Barry Switzer
Like Wilkinson, Barry Switzer won three national titles as head coach at Oklahoma and shared or won outright 12 Big Eight championships in 16 seasons. His Sooner teams never finished lower than second in the conference standings. Oklahoma didn’t invent the Wishbone offense, but it was Switzer who perfected it and turned it into the most prolific offense of the 1970s and ’80s.
Switzer was head coach for 16 seasons, but served as an OU assistant and offensve coordinator over a six-season stint before that.
There may be no person more closely associated with Oklahoma football than Switzer. He was brash, wore his emotions on his sleeve and was down-home personable. Most of all, he was a winner.
No one loves Sooner football more than Switzer, and I believe it would be fascinating to hear Switzer and Wilkinson talk about two of the greatest eras in the history of Oklahoma football and hear the stories and secrets that contributed to the Sooners’ dominance in those two eras.