the analyst role that he has been in for the past two seasons.

Coach Stoops has been around the block, holding assistant roles at Iowa, Kansas State, and Oklahoma before being hired as Arizona's head coach in 2003. Stoops' Arizona teams were wildly inconsistent, going 41-50 in his time there. After being fired from Arizona, he returned to Oklahoma and was hired as defensive coordinator in 2012.

Stoops' defensive units at Oklahoma were known for giving up large sums of points. However, Oklahoma had continued success during his time there due to its high powered offense. Stoops coached in two College Football Playoff games while with the Sooners. After the 2018 loss to Texas, Stoops was let go from Oklahoma midseason. Nick Saban brought him to Tuscaloosa as a defensive analyst for the 2019 and 2020 seasons.

The Florida Atlantic Owls have been under head coach Willie Taggart for one season, going 5-4 overall and 4-2 in Conference USA. The Owls lost their last three games of the season, including the Montgomery Bowl to the Memphis Tigers.

Getting out of the Power 5 will allow Stoops to implement his knowledge at a smaller program. Taggart is a more offensive-minded coach, so Stoops will most likely have full reign of the Owls defense. After learning under Nick Saban for two years, Stoops will have a great opportunity at Florida Atlantic to display that he can still be a successful coach in college football.