Oklahoma football: Worst head coach hires in program history
By Josh Yourish
For a program that has had three legendary coaches cover 51 of its 115 seasons, the Oklahoma Sooners still have a few bad hires throughout the years. Those three legends, Bud Wilkinson, Barry Switzer, and Bob Stoops combined for seven national championships, but none of the coaches that made this list, ever had a seven-win season.
Oklahoma football hasn’t been bad very often and when it has been bad, it hasn’t been bad for long. That’s because the program has recognized when it has the wrong guy, and fixed it quickly. A win in the Red River Rivalry in 2023 may mean that Brent Venables is the right guy to lead the Sooners into the SEC, but if he can’t compete in the new conference, then he could end up on this list in a few seasons.
These three coaches are names that Oklahoma fans probably want to forget, but never will. Let’s dive into the list of the worst coaches in Oklahoma football history.
It became clear pretty quickly that Schnellenberger was not a good fit in Norman. Gary Gibbs was forced to resign in 1994, but stayed on to coach the 1994 Copper Bowl. Scnellenberger traveled to see his new teams in the bowl game and immediately alienated his players by calling them out of shape after a 31-6 loss to BYU.
Schnellenberger only coached one season in Norman and led the Sooners to a 5-5-1 record before resigning and saying, “In recent months, a climate has developed toward the program, understandably in some cases and perhaps unfairly in others, that has changed my outlook on the situation. A change could help improve that climate.”
It was a bizarre tenure that began 3-0, but dissolved the rest of the season and ended in confusing fashion.
Before the next coach, make sure you’ve claimed FanDuel Sportsbook’s $150 bonus if the Sooners beat TCU this week! If you deposit $10 or more and bet at least $5 on Oklahoma’s moneyline odds, you’ll get an extra $150 in bonus bets if the Sooners win. Sign up for FanDuel now!