June 19th...

[The Maestro]

...still one of my least favorite days ever.

I can still remember sitting in my sister's living room watching another stellar episode of "The Young and the Restless" preparing for my freshman year at OU. They broke into coverage to announce that Barry Switzer was about to resign as OU's head coach.

F David Swank with a pineapple.

Hard to believe Barry has been gone as our coach for 21 years now.

LONG LIVE THE KING!!!

[Flagstaffsooner]

AMEN!!!

[The Bones are Back]

Memories..........from the corners of my http://www.newson6.com/Global/story.asp?S=10550339

[delhalew]

Memories..........from the corners of my http://www.newson6.com/Global/story.asp?S=10550339

He stuck to his promise to never coach in college again. Here's to you Barry. A different coach from a different time. Long live the King!

[OU Adonis]

Best OU coach in my lifetime. Its a shame really.

[AlbqSooner]

Charles Thompson had no indication in his past, but obviously screwed the pooch big time. The press went all SHAME ON SWITZER! There was nothing to indicate to Switzer that Thompson would become a problem. When he did, Switzer dealt with it.

Jerry Parks had no indication in his past that he would be trouble, but when he allegedly shot another player, SHAME ON SWITZER! There was nothing to indicate to Switzer that Parks would become a problem. When he did, Switzer dealt with it. Parks later played for the University of Houston. They KNEW what they were getting but no one said shame on them.

James Lee. Defensive end out of Texas with no indication that he would have problems academically. His freshman year he earned a grade point of 0.00. SHAME ON SWITZER! When Lee became a problem, Switzer dealt with it. He later played for Baylor. They KNEW what they were getting but no one said shame on them.

Switzer may not have done the best job of watching over his players, but he was not the Ogre many claim him to be. He got jobbed.

[yankee]

i obviously wasn't alive during switzer's time here...and i probably "don't understand" as many of you will accuse me...but damn, that article makes switzer out to be an arrogant scumbag of a person. talk about a program out of control, and in the end, that responsibility falls on switzer. it's a shame he let that tarnish his career.

[SunnySooner]

I love that he's one of the very few with NC and SuperBowl rings. That's a pretty big FU to the world, imo. Long live the King.

[Breadburner]

"Rodney Peete Shreaded the Oklahoma defense for 198 yards passing"....lol...

[Flagstaffsooner]

Shouldnt have paid Crack Brown.

[ouwasp]

I've always thought Donnie Duncan let us all down; he shoulda been willing to put his own neck on the line for the King. Next thing you know we're stuck with Gibbs, Schnelly, and Blake...

Dark days for the Sooner Nation. The Dark 90's.

[delhalew]

After Smellsofbourbon we were ready to hang Duncan...can't believe it took that long.

[SunnySooner]

After Smellsofbourbon we were ready to hang Duncan...can't believe it took that long.

I think we were just all expecting it to get better, way sooner than it did. We're frickin' OU, we may have a down year or two, but a down decade? Hell no!! But we did. Then heads rolled, and Bob came and rescued us. Thank you, Lord.

[cheezyq]

I've always thought Donnie Duncan let us all down; he shoulda been willing to put his own neck on the line for the King. Next thing you know we're stuck with Gibbs, Schnelly, and Blake...

Dark days for the Sooner Nation. The Dark 90's.

I tend to give Gibbs a break, and don't really think he got a fair shake. He inherited a program on probation, limited schollys, no TV, no bowls.....that's a pretty tough thing to overcome in such a short period. I think he could have been a decent coach if he was given more time. He was a Switzer disciple, hand-picked by the King himself if I remember correctly. He oversaw some of the best defenses in OU history as DC.

He didn't have a full complement of players until his final season as head coach. For me, it's kind of hard to judge him on such rough terms.

[AlbqSooner]

I tend to give Gibbs a break, and don't really think he got a fair shake. He inherited a program on probation, limited schollys, no TV, no bowls.....that's a pretty tough thing to overcome in such a short period. I think he could have been a decent coach if he was given more time. He was a Switzer disciple, hand-picked by the King himself if I remember correctly. He oversaw some of the best defenses in OU history as DC.

He didn't have a full complement of players until his final season as head coach. For me, it's kind of hard to judge him on such rough terms.

While your point is somewhat well taken, Gibbs was one of those coordinators who simply was not going to be a good head coach. Gomer Jones, coordinator under Wilkinson, Galen Hall, coordinator under Switzer, Gibbs, even Blake, and many others had what it took to be great coordinators, but could not make the step up to head coaching.

[Leroy Lizard]

Charles Thompson had no indication in his past, but obviously screwed the pooch big time.

CT had been nailed for shoplifting before OU recruited him.

[Leroy Lizard]

i obviously wasn't alive during switzer's time here...and i probably "don't understand" as many of you will accuse me...but damn, that article makes switzer out to be an arrogant scumbag of a person. talk about a program out of control, and in the end, that responsibility falls on switzer. it's a shame he let that tarnish his career.

The quotes are taken WAAAAAY out of context.

[Pricetag]

I was born in 1974, so Barry was the only OU coach I had known. It blew my freakin' mind then that he wouldn't be the coach forever.

