Barry Switzer

CCBoy

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Switzer became head coach at Oklahoma in 1973. Prior to Fairbanks' departure, he interviewed for the vacant head coaching positions at Michigan State and SMU. He was so successful that by his seventh season in 1979, the St. Petersburg Times wrote that Switzer was the high priest of what Billy Sims, who won the Heisman Trophy in 1978, described as the church of OU football.[8] Switzer led the team to undefeated seasons in 1973 and 1974. Oklahoma won national championships in 1974, 1975 and 1985 under Switzer's leadership. The team won or shared in the Big Eight Conference championship every year from 1973 to 1980. During his sixteen years as head coach at Oklahoma, his teams won eight of the thirteen post-season bowl games they played in, and 54 of his players were selected as All-Americans.

In 1983, Switzer was sued by the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) for an alleged civil violation of the laws prohibiting insider trading of securities. He defended himself as having innocently overheard the information while lounging on the bleacher behind some corporate insiders—at a stadium where Switzer was watching his elder son compete in a track meet. The case was tried in Oklahoma City United States District Court (before a special U.S. District Judge appointed from Kansas). The case was dismissed at the conclusion of the Government's case for its failure to demonstrate that there had been any purposeful disclosure to Switzer.[9][10]

In 1989, Oklahoma was placed on probation by the NCAA[2] amidst several scandals involving Oklahoma players, including Charles Thompson's arrest for soliciting cocaine to undercover FBI agents.[11] One of the players Switzer and his staff illegally paid money to was Hart Lee Dykes.[12] OU booster, Bill Lambert, illegally paid between 100 and 150 OU football players.[13] OU recruiting coordinator, Shirley Vaughan, illegally paid dozens of OU football players through a ticket scalping scheme.[14] OU 1985 national championship members Keith Jackson, Jamelle Holieway and Brian Bosworth all openly admitted to accepting illegal payments during their time at OU.[15] [5][6] In 1989, after sixteen years as Oklahoma's head coach, Switzer chose to resign. Switzer succeeded in getting the better of several famous contemporaries, including a 12–5 mark against Tom Osborne, 5–3 against Jimmy Johnson, 3–0 against Bobby Bowden, 3-0-1 against Darrell Royal and 1–0 against Joe Paterno, Bo Schembechler, and Woody Hayes. Along with Bennie Owen, Bud Wilkinson, and Bob Stoops, he is one of four coaches to win over 100 games at the University of Oklahoma. No other college football program has had more than three coaches accomplish such a feat ...

... Switzer was known as an outstanding recruiter of high school talent, particularly in the neighboring state of Texas. His record against Texas in his sixteen seasons as Oklahoma's head coach is 9–5–2. The 1984 game between these two universities ended in a 15–15 tie by virtue of a field goal by Texas on the last play of the game. On the next to last play of the game, however, there had been an apparent interception of a Texas pass thrown into the end zone by Oklahoma's Keith Stansberry. The pass was, however, ruled incomplete by a Southwest Conference official and the interception waved off. Bruce Finlayson, Supervisor of Officials for the 1984 game later admitted, as reported in the Daily Oklahoman newspaper the following Monday, October 15, 1984, that the officiating crew had made an error in not confirming Oklahoma's interception. The correct call would have preserved a 15–12 Oklahoma victory and changed Switzer's record against Texas to 10–5–1.[16] Switzer has a 3–0–1 record against UT-Austin's Darrell Royal.


https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Barry_Switzer
 

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Switzer resurfaced in coaching in 1994 with the Dallas Cowboys. Switzer stepped in following the departure of Jimmy Johnson, who as head coach had won the previous two Super Bowls. Johnson had clashed with owner Jerry Jones and many felt that Switzer was more apt to go along with Jones' ideas. Switzer was successful with the Cowboys, going 12–4 his first season in 1994 (losing to the 49ers in the NFC Championship). However, in the game he was criticized for making two critical errors. In the first half, with the Cowboys down 24–14, he opted not to run out the clock, giving the 49ers a chance to score one last touchdown before the half ended. Later, in the fourth quarter, with the Cowboys still down 38–28 and trying to rally, he was penalized for touching an official with his hip while demonstrating what he felt had been San Francisco's Deion Sanders committing pass interference against Dallas' Michael Irvin—which had not been called. This ended the Cowboys' chances of a comeback.

