WE ARE ALL OKLAHOMANS!
Even though we are Sooner Born and Sooner Bred, we honor the timeless tradition and good spirit of rivalry that OSU and our other Oklahoma teams including OCU, UCO and Tulsa bring to the great state of Oklahoma!
We LOVE the camaraderie of being in the Oklahoma Athletic Family and we truly have a deep respect for all of our state’s collegiate teams!
Our ability to understand and appreciate the nature of the game…no matter whose game that is, has made Oklahoma one of the top competitive states in nation!
Afterall...underneath the war paint, jerseys, fight songs and hoopla…at the heart of it...we are all Oklahomans! What a great state Oklahoma!
"Oklahoma and FOX Sports have agreed to a long-term multimedia programming partnership featuring "Sooner Sports TV Powered by FOX Sports," a multi-platform network that provides for immediate and wide distribution of at least 1,000 hours of..." Read More
EL PASO, Texas — Late last season, with Landry Jones and his receivers unable to connect for touchdowns, Blake Bell and his unstoppable power-running attack became Oklahoma's sole option for six points.
Read more: http://newsok.com/ou-football- Read More
DREAM TEAM BRINGS HOME THE GOLD!
See article here! Read More
Penn State senior wide receiver Justin Brown has told Oklahoma coaches he will transfer and play for the Sooners, a source told ESPN's Joe Schad on Saturday. Read ESPN article here. Read More
WHAT'S A SOONER?
The Boomers!
The Boomer Movement was a result of the Homestead Act of 1862 which stated that a legal settler could claim 160 acres of public land and receive title within 5 years. Boomers were advocates who lobbied the US government to open unassigned lands in Oklahoma to be staked for claim.
The Sooners!
April 22, 1889 marks the day of the infamous Oklahoma Land Run! At high noon, starting signals were given across the state to excited settlers who had travelled across the world in search of land. A tumultuous avalanche of wagons and horseman surged forward to stake their claim to a new life!
As settlers raced across the “unoccupied” lands, many had found that someone had beaten them to it! Most of these “Sooners” were deputy marshals, land surveyors, railroad employees, and others who were able to legally enter the territory early to mark out choice pieces of land for themselves or others. However, there were also “moonshiners”: those who travelled by moonlight to illegally claim a piece of land.
Over the years, the term “Sooner” become synonymous with the Progressive Movement known to the 1920s. With prosperity, ambition, and competence…the Sooner is a progressive individual who “travels ahead of the human procession.” Oklahoma became known as the Sooner State, the land of opportunity, enterprise and economic expansion!
Initially, OU athletics teams were called Rough Riders or Boomers for 10 years before taking the nickname Sooners in 1908. The name Sooner was actually derived the name from a pep club called 'The Sooner Rooters.'
Thunderous chants of “Boomer! Sooner” ring out across the Oklahoma landscape during OU sports events. The significant success of our OU athletics teams has made the nickname synonymous with winning…definitely traveling ahead of the human procession! Go Sooners!
OKLAHOMA COACHES
Stoops Era (1999-Present)
Bob Stoops became the head football coach for OU in 1999 and led the Sooners to a National Championship Title in 2000! In his 13th year as head coach, Stoops has a combined record of 130-31 (.807). With only 3 losses in Norman, he has accumulated a home winning streak of 39 consecutive games from 2005 to 2011.
Gibbs-Schnellenberger-Blake Era (1990-1998)
Switzer was succeeded by his longtime defensive coordinator, Gary Gibbs.
Switzer Era (1973-1989)
Barry Switzer 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 acollege football national championship and a Super Bowl (the other being a rival college head coach Jimmy Johnson. Switzer won 157 games during his career. He later went on to coach the NFL Dallas Cowboys!
Many great Sooner athletes came through the program during these years, including two-time Butkus Award winner Brian Bosworth, tight endKeith Jackson and quarterback Jamelle Holieway. While Switzer racked up 12 championships during his career at Oklahoma.
Jones-MacKenzie-Fairbanks Era (1964-1972)
Wilkinson's assistant coach, Gomer Jones, took over as head coach in 1964,
Following Jones's 9–11–1 record, Oklahoma brought in a young coach from the University of Arkansas named Jim Mackenzie.
"After the next season, he was offered a position as an assistant on Mackenzie's staff at Oklahoma, a position he felt was a better job than the Tennessee position. Immediately after the 1965 season, Fairbanks was offered a job at Missouri with the promise that he would be the head coach within four years.He declined and stayed at Oklahoma. Four months later, Coach Mackenzie died and Fairbanks was named head coach. It did not take long for Fairbanks to turn the team around. His first season, in 1967, his squad went 10–1. They entered their sixth game with a 5–1 record (their only loss was a two point loss coming to rival Texas) and unranked and beat ninth ranked Colorado, 23–0. This propelled Fairbanks's team to a number eight ranking. They continued their romp through the season and beat the number two team in the country Tennessee 26–24 in the Orange Bowl. They finished the season ranked number three in the country."
Wilkinson Era (1947-1963
Bud Wilkinson was a quarterback for the University of Minnesota and won three straight national championships with them in the 1930s. Wilkinson went on to guide the team to its first national championship in 1950 In 1952, Oklahoma had its first Heisman Trophy winner in halfback Billy Vessels, a local player from Cleveland, Oklahoma.
Owen Era (1905-1946)
Bennie Owen was recruited as coach in 1905. He was the quarterback from the undefeated Kansas team of 1899. In 1951, he became the first person from Oklahoma to be inducted into the College Football Hall of Fame. It was the inaugural year for the Hall of Fame and Owen was inducted along with many of the biggest names of the game including Walter Camp, Knute Rockneand Fielding H. Yost.
Pre-Owen Era (1895-1904)
The team was first organized by John A. Harts (acting coach), a student from Winfield, Kansas and was comprised of mostly non-students such as local firemen.
Vernon Louis Parrington was drafted as the first real coach for OU Football in 1897 who stepped down shortly after and later went on to win the Pulitzer Prize for History in 1928.
The Sooners had 3 more coaches prior to 1905.
Bedlam Football was born on November 6th, 1904. The Oklahoma Team soundly defeated the Oklahoma Aggies 75-0.
OKLAHOMA HEISMAN WINNERS
Billy Vessells - 1952 (OU)
Steve Owens - 1969 (OU)
Billy Simms - 1978 (OU)
Barry Sanders - 1988 (OSU)
Jason White - 2003 (OU)
Sam Bradford - 2008 (OU)
SOONER TRADITION & SOONER MAGIC!
"In the sixteen years that Barry Switzer coached the Sooners (1973-88), the Nebraska-Oklahoma game normally determined either the conference or the national championship or both. The teams played seventeen times during the Switzer era, the Sooners taking twelve. Oklahoma came from behind eight times in the fourth quarter to win! Sooner Magic!"
Information summarized from SoonerSports.com and Wikipedia.