I'd love to have seen what would have happened, what direction he would have gone football-wise, had he been allowed to stay.

[rawlingsHOH]

While your point is somewhat well taken, Gibbs was one of those coordinators who simply was not going to be a good head coach. Gomer Jones, coordinator under Wilkinson, Galen Hall, coordinator under Switzer, Gibbs, even Blake, and many others had what it took to be great coordinators, but could not make the step up to head coaching.

right on.

gibbs inherited a nightmare, and did an admirable job. but he wasn't the "leader of men" that switzer was or stoops is.

[SoonerAtKU]

June 19th is my birthday. Sorry everyone. I absolutely did not get what I asked for that year.

[NormanPride]

We're doing okay now, and Switzer is an amazing ambassador for our program. You just have to see his work with the Special Olympics to know he's a great person as well as a great coach. He loved his players like a father loves a son.

[richsooner]

My absolute favorite day....Married to my sweetheart for 45 yrs as of last sat..........When she said "I do" my life was made perfect.Being a Sooner fan and having the perfect wife,,does not get any better......................

[King Barry's Back]

This thread has brought back so many memories. I remember driving through the dry cleaners on Lindsey Street, just around the corner from my house and within site of the stadium.

The radio had just announced the news of Barry Switzer's resignation. Myself and the cleaner were in shock.

I was on campus through the whole scandal, and saw the media limos lined up.

Bad, bad time.

Like others, the King was the only coach I had known.

Gary Gibbs was a good coach and a great Sooner who didn't deserve most of what he got, and I wouldn't be surprised if he gets another chance to be a head coach someday, somewhere.

But he wasn't ready at that time.

[Rocko]

IS MY BIRTHDAY!... oh wait.

[KantoSooner]

Never forget that Swank was a Poke. Coincidence? I think not. The reason he was acting, associate, temporary, whatever, president? Because he was the acting dean of the law school. So many, many 'what ifs'.

My personal reckoning: Switzer was a transitional, reformative figure in college athletics. He might not have integrated big time college football, but he was very instrumental in making integration work. He was also among the very first 'modern' coaches in terms of his use of conditioning, dietetics and game planning.
As 'modern' as he was, though, he remained very much a creature of his upbringing and thus relied on his players to have the maturity of an earlier generation's harsher childhood.
He was, and is, far from perfect, but he is authentic, understands football like few men alive today and produced teams that were not only fun to watch, but that set the bar for college football at the time.
What would Switzer have done in football had he stayed as OU's coach? I think the answer can be seen in the words 'Troy Aikman'. I was there that awful day when Miami came to Norman and Troy went pass for pass vs. Vinny GreenTestes. The future was pretty obvious. Then Miami decided enough was enough and sent an assasin to break Aikman's leg. Much like losing Sam, that pretty well was 'game over'. Barry had shown, however, that he was up to the challenge of recreating OU football.
Could he have recovered from an incredible string of bad luck in player behaviour? That is a larger question to me. He was not and likely could not have become, a babysitter. Would he have recruited assistants to do that for him? Maybe. Would he have wanted to? Maybe with a bit of breathing room and a couple more wins to whet the appetite. We'll never know.
What is absolutely clear is that he was not the idiot the national press made him out to be and that he's had the character to live down the negativity. I love having Bob as our coach; and I think he is worthy and will take his place alongside Barry and Bud as an iconic coach of the modern era. But that takes nothing away from my equally strong feeling that Barry was a special coach and is a hell of a man.

[StoopTroup]

Having Barry around while Bob is having the success he is has been awesome especially with all the missed opportunies Bob has had for multiple NCs. Having such a guy as Barry has to have had plenty to do with controlling any possible meltdown by the Monster that Barry and Gibbs faced before the collapse of the 90's.

Good things have happened even though there are those who would argue that those missed opportunies by Bob are equal to failure. You can see the success that Bob and Barry have brought to Norman in the last decade by simply taking a walk through the facilities. The days of sitting in bleachers in the south EZ are much different than today's seating arrangement and that isn't because we suck at football.

I'm sure guys like Sam's Dad who played back in the day can really shed the light as to how many great things have changed because of both Bob and Barry. You can't say enough about Bud either as he was instrumental in setting the stage for Barry.

[Leroy Lizard]

Never forget that Swank was a Poke. Coincidence? I think not. The reason he was acting, associate, temporary, whatever, president? Because he was the acting dean of the law school. So many, many 'what ifs'.

My personal reckoning: Switzer was a transitional, reformative figure in college athletics. He might not have integrated big time college football, but he was very instrumental in making integration work. He was also among the very first 'modern' coaches in terms of his use of conditioning, dietetics and game planning.

I think Switzer also transformed coaching in other ways: management and attitude.

In the past, coaches were revered figures who ran football teams like drill camps. I think Switzer was one of the first to bring in a CEO approach that looked at players as full team members, not pawns to carry out directives.

He also didn't take himself that seriously, nor the game or fans. More than most coaches, he understood that the game was important, but not critical. In many ways, he was like the Wooden of college football.

[KantoSooner]

And, from what I saw of him at a bar in the mid-1990's, he's a man who likes a well balanced buhbun and wahtah.
and that is something to respect.