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When we learned Bob Stoops had hired Hal Mumme to coordinate his Dallas XFL offense a couple days ago, we thought immediately of their connection. Of course we did, since Stoops hired Mumme protégé Mike Leach off Mumme’s Kentucky staff 20 years ago, and in doing so assured Mumme’s Air Raid offense would change the direction of college football.

But there is more to that connection than a 20-year-old snap decision. There is much more to Stoops and Mumme than that Leach hire. That makes this the first worthy story of XFL 2.0.

“Bob has been a friend for 20 or 30 years, since he was at Florida as the defensive coordinator,” the 67-year-old Mumme said by phone Friday morning. “When we were at Kentucky (from 1997-2000), there were a lot of people who thought we had a cute little offense. Bob was the first guy who wasn’t on our staff who was a true believer. We’ve been close since.”

It’s not just that Stoops plucked Leach from Mumme to run his first Oklahoma offense – Mumme encouraged Leach to go to OU so he could escape Mumme’s shadow, something that was harming Leach in head coaching interviews at the time – it’s that he continued to use Mumme for counsel.