Worst head coach appointments in the history for Oklahoma football
The Oklahoma Sooners have had some poor hires over the years, despite having three renowned coaches for 51 of its 115 seasons. While the trio of legendary coaches—Bob Stoops, Barry Switzer,
and Bud Wilkinson—had won seven national titles together, none of the other coaches on this list has ever finished with seven wins.
Oklahoma football hasn’t performed poorly too frequently, and when it has, it hasn’t lasted long. This is a result of the program’s ability to quickly correct errors when it finds the incorrect guy. Brent Venables might be the best candidate to lead the Sooners into the SEC if they prevail in the Red River Rivalry in 2023, but if he is unable to compete in the new conference,
then in a few seasons, he might find himself on this list.
Oklahomans’ desire to forget the names of these three coaches is likely strong, but it will never happen. Now let’s examine the ranking of Oklahoma football’s worst coaches ever.
It became clear pretty quickly that Schnellenberger was not a good fit in Norman. Gary Gibbs was forced to resign in 1994, but stayed on to coach the 1994 Copper Bowl. Scnellenberger traveled to see his new teams in the bowl game and immediately alienated his players by calling them out of shape after a 31-6 loss to BYU.
Schnellenberger only coached one season in Norman and led the Sooners to a 5-5-1 record before resigning and saying, “In recent months, a climate has developed toward the program, understandably in some cases and perhaps unfairly in others, that has changed my outlook on the situation. A change could help improve that climate.”
It was a bizarre tenure that began 3-0, but dissolved the rest of the season and ended in confusing fashion.
Before the next coach, make sure you’ve claimed FanDuel Sportsbook’s $150 bonus if the Sooners beat TCU this week! If you deposit $10 or more and bet at least $5 on Oklahoma’s moneyline odds, you’ll get an extra $150 in bonus bets if the Sooners win. Sign up for FanDuel now.
