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I put together a top-10 list of who I believe are the best OU coaches of all time. If you disagree, you know where to find me on Twitter, YouTube and the comments section below.
All right, let’s go.
10) Sherri Coale
Coale took the job at OU with zero collegiate head-coaching experience in 1996. In 2006, she led the Sooners to just the second-ever undefeated season in Big 12 conference play history—in men’s or women’s basketball. She’s been inducted into the Oklahoma and Women’s Basketball Hall of Fame and outlasted every coach at OU except Patty Gasso.
9) Lincoln Riley
To have the level of success Riley had in his first year as the head man at OU is nearly unprecedented in the sport. He not only coached his team to a semifinal berth but put a sixth Sooner on the Heisman podium and one of the most prolific offenses in history on the field.
8) Gary Gibbs
Gibbs is an Oklahoma lifer who only hardcore Sooners fans remember as the kind of coach who grew from a grad assistant in 1975 to earning the head coaching nod following one of the great college football coaches of all time. At Oklahoma, his record was decidedly above average at 44-23 over six years. He never had a 10-win season, but he never had a losing one either. Let me tell you... we missed him dearly when Howard Schnellenberger finished out his first and only season at Oklahoma. He also took over a program in turmoil and did a pretty great job of cleaning up the mess.
7) Bennie Owen
At Oklahoma, so much of who we are is built around football. And we would not have tradition to build on if not for Owen. He won 122 games from 1905 to 1926 and had only three losing seasons. The field at Memorial Stadium is named in his honor to commemorate the foundation he laid for OU football.
6) Mark Williams
In 18 years, Williams has won nine national titles including a four-peat in 2015, 2016, 2017 and 2018. He has won more than 93 percent of all meets OU has entered and also served as Team USA’s head coach at the 2016 Olympics in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. Half of the 2010 Team USA World Championships team had competed for Williams at Oklahoma. In men’s college gymnastics, there’s no one else in the conversation as the best to ever do it.
5) Billy Tubbs
Tubbs had one abysmal season in 1980-81 where the Sooners finished 9-18. That was his first. From there he put together 12 consecutive 20-win seasons, including three 30-win seasons. In 1987-88, the Sooners finished as the national runner-up with an 83-79 loss to Kansas. Many folks forget that the Tubbs-led squad beat KU out for the Big 8 conference title that season.
He also didn’t mince words when it came to officiating.
4) Bob Stoops
There’s a fun conspiracy theory that John Blake was a year away from turning Oklahoma around. But it’s only fun because we know what happened two years after Stoops replaced him as the headman at OU. Sooner linebacker Torrance Marshall showed up to get his boy’s Heisman back. Florida State fans can get this salt, fam.
But it’s the years following OU’s 2000 national title that defined Stoops’ legacy. Yes, in bowl games he was a paltry 9-9. Over 18 years, though, he won 190 games—the school record—and ran roughshod over a Big 12 Conference that ought to be renamed in his honor. Because he owned it.
3) Barry Switzer
Switzer was the first man to successfully feed the monster with a national title in 18 years when he led the 1974 Sooners to a national title. In his first season as head coach, OU finished 10-0-1 and earned a No. 3 ranking in the Associated Press poll. From 1973 to 1988, Switzer put together a decade’s worth of 10-win seasons and won three national titles. He’s also the most quotable coach in history.
2) Bud Wilkinson
Name something you’ve done 47 straight times in a row. Anything. Short of getting out of bed, it’s difficult to say. Now think of trying to win 47 straight football games in a row in big-time college football. Between 1953 and 1957 Wilkinson did just that while winning two of the three of OU’s national title in the modern era. He won the first in 1950. It was different era of football, sure. But I feel confident in saying without Wilkinson there might never be a Switzer or a Stoops or a Riley.
1) Patty Gasso
Patty Gasso has won more than 1,200 games in 23 seasons. She’s won four national titles and is looking to three-peat at this current moment. She’s coached the best two-way player in softball history (Keilani Ricketts), home run hitter (Lauren Chamberlain) and pitcher (Paige Lowary or Paige Parker? Take your pick. The one you picked just threw it by you anyway) in the sport over the last decade. In a sport where the best teams usually play between 60 and 70 games in a season and don’t need more than their 10 fingers to count their losses in years when they win the national title, she’s recorded 10 seasons of 10 losses or fewer. She’s won nearly 80 percent of all 1,528 games she’s coached and is universally respected as on a short list of the best softball coaches of all time.
OKLAHOMA SOONERS FANS WHO ARE GAMERS
I’ve compiled a list of folks who love Oklahoma Sooners football and gaming on Xbox Live (XBL) and Playstation Network (PSN). I stream Madden, Destiny and Fortnite on Twitch regularly on Xbox and PS4 (soon).
Follow me here: https://www.twitch.tv/iamleveledup You can add me on XBL, PSN and follow me on Twitch at: IamLeveledUp. YouTube videos still drop every day at 6 p.m. CT and live stream on Wednesdays at 6 p.m. on YouTube.
