Wanting your children to grow up to be … Sooners

Sporting News, The, August 19, 1996 by Stan Dorsey

There were rumors about Schnellenberger's drinking, but Riley says that was unfair. Riley then went back decades detailing the drinking habits of OU coaches, all colorful in varying degrees.

These problems brought OU to last season, in which there was not a single significant win but plenty of significant losses. Schnellenberger had predicted a "strong, polished football team" for 1995. Instead, it was weak and tarnished. Merv Johnson, heading into his 18th year as an Oklahoma assistant, says there was a feeling as last season played out of "hopelessness as to where we were headed. We knew our talent level was good and that we shouldn't be losing. We were underachieving and we could see nothing in the future. We were headed downhill like a rocket. It was tough to labor when there was no real hope."

Says Steve Owens, with a sigh: "It has been a tough eight years."

Enter John Blake.

Considering how far OU has fallen, it would seem there is no way that Blake should be the Sooners' wagonmaster. But Blake had one huge plus working in his favor--Barry Switzer, his boss with the Cowboys and his coach at OU in his collegiate playing days. Make no mistake, it was Switzer who said Blake should be coach and Switzer who made sure he got the job. For all his screw-ups while he was coach and for all his debauchery, Switzer is still the kingmaker.

Besides that, not a single successful bigtime coach was interested in wading into the Norman morass. Time was when the Sooners could have had the pick of the litter. Perhaps most logical would have been Merv Johnson, with extensive coordinator experience at Arkansas and Notre Dame and the assistant head coach for his entire tenure with OU. But his age (60) worked against him.

But what really worked against him was that Switzer wanted Blake.

Blake was passed over for the more experienced Schnellenberger in '95, but when Schnellenberger flopped and Switzer turned up the heat, Duncan and OU president David Boren decided to give the young coach a chance. According to them, Switzer had influence, but his role was not the sole determinant in Blake's selection.

Boren says Blake had more supporters than any other candidate. Among them were Owens and former OU president George Cross, whom Boren called for advice at one point during the search committee's deliberations.

"I've been hoping you'd call," said Cross, who hired Wilkinson in 1947. "I have fairly good credentials on selecting a football coach. I think you should hire John Blake."

But fans and prognosticators nationwide immediately questioned the committee's decision when Blake was introduced as head coach last winter. His coaching experience was limited to three years in the NFL (1993-95), one year at Tulsa as wide receivers coach (1988), two years as an Oklahoma volunteer coach (1986-87) and four seasons as an OU defensive assistant (1989-92)--and he was only 34 at the time.

Were their fears well-founded? If OU history is any indicator, probably not. After all, Switzer was 35 when he was hired, Chuck Fairbanks 33 and Wilkinson all of 30.