Whether a Sooner football fan or not, one thing folks can agree on is that head coach Bob Stoops knows how to make money and influence people.

“Bob … Stoops … is … worth … every … penny … he … gets.”

So who wouldn’t take his investment advice? Well, there is one reason.

… BurnLounge, an online music retailer sued by the FTC this month accused of being a pyramid scheme.
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… well-known sports personalities, created a jock-inspired network of investors across the Sunbelt, including University of Oklahoma football head coach Bob Stoops and some of the biggest names on both sides of the Clemson-South Carolina rivalry.

Admittedly, the potential return on investment was pretty lucrative for some, like Will Merritt, former Clemson lineman who is a member of the Tigers’ broadcast team. After investing only a “couple hundred bucks”:

“The checks were rolling in hot and heavy there for a while,” said Merritt who made about $10,000 by getting a “bunch of buddies” to enroll.

No word on how much coach Stoops made in the venture. He was unavailable for comment. But it does sound like he had a good line.

“When Bob Stoops got me, he said, ‘I’ve spoken to a lawyer about this. I’ve spoken to my agent. I’ve spoken to some people to find out if this is a legitimate thing. And everything they told me, this is a legitimate (business). Put your name on it and go do it,’” said Spurrier Jr., a member of Stoops’ Sooners staff from 1999 to 2001.

I blame OU for all this, not Stoops. After all, Bob did ask his agent about it. And you try coming up with an investment that beats Barry Switzer’s payday loan operation.

In an ad circular, Switzer is grinning assuredly in a Sooners polo-style shirt, championship ring on his finger, with a caption next to him over a clip art dollar sign reading “We make any day a payday!” How could you help but take out a loan with an enormously high interest rate from the man who more than once took the Sooners to the Orange Bowl?

Besides, who would’ve guessed the FTC frowns on that type of business opportunity also?

A cash advance loan secured by a personal check – such as a payday loan – is very expensive credit. Let’s say you write a personal check for $115 to borrow $100 for up to 14 days. The check casher or payday lender agrees to hold the check until your next payday. At that time, depending on the particular plan, the lender deposits the check, you redeem the check by paying the $115 in cash, or you roll-over the check by paying a fee to extend the loan for another two weeks. In this example, the cost of the initial loan is a $15 finance charge and 391 percent APR.

About the only investment better than that would have to be a pyramid scheme. But a successful OU football coach should never have to stoop so low. Perhaps Stoops needs a raise from his $3 million a year.

This entry was posted on Monday, June 18th, 2007 at 9:33 am and is filed under Okie money, Sports. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.