OU SOONER GAMERS
Twitter: Soonerfan8380
XBL: Bard8380
Twitter: RGDies1994
XBL: G Doctor54
PSN: G Doctor54
Twitter: @SStone24
PSN: BoomerStone24
Twitter: sqeebes2
XBL: Bushwac8ker
Twitter: @pdotruck
PSN: TheRedMamba10
Twitter: boomstick0439
XBL: boomstick0439
Twitter: @KCOK26
XBL: KCCOMMANDO
PSN: KCCOMMANDO
Twitter: @andyhoova
XBL: andyhoover
Twitter: @Henderson_Lyle
XBL: SoonerBornBred
Twitter: @mrpayani
PSN: Don_Payani
Twitter: @Roselli
PSN: ROESELLI
Twitter: @_jason23
XBL: JayD2311
Twitter: @OUQB1Tattoo
PSN: Tattoo Baker
Twitter: @dkRayy
XBL: BakerForHei6man
Twitter: CodySirk
XBL: IrDonutman
PSN: IrDonutman
Twitter: @braden_giesecke
XBL: BradenLG2000
PSN: rdv4ou
Twitter: @dane_kauk
XBL: AMKBK
Twitter: @DPerezOK
PSN: DPerezOK
Twitter: @jandabass0708
XBL: LongingComb247
Twitter: @zach_acuff
PSN: Zach_Acuff_55
Twitter: @TripEsq
XBL: Phi Kap Soldier
Twitter: @TribalThrasher
XBL: AyeMyNativ3
Twitter: @MarissaMc13
XBL: LivingStronger
Twitter: @oumaddawg
XBL: @oumaddawg
Twitter: @StorminOkie
PSN: StorminOkie
Twitter: @caseywade01
XBL: SP00N22
Twitter: @SOONER_DAD
PSN: Honsinger
Twitter: @HallJasonA
PSN: KCID
Twitter: @Tgoodie17
XBL: BillyBob1492
Twitter: @Uptown_Militia
XBL: Quiktrip Drink
Twitter: @20Orion
PSN: jaker20
Twitter: @CavnerShea
XBL: Merck19
Twitter: @mackelly2
XBL: CUTigers87
Twitter: @CornDog98412216
PSN: ClckTownMassacre
Twitter: @nateinmac
PSN: faultsinalaska
Twitter: @OUmarauder
XBL: OUmarauder
Twitter: @BoomerStotts
XBL: Methified
Twitter: @rlucas405
PS4: weedzilla405
Twitter: @NickLawtonTV
XBL: Nicolae492
Twitter: @swacky_OU
PSN: soOUners
Twitter: @BakerGoatfield
XBL: ItsASAPMob
Twitter: @BOOMER_4lyfe
XBL: II whitehit II
Twitter: @tylerstites10
XBL: StitesOne
Twitter: @DamonPaczosa28
XBL: Grim Boomer
Twitter: MKeegs79
XBL: Keegs79
PSN: Keegs79
Twitter: @MattOkie
XBL: Th3OldMan52
Twitter: @SulphurSooner
XBL: SulphurSooner
Twitter: @BradyMelton6
PSN: lilredopie6
Twitter: @PrairieReportOU
XBL: TakeThab8
Twitter: @WadeWonder1
PSN: Wadewonder1
Twitter: @OUsoonerfan11
XBL: OUsoonerfan11
Twitter: @WA_Sooner
XBL: RunnyEggs22
Twitter: @The_Well_Baby
XBL: Jessyskullkid
Twitter: @daltonlangley19
XBL: HumbleMrSir
Twitter: @mdrich
PSN: waldo2233
Twitter: @CadenMantooth
PSN: boomer8522
Twitter: @madair50
XBL: MA1234554321
Twitter: @BallnALar03
PSN: Alar03
Twitter: @Bsquared1291
PSN: BABrown12
Twitter: XplodingDragon
XBL: SneakyBaelish
PSN: Fr3nchy4L1f3
Twitter: @Florida_Sooner
XBL: Mayfields Flag
Twitter: @derreck78
XBL: Derricle78
Twitter: @MORTONLB53
XBL: DMort5Tre
Twitter: @T_Mane87
PSN: T_Mane87
Twitter: @DillingNathan
XBL: Apositivity
Twitter: @the_real_clong
XBL: SentinelPrime01
Twitter: @OklahomaReign
PSN: Pvtjoker_5
Twitter: @SoonerBrissey21
XBL: SOONERBRISSEY21
Twitter: @Bradenz11
PSN: Millers88
Twitter: @themadlineman
XBL: Noobodycount
Twitter: @OUdidntknow
PSN: OUdidntknow84
Twitter: @okinfortworth
XBL: only 1 OKLAHOMA
Twitter: @BradenT57
XBL: Braden58
Twitter: Dazog7
PSN: Dazog7
Twitter: @MarshJD10
XBL: Boomer10Sooner
Twitter: @TKD_Black_Belt
XBL: WizardBlaze
Twitter: @smholliday
XBL: Sooner Sam