I thought this was interesting- I remember, on Hornfans around 2001-2002, there was a lot of talk about Florida wanting to hire Stoops to replace Spurrier. I remember reading about it coming to a head during a big OU recruiting weekend, and how his announcement that he was staying at OU seemed staged and timed to help the Sooner recruiting.
On the Sooner board discussions about Mateer and the portal, a few guys referred to that time, and said that Stoops and Florida actually reached an agreement. According to the Sooners, Stoops wanted to coach Florida, and tried to work it out so that he would leave his staff in Norman, and for his brother, Mike, to take over. Evidently, per this telling, Castiglione told theStoopses that he would have a national search for a HC replacement, and Mike wasn’t getting it, and that caused Bob Stoops to decide to stay.
I have to say- that sounds more logical reading it, on Sooner boards, than writing it on a Texas board.