In Switzer's second season of 1995, the team went 12–4. Dallas won Super Bowl XXX over the Pittsburgh Steelers, 27–17, making Switzer one of only three coaches to win a college national championship and a Super Bowl, the others being Johnson and Pete Carroll.

In August 1997, Switzer was arrested after a loaded .38-caliber revolver was found in his luggage at the Dallas/Fort Worth International Airport. Switzer, who was returning to the team's training camp facility in Austin, said there were children at his Dallas home and he put the gun in his bag to hide it from them. He said he accidentally forgot to remove the gun from the bag before heading to the airport.[17] Switzer pleaded guilty, was fined $3,500, and was given one year deferred adjudication. Two days later, he was fined $75,000 by Jones (equivalent to $136,723 in 2022).[18] After a disappointing 6–10 season in 1997, Switzer resigned as head coach of the Cowboys with a 40–24 career NFL coaching record.[2][19]

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Barry_Switzer#After_coaching
 

JayFord

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you know

I actually liked Barry Switzer.. yeah he wasnt a a disciplinarian like Johnson and benefitted from Jimmy building the team but he was legit 1 win away from back to back superbowls

we wouldve blown the doors off of San Diego in the superbowl
 

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VaqueroTD

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you know

I actually liked Barry Switzer.. yeah he wasnt a a disciplinarian like Johnson and benefitted from Jimmy building the team but he was legit 1 win away from back to back superbowls

we wouldve blown the doors off of San Diego in the superbowl
I feel like football history has been kinder on Switzer as time goes on. The real problem at the time was Jerry.
 

CCBoy

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I feel like football history has been kinder on Switzer as time goes on. The real problem at the time was Jerry.
Jerry kept the team functional, in the black, and somehow managed to acquire a ton of talent for Jimmy and then Barry.

For an owner/head coach to fail, there has to be conflict and no, that doesn't rest in the lap of the owner when all a coach really has to do is squeak up. That is, unless he job wise is the unwise part of a relationship.

Jerry deserved praise as did his team...not just Jimmy. Sorry, Mr. Johnson, that is the fact of life and you showed a status quo of insult and personal loyalties that didn't have a history of lengthy survival in a top achieving organization.

Jerry got Jimmy what he needed to win at each progressive step, until the players of the dynasty started being too expensive in a changing NFL. They started to get to career injury departure levels. And Jimmy had already deserted his team as it's head...that is also true.
 

mattjames2010

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Jerry kept the team functional, in the black, and somehow managed to acquire a ton of talent for Jimmy and then Barry.

For an owner/head coach to fail, there has to be conflict and no, that doesn't rest in the lap of the owner when all a coach really has to do is squeak up. That is, unless he job wise is the unwise part of a relationship.

Jerry deserved praise as did his team...not just Jimmy. Sorry, Mr. Johnson, that is the fact of life and you showed a status quo of insult and personal loyalties that didn't have a history of lengthy survival in a top achieving organization.

Jerry got Jimmy what he needed to win at each progressive step, until the players of the dynasty started being too expensive in a changing NFL. They started to get to career injury departure levels. And Jimmy had already deserted his team as it's head...that is also true.
Jerry's gambling attitude worked when he first took ownership due to the NFL system at the time, but that was a small time frame for when he was the owner. He did not do well adjusting to the NFL cap restrictions and that was abundantly apparent in the late 90s and early 00s. He still had hiccups well after that as well.
 

CCBoy

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Jerry's gambling attitude worked when he first took ownership due to the NFL system at the time, but that was a small time frame for when he was the owner. He did not do well adjusting to the NFL cap restrictions and that was abundantly apparent in the late 90s and early 00s. He still had hiccups well after that as well.
It took a wildcatter's attitude to succeed in the emergence of the AFL and expansions of the NFL for their first merged decade. It was marked by drama and huge gamblings for achievement. It happened with the Jets, it happened with the Raiders, and it happened for the Cowboys. Cash flow was dramatice as whole franchises had to relearn player retensions and maintaining of rosters with a cap.

