Barry Switzer

Barry Switzer

Barry Switzer (born October 5, 1937 in Crossett, Arkansas) is a former football coach, in the college and professional ranks, between 1962 and 1997. He has one of the highest winning percentages of any college football coach in history, and is one of only two head coaches to win both a college football national championship and a Super Bowl (the other is Jimmy Johnson).

Early life and career

Switzer was the son of a bootlegger and money-lender who spent time in prison for his activities. As a teenager, he saw other avenues open for him as a star on the local high school football team, and earned an athletic scholarship to the University of Arkansas. He played center and linebacker for four years under head coach Frank Broyles. After graduation, he did a brief stint in the U.S. Army and then returned to Arkansas as an assistant coach. He worked in that capacity on the Razorbacks' 1964 National Championship team (whose players included Jimmy Johnson, Jerry Jones and Ken Hatfield). In 1966, he moved to the University of Oklahoma as an assistant coach and spent nine seasons in that capacity. By 1971, he was the Sooners' offensive coordinator during a season in which the team set NCAA team rushing records that still stand today. He is often credited by Sooner fans as having perfected the wishbone offense.

Head Coach, University of Oklahoma

Switzer became head coach at Oklahoma in 1973, leading the team to undefeated seasons that year (10-0-1) and the next, when the Sooners went 11-0 and shared the national championship with USC. They were outright national champions in 1975, winning 11 games against just one defeat. His teams won or shared the Big Eight Conference title every year between 1973 and 1980, including 1978 Heisman winner Billy Sims and played for another championship in 1977, but lost.

Oklahoma slumped slightly in the early 1980s, but rebounded with another conference title in 1984. They won the national championship the next year, going 11-1 and defeating top-ranked Penn State in the Orange Bowl. The next two years, they posted the same record but finished ranked third in the final polls both seasons.

Switzer was frequently accused of lax discipline, however. His teams were racked by scandal and placed on NCAA probation. In a whirlwind series of events after the 1988 season, players would be arrested, in separate incidents, for assault with a deadly weapon, rape, and possession of drugs with intent to sell. Switzer resigned in early 1989, shortly after the arrest of quarterback Charles Thompson for the trafficking Cocaine.

Switzer left Oklahoma with a career record of 157-29-4. His winning percentage of .837 is fourth-best all-time, and he posted remarkable records against several famous contemporaries, going 3-0-1 against Darrell Royal, 12-5 against Tom Osborne, 5-3 against Jimmy Johnson, 2-0 against Bobby Bowden and 1-0 against Joe Paterno, Bo Schembechler and Woody Hayes.

Head Coach, Dallas Cowboys

Barry Switzer resurfaced in coaching in 1994 with the Dallas Cowboys, replacing former player and longtime rival Jimmy Johnson on a team now owned by former player and longtime friend Jerry Jones. Switzer was successful with the Cowboys, going 13-5 his first season and 15-4 in his second, when Dallas won Super Bowl XXX over the Pittsburgh Steelers, 27-17. Although Dallas had become NFL Champions, critics of Switzer would make note that Barry won with former coach Jimmy Johnson's players. Many would cite the next NFL season as a "litmus test" to determine Switzer's actual coaching ability, as the Cowboys would undergo much flux in the offseason.

Switzer was unable to halt the team's decline from age and free agency following the Super Bowl, and was again accused of lax discipline by some of his players, most notably quarterback Troy Aikman. The Cowboys won their division in 1996, but had a losing season (6-10) the next year. Switzer resigned as Cowboys' coach with a 45-26 career NFL coaching record.

After football

The University of Oklahoma maintained some distance from Coach Switzer for many years after he left. Under current Coach Bob Stoops however, the football program has renewed its relationship with the now-retired Switzer.

In 1990, Switzer released his best-selling autobiography, entitled "Bootlegger's Boy," written with Bud Shrake with a forward written by Joe Paterno. Switzer was elected to the College Football Hall of Fame in 2002. In 2004, he received the Jim Thorpe Lifetime Achievement Award.

In 2006, Switzer announced his support for former rival Tom Osborne's campaign for governor of Nebraska.