vindy.com | All in the Family

Thursday, November 26, 2009

Photo by: Lisa-Ann Ishihara

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FAMILY AFFAIR: Cardinal Mooney Assistant football coach Ron Stoops, center, is flanked by sons John, left, and Joe in the Mooney football locker room.

Photo by: Robert K. Yosay

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STILL PLAYING: Mooney linebacker Joe Stoops (12) brings down Columbus St. Francis DeSales’ Jake Edsinger (22) during Week 2 at YSU’s Stambaugh Stadium. Both teams have qualified for Friday’s Division III state semifinals.

Photo by: Robert K. Yosay

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Mooney Vs. Poland

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Mooney vs Poland

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One day this season, in the middle of a practice, Mooney defensive coordinator Ron Stoops looked at his son John and said, “If you’re not going to do what I tell you, why don’t you get off my field?”

So, naturally, this became a running joke with John’s teammates, who loved to use the line “Why don’t you get off my field?” as much as another of Ron’s lines: “What makes you so special?”

“My dad is a little bit harder on us than everybody else,” said Joe, John’s twin brother. “He knows we can take it.”

Added John, “He definitely counts on us to be a coach on the field. He expects a lot from us and it backfires sometimes when we make the wrong calls, but it’s part of life.”

This is a story about how wonderful it is to play football with your twin brother and for your father — a Stoops no less! — but it’s impossible to write that story without also mentioning that, well, sometimes it’s not so wonderful.

“I don’t think it’s easy,” Ron said. “It’s fun and it’s enjoyable and it’s a good thing that I get to be around where they are and with their friends.

Joe (a linebacker) and John (a defensive back) are both two-year starters for Mooney (13-0), which plays Steubenville in the Division III state semifinals on Friday at Canton’s Fawcett Stadium.

John made five interceptions and 80 tackles (three for loss), while Joe had three interceptions and 88 tackles (eight for loss). Both players are 6-foot-3, 175 pounds, both earned second team all-district honors this fall, both have scruffy blond hair and both are honors students.

They’re difficult to tell apart — John joked that, if he goes to a different college, he’ll finally get his own name instead of being called “Hey Joe or John” — and, like most twins, they understand the good and the bad part of having someone so close.

“Obviously, when we were younger, there was always someone to play catch with,” John said. “But, obviously, being around him, like most people, he’s going to get on your nerves at some point or another.

The twins played several sports growing up — they’re still on Mooney’s basketball team — but there was never much question of whether they’d play football. It would have been like a Kennedy avoiding politics. Ron never pushed them one way or another; it just happened.

“I guess it was unavoidable,” said Ron, who played wide receiver on Mooney’s 1974 team. “I suppose if I played drums or piano, they’d take after that.

“I know it’s taught them a lot of good values and a good work ethic. It taught them discipline and how to manage their time. In sports, you have good experiences and you have bad experiences that teach you about humility.

Ron’s oldest son, also named Ron, learned that firsthand earlier this decade when Mooney went through a down period. Ron was the starting quarterback on the 2003 team that got the Cardinals back in the playoffs for the first time since 1999. One year later, Mooney won the state title.

“There’s always been a lot of pride in the program,” said the elder Ron, who also has a daughter, Melanie, who graduated in 2002. “That was a really close-knit group and they really dedicated themselves to the program..

When it comes to coaching, the Stoops name is the Valley’s most famous. Ron’s father (yes, also named Ron) was the defensive coordinator on Mooney’s first four state championship teams. One of Ron’s brothers, Bob, is the head coach at the University of Oklahoma and another, Mike, is head coach at the University of Arizona. (Mark Stoops is the Wildcats’ defensive coordinator.)

The Stoops name can be both a blessing and a curse, as people knew Joe and John before they knew themselves. (Mooney senior Mark Pelini, whose uncle Bo is the head coach at the University of Nebraska, can certainly relate.)

“Until I got old enough, I didn’t really realize what was in front of me,” Joe Stoops said. “As soon as I got old enough, it was awesome knowing my uncles were on the national level and I got to watch them on TV.

And not too many people can say their uncle gets ripped on the Internet every day for having the audacity to not win a national title in almost a decade.” John said, “I’m on SportsCenter all the time listening to what people say and obviously it gets hard. Especially since [Oklahoma] hasn’t done so well in bowl games lately. But there’s nothing I can do about it.

The coaching tree traces directly to Ron Sr., who suffered a heart attack in a game at Boardman in 1988 and died that night. The twins hadn’t been born yet, but their grandfather’s memory lives on through the people who knew him.

“Everyone I know who knew my grandpa tells me what a great guy he was, and I just wish I was around for a little bit to talk to him,” said Joe.

All this family talk brings us back to today, where John, Joe and Ron will gather for a Thanksgiving practice — possibly the last of their high school careers.

“There’s probably a lot of fathers around who would love this opportunity and I’m grateful for it,” Ron said. “It’s been a great journey and a great ride up to this point.