With an owner/GM model, as with Oakland and then Dallas, oh, they were successful and in the mainstream of success until about the mid-1980's
Both of these two teams and management styles won and acquired Lombardis as well.

I wonder where New England would have been if Bellichick had not been a coach under Bill Parcells and forged a coaching style from that point forward...back when Jimmy let Emerson Walls walk and immediately picked up by Bill Parcells and with Lawrence Taylor, Leonard Marshall, and Carl Banks.
 
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For the record, my posting is being labeled stirring the pot...here. It is NOT. I have made quite a few posts about that era players that still deserve making the Hall of Fame. Barry Switzer and that period's team is highly relevant in that view. I am attempting to take that stigma out of the picture...NOT stir the pot!

Periods of play as well as stability resulting from a variety of causes is relevant and for the largest part, stereotyped and missing from views.
 

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On Emerson Walls...

The team waived him at the end of the 1989 season, because of a lack of production and an incident that happened after a loss to the Phoenix Cardinals, when head coach Jimmy Johnson saw him talking with some friends among the Cardinals players.[7] His 44 interceptions ranks him second on the Cowboys career list.

Emerson Walls was immediately picked up by Bill Parcells and his Super Bowl team.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Everson_Walls

Last week Jones said that he doesn't remember having made the remark about ESPN. "But if that's the story they were telling when I approached their table," he said, "now I know why they all looked so sheepish." When Jones made his toast, the group, which included two people whom Jones had fired, reacted coolly, and Jones was not invited to join the table. The snub led to Jones's widely reported remark later that night that he might get Switzer to coach his team.

https://vault.si.com/vault/1994/04/...nally-boiled-over-making-a-divorce-inevitable

(biased privileges when his money wasn't paying the bills) That's called a lack of professional ethics.
 

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APRIL 11, 1994

BAD BLOOD​

THE FEUD BETWEEN JIMMY JOHNSON AND JERRY JONES FINALLY BOILED OVER, MAKING A DIVORCE INEVITABLE

https://vault.si.com/vault/1994/04/...nally-boiled-over-making-a-divorce-inevitable


America's team, meet America's Question. Last week Barry Switzer, of all people, asked it on behalf of infuriated Dallas Cowboy fans confounded by the March 29 resignation of coach Jimmy Johnson. "One thing," Switzer said to team owner Jerry Jones several days before Jones offered Switzer the job. "Would you or Jimmy please explain to me how two guys could be on top of the world and win two straight Super Bowls and not be able to get along with each other?"

Johnson's story was this: The day before the 1992 NFL draft, the Dallas brain-trust—Johnson, Jones and Ackles—formulated a trade to offer the Cleveland Browns. Late that day, after Jones had left the office, Cleveland coach Bill Belichick called back to say he would do the deal, and the Cowboys announced it. On draft day Jones came to the office upset that he hadn't been called when the deal was confirmed, and he asked to see Johnson. Their meeting droned on until, with only five minutes left before the start of the draft, Jones told Johnson, "You know the ESPN camera is in the draft room today. So whenever we're about to make a pick, you look at me, like we're talking about it." In other words, Make me look as if I'm a big player here, even though we all know I'm not making the picks.

Johnson burst from his meeting with Jones and walked not to the draft room but to his office. When Wannstedt went to tell him to hurry to the draft room, Johnson snapped sarcastically, "Let Jerry handle the draft. He knows all about it." Johnson relented, but he stewed about Jones all day.

(This was in line with the initial arrangement that the management agreement from the very start was that Jerry would hold both the position of owner and general manager...as such, he had the requirement to serve in that function even if a rubber stamp of Jimmy Johnson's preference. This was a legal obligation from that point forward. Jimmy blatantly broke the contractual arrangement even if he didn't have legal legitimation to do so.)

For three years prior to this sequence of events, Jerry had been preparing for alternatives to include replacement of Jimmy Johnson as head coach if need be. Jerry had done his homework for his own franchise. Good business in practice.

