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10/15/2007, 11:27 AM
http://desmoinesregister.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20071015/SPORTS020602/710150338/1091/SPORTS02
Iowa State football: Switzer considered coaching Cyclones
By ANDREW LOGUE
Register Staff Writer
October 15, 2007
Ames, Ia. - Four decades ago, Barry Switzer faced a decision.
He could either become the next football coach at Iowa State, or wait for an offer from a more established program.
"A lot of (assistants) want to be a head coach just to be a head coach," Switzer said. "I didn't want to do that."
Instead, Switzer launched his career in 1973, when he became Oklahoma's head coach. He guided the Sooners to a 157-29-4 record and three national titles before leaving after the 1988 season.
He finished with a 15-0-1 mark against the Cyclones.
"I know coaches who have given up their careers, because of the fact they wanted to stay where they could win," said Switzer, now an analyst for XM Satellite Radio. "(They were) just not wanting to take a chance and a gamble."
Switzer brings a unique perspective to Saturday's game between Oklahoma and Iowa State.
He empathizes with the Sooners' Bob Stoops, and understands the task Gene Chizik is trying to tackle.
"It's a hard deal," Switzer said of coaching the Cyclones. "It's not easy, but it can happen.
"If you can get a salesman, and the guy can go out and get players to come to your place and believe ... you can build on that."
Switzer was a persuasive recruiter in 1967, when longtime Iowa State coach Clay Stapleton decided to retire.
Stapleton contacted Gomer Jones, then Oklahoma's athletic director. Jones passed a message along to Switzer, a Sooners assistant.
"(Jones) told me, 'Clay Stapleton called and wants to talk to you,' " Switzer recalled, " 'He's going to resign and he wants to know ... ' "
Switzer was intrigued, but leery.
"I was a young coach, and I said, 'You know, I don't want that challenge. I'm not in a hurry.''' Switzer explained.
The job eventually went to Johnny Majors, who guided the Cyclones to an 8-4 mark in 1971. Iowa State has had six different coaches since Majors left after the '72 season.
Switzer praised Dan McCarney, who led the Cyclones to five bowl games, and says fans need to be patient with Chizik.
"Dan did a good job," Switzer said. "I think people get in a hurry sometimes and want to make changes.
"They think changing coaches is going to make a difference, and that sets a program back a lot of times."
When Switzer was asked if Iowa State could join the Big 12 Conference's elite, he chuckled.
"If it can happen in Manhattan, Kansas, it can happen anywhere," he said. "Bill Snyder made it happen. He had a niche with the junior colleges. He won enough that he got other kids believing to come there."
Stoops, meanwhile, is burdened by expectations.
He's won more than 80 games and led the Sooners to a final No. 1 ranking in 2000.
Yet Stoops is constantly compared to predecessors such as Switzer and Bud Wilkinson.
"You have to feed the monster," Switzer said. "I tried to do a good job of feeding it, and then the '90s came and they struggled.
"Bob has come on the scene and done a great job ... but anticipation, expectations are so great."
Especially galling to Sooners fans is a series of losses in which Stoops' team was a double-digit favorite. Oklahoma will be expected to easily dispatch Iowa State this weekend.
"I see it all the time in teams that finally realize, 'We can play with people.' '' Switzer said. "Then, you're in trouble if you can't take them out. That's what college football is, why it's a great game."
Iowa State football: Switzer considered coaching Cyclones
By ANDREW LOGUE
Register Staff Writer
October 15, 2007
Ames, Ia. - Four decades ago, Barry Switzer faced a decision.
He could either become the next football coach at Iowa State, or wait for an offer from a more established program.
"A lot of (assistants) want to be a head coach just to be a head coach," Switzer said. "I didn't want to do that."
Instead, Switzer launched his career in 1973, when he became Oklahoma's head coach. He guided the Sooners to a 157-29-4 record and three national titles before leaving after the 1988 season.
He finished with a 15-0-1 mark against the Cyclones.
"I know coaches who have given up their careers, because of the fact they wanted to stay where they could win," said Switzer, now an analyst for XM Satellite Radio. "(They were) just not wanting to take a chance and a gamble."
Switzer brings a unique perspective to Saturday's game between Oklahoma and Iowa State.
He empathizes with the Sooners' Bob Stoops, and understands the task Gene Chizik is trying to tackle.
"It's a hard deal," Switzer said of coaching the Cyclones. "It's not easy, but it can happen.
"If you can get a salesman, and the guy can go out and get players to come to your place and believe ... you can build on that."
Switzer was a persuasive recruiter in 1967, when longtime Iowa State coach Clay Stapleton decided to retire.
Stapleton contacted Gomer Jones, then Oklahoma's athletic director. Jones passed a message along to Switzer, a Sooners assistant.
"(Jones) told me, 'Clay Stapleton called and wants to talk to you,' " Switzer recalled, " 'He's going to resign and he wants to know ... ' "
Switzer was intrigued, but leery.
"I was a young coach, and I said, 'You know, I don't want that challenge. I'm not in a hurry.''' Switzer explained.
The job eventually went to Johnny Majors, who guided the Cyclones to an 8-4 mark in 1971. Iowa State has had six different coaches since Majors left after the '72 season.
Switzer praised Dan McCarney, who led the Cyclones to five bowl games, and says fans need to be patient with Chizik.
"Dan did a good job," Switzer said. "I think people get in a hurry sometimes and want to make changes.
"They think changing coaches is going to make a difference, and that sets a program back a lot of times."
When Switzer was asked if Iowa State could join the Big 12 Conference's elite, he chuckled.
"If it can happen in Manhattan, Kansas, it can happen anywhere," he said. "Bill Snyder made it happen. He had a niche with the junior colleges. He won enough that he got other kids believing to come there."
Stoops, meanwhile, is burdened by expectations.
He's won more than 80 games and led the Sooners to a final No. 1 ranking in 2000.
Yet Stoops is constantly compared to predecessors such as Switzer and Bud Wilkinson.
"You have to feed the monster," Switzer said. "I tried to do a good job of feeding it, and then the '90s came and they struggled.
"Bob has come on the scene and done a great job ... but anticipation, expectations are so great."
Especially galling to Sooners fans is a series of losses in which Stoops' team was a double-digit favorite. Oklahoma will be expected to easily dispatch Iowa State this weekend.
"I see it all the time in teams that finally realize, 'We can play with people.' '' Switzer said. "Then, you're in trouble if you can't take them out. That's what college football is, why it's a great game."