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Oklahoma football: The 10 best teams of the Wilkinson-Switzer-Stoops eras

By Chip Rouse

NORMAN, OK - NOVEMBER 11: The Oklahoma Sooners take the field before the game against the TCU Horned Frogs at Gaylord Family Oklahoma Memorial Stadium on November 11, 2017 in Norman, Oklahoma. Oklahoma defeated TCU 38-20. (Photo by Brett Deering/Getty Images) *** Local Caption ***
NORMAN, OK - NOVEMBER 11: The Oklahoma Sooners take the field before the game against the TCU Horned Frogs at Gaylord Family Oklahoma Memorial Stadium on November 11, 2017 in Norman, Oklahoma. Oklahoma defeated TCU 38-20. (Photo by Brett Deering/Getty Images) *** Local Caption *** /
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NEW ORLEANS, LA – JANUARY 02: Head coach Bob Stoops of the Oklahoma Sooners looks on during the Allstate Sugar Bowl at the Mercedes-Benz Superdome on January 2, 2017 in New Orleans, Louisiana. (Photo by Sean Gardner/Getty Images)
NEW ORLEANS, LA – JANUARY 02: Head coach Bob Stoops of the Oklahoma Sooners looks on during the Allstate Sugar Bowl at the Mercedes-Benz Superdome on January 2, 2017 in New Orleans, Louisiana. (Photo by Sean Gardner/Getty Images) /

The Big Three of Bud Wilkinson, Barry Switzer and Bob Stoops combined to win 492, or 56 percent, of the 884 all-time Oklahoma football victories.

That’s an average of 9.6 wins over 51 combined seasons. The Sooners’ overall record during the coaching eras of those three Sooner head coaches was a combined 492-106 to go along with eight ties.

The legendary coaching trio may have produced just over 50 percent of the all-time Oklahoma wins, but included in that are all seven of the Sooners’ national championships (three for Wilkinson, three for Switzer and one for Stoops). OU’s seven national titles ranks third among all FBS (Football Bowl Subdivision) teams since 1936, the first season of the Associated Press Top-25 poll.

Although Alabama is quickly gaining ground, no Division I team has been ranked in the top five of the Associated Press poll more often than the Sooners. There have been 1,135 weekly Associated Press football polls since the first poll was issued in 1936. Oklahoma has been ranked in the top five in 406 of them, according to the 2018 Oklahoma Football Media Guide.

Most of those top-five Sooner teams played for Wilkinson, Switzer or Stoops.

A number of very good Oklahoma teams played for those legendary three coaches. We’ve broken it down to the 10 best and ranked them for you. Four of the top 10 are from the Wilkinson era, four played under Switzer and two are from the Stoops’ coaching era.

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