• A nod to Boom Boom Mancini
• Game ball from 2000 Nebraska-Oklahoma
• The watch and ring box
• Pebble Beach Pro-Am trophy
• Surfboard
A nod to Boom Boom ManciniGame ball from 2000 Nebraska-OklahomaThe watch and ring boxPebble Beach Pro-Am trophySurfboard

Stoops keeps all his championship rings and bowl watches in a case. The original box has had to be expanded twice because of new additions, the most recent expansion prompted by last season's Sugar Bowl.

"I don't wear any of them," Stoops said. "I used to wear the watches when I was an assistant coach, and I'd break them demonstrating stuff. Then I'd get another one and break it. Then I'd take eight watches in to the jeweler to fix all at the same time because I busted them all up. So I don't wear them anymore."

Legend has it Stoops brings recruits to the table with the box to extend them a scholarship. Stoops doesn't shoot down the legend.

"When I bring recruits and families in, they want to see everything, so that's just part of the tour. DeMarco Murray's five years here, we won four championships. So he got four rings and eight watches. So it isn't just me that gets them. The players get them, too. So yeah, I say that."

In the box, Stoops has two rings that hold special meaning -- and a third with a Japanese backstory.

"This guy, Isao Ishikawa, came over here in 2000 in the winter before the season to observe for the whole year. He never went home. Had a child born while he was here. You know when you have a guy that's been around for awhile, you're like, just stay over there, let us do our thing."

Gradually, though, the aspiring Japanese football coach became a part of the team. The Sooners took him on road trips. They even took him to the Orange Bowl. When OU won the national title, Asayo got a championship ring along with the rest of the team.

"Now he ends up taking our offense back to his college team in Japan, and they win the college national championship two years later. ... He became one of us."

When Asayo traveled back to Oklahoma, he brought Stoops a Japanese national championship ring that now rests in this box next to his OU and Florida national championship rings.

Stoops also cherishes two others specifically, including the one commemorating the Big Ten championship he won as a junior playing at Iowa.

"They hadn't had a winning season in like 19 years. People stormed the field. I grabbed one of our linebackers, hugged him, got on his back, and said, 'Let's get out of here.' I always tease recruits they wouldn't even wear that ring today because it's not flashy enough."

Stoops also keeps his father's state championship ring in the box. Ron Stoops Sr. was a longtime defensive coach in Youngstown, Ohio, at Cardinal Mooney High School, Stoops' alma mater. Ron died suddenly at age 54 from a heart attack on the field after a game.