Stormin in Norman
Fansided

Oklahoma football: Worst head coach hires in program history

By Josh Yourish

Unknown date 1995; Norman, OK, USA; FILE PHOTO; Oklahoma Sooners head coach Howard Schnellenberger during the 1995 season. Mandatory Credit: Photo By USA TODAY Sports
Unknown date 1995; Norman, OK, USA; FILE PHOTO; Oklahoma Sooners head coach Howard Schnellenberger during the 1995 season. Mandatory Credit: Photo By USA TODAY Sports /
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2 Nov 1996: Oklahoma Sooners head coach John Blake confers with an official during a game against the Nebraska Cornhuskers at Memorial Stadium in Norman, Oklahoma. Nebraska won the game, 73-21.
2 Nov 1996: Oklahoma Sooners head coach John Blake confers with an official during a game against the Nebraska Cornhuskers at Memorial Stadium in Norman, Oklahoma. Nebraska won the game, 73-21. /

There were a few misses between the legends in Norman, but Blake was the biggest one. He played for Barry Switzer at Oklahoma and eight years after Swtizer’s final season, Blake took over for Howard Schnellenberger in 1996, who resigned after just one season, and was even worse.

Blake’s first year the Sooners went 3-8, but he was given some time to build up the program after Schnellenberger’s somewhat tumultuous season. Only, Blake never did build it up, he led the team to 4-8 in 1997 and 5-6 in 1998.

If that trend had held, then maybe by 2006 he could have led the team to a 13-0 national championship season. Bob Stoops took the job in 1999 and accomplished that a year later in 2000.

Blake’s record was 12-22 over three seasons. Blake takes the top spot on this list because he was actually given the time to see if he could build a winner and still never had a winning season.

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