NORMAN, Okla. (AP) – Oklahoma coach Bob Stoops said Thursday that the school acted quickly when it found out that starting quarterback Rhett Bomar and offensive lineman J.D. Quinn broke NCAA rules through their employment at a car dealership.

Stoops said he had not been aware that Bomar and Quinn were working at the dealership last fall until Oklahoma’s compliance staff investigated the situation. Stoops said he didn’t rush to a decision but considered it “fairly cut and dry.”

Stoops said the players, who were dismissed from the team on Wednesday, “knowingly” broke the rules.

“Both parties were aware that their actions were in violation of NCAA rules. They did it over a long and extended period of time,” Stoops said. “That’s conduct that we won’t tolerate here at the University of Oklahoma.”

Bomar set an Oklahoma freshman record with 2,018 yards passing last season after taking over as the starter in Week 2. Quinn, Bomar’s roommate, was expected to compete for a starting spot after making four starts last season at right guard.

Bomar spoke to KOCO-TV on Thursday.

“I respect the decision that Coach Stoops made and the administration above him. We have to live with that, you know, we have to move on,” he said. “But I wish the best for the program. I cared about this program and I don’t want anybody to think that we didn’t.”

Quinn also apologized, saying he wishes he “could take it back.”

Oklahoma started the process of moving forward by naming Paul Thompson as its new starter. Thompson served as a backup for three seasons, including his redshirt year, before beating Bomar out for the starting job last fall. Bomar claimed the starting role after Oklahoma lost to TCU in its season opener, and Thompson remained the backup despite a subsequent move to wide receiver.

“There’s no question the way Paul has worked here the last four years, the players are excited about it,” Stoops said. “They’ve got great confidence in Paul. We do as a staff and are looking forward to the future with him.”

Saying he wasn’t involved in the investigation, Stoops declined to get into details about when the offenses occurred. Stoops said the university does arrange some summer jobs, but he did not know how many players worked last summer.

“It has diminished over the years because most players – virtually all of them – are in summer school and working out,” Stoops said. “Summer jobs aren’t the issue they used to be back in the days when kids weren’t going to summer school all year and training all year.”

Athletic director Joe Castiglione said the dismissed players were the only ones implicated based on “all of the information that we have available to us at this time.”

Some recruiting services rated Bomar as the nation’s top quarterback when he came out of high school, and he developed into the team’s leader over the course of his first season as starter. Under his direction, Oklahoma won six of its last seven games, including the Holiday Bowl against Oregon.

With former Heisman runner-up Adrian Peterson returning healthy at tailback, Oklahoma was expected to contend for the national title as it had the previous two seasons.

“I don’t know that I feel a whole lot different than I did before this, meaning I don’t believe Rhett had that much experience that we’re losing,” Stoops said. “And so, from the end of the year, I felt we have a lot that we need to work on for that to happen. I don’t think we were coming into the year that he was Jason White coming back from his Heisman Trophy year the year before.

“It’s safe to say, I know there’s a lot of expectations for Rhett, what we have had to this point hasn’t been anything that we can’t overcome.”

AP-ES-08-03-06 2015EDT