This is what Troy Aikman commented on the occurances:

In the end, though, Johnson got what he wanted—an escape from the man he had grown to dread, a voiding of the last five years of his contract, and a $2 million golden parachute to boot. "Jimmy orchestrated the thing brilliantly," says quarterback Troy Aikman. "He wanted out, he saw a crack, and he took it. He got a ton of money, and he got everyone to feel sorry for him."

(He lost the battle about morales and ethics.)

And although he lost no power as Head Coach, or powers as such...he didn't mind insulting his boss above that.

Sorry Coach Johnson, in the real world in America, one just doesn't bottom deal on matters of integrity.

Instead of waiting until the end of season, being a man, he abandoned ship looking to move on to another team the week of the Super Bowl in 1993. He sold both Jerry and his team down the stream. If he wanted more in his own basket, he should have waited for the appropriate set of circumstances. He didn't and kicked the insults on down the road from that very point onward. The break-up was on Jimmy. He gave Jerry no alternative even though Jerry did right by Jimmy in the details of the actual breakup...as he should have.
_______________________
Four days before Dallas played the New York Giants for the NFC East title. Johnson told ESPN that he might consider an offer to coach the expansion Jacksonville Jaguars. On the team's charter flight home after the win over the Giants, Johnson walked up to Jones and said, "By the way, I'm the one who's going to decide how long I coach here."

https://vault.si.com/vault/1994/04/...nally-boiled-over-making-a-divorce-inevitable

The year before Jimmy had lost Wannstedt, Turner, and offensive-line coach Tony Wise. Promotions were in line for Wannstedt and Turner, elsewhere.

Gone were the Friday-evening beer-and-nachos outings.

These were the words of Jimmy Johnson:

He noted that "things changed a little bit" between the two when the team became successful. Johnson went on to say (via Fox Sports), "People say, 'he meddled too much.' No he didn't meddle. It's just that when we started winning, he wanted to be more in the spotlight. I was proud of what we accomplished. Maybe I didn't want to share it. I take fault in a lot of it. I should've shared it more."

https://www.grunge.com/1164254/nfls-jerry-jones-and-jimmy-johnsons-feud-explained/

As to the Wall of Honor issue, since loyalty was involved as well as ethics, after stating that Jimmy would enter the wall, this is what Jerry stated:

"There's a lot more than Jimmy to think about here." Jones added, "And so how I do that, what I do it with, I get to make that decision. And it isn't at the end of the day all tailored around whether Jimmy is sniveling or not."

Read More: https://www.grunge.com/1164254/nfls-jerry-jones-and-jimmy-johnsons-feud-explained/

This boils down to Jimmy wanting his own vain glory above the good of his players and boss...no, that's not integrity.
 
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CCBoy

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As good as Jerry has been, this still remains over his head until gone...

Two Smith runs later Dallas was up 27-17 and Pittsburgh had no answer. The Cowboys had won their fifth Super Bowl, third in the last four years, and their first under Switzer. But there would always be an asterisk beside Switzer's name in the record book. Yes, he was the head coach. But he'd won it with Jimmy's players.

For Jones and the Cowboys they would spend every year since trying to get back to the Super Bowl and finally prove Jones' could build a championship team without Johnson. They have yet to do so. They haven't even made it back to a conference championship game since the 1995 season – 27 years ago.

https://insidethestar.com/barry-switzer-gets-a-ring-in-1995-with-jimmy-johnsons-players/
 

jsb357

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But there would always be an asterisk beside Switzer's name in the record book. Yes, he was the head coach. But he'd won it with Jimmy's players.
I wonder if the author of the article places an asterick beside
Don McCafferty, George Seifert, and Jon Gruden
in "the record book".
 

CCBoy

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Myself, I grew up with a conscience in the real world.

I don't give Jimmy the 'guilt free' pass of feeling sorry, as a man doesn't need that to hide behind. Jimmy - 2; Switzer - 1
 

Cowboys5217

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you know

I actually liked Barry Switzer.. yeah he wasnt a a disciplinarian like Johnson and benefitted from Jimmy building the team but he was legit 1 win away from back to back superbowls

we wouldve blown the doors off of San Diego in the superbowl
I liked Switzer's personality. He's definitely a player's coach, but the Cowboys at the time were built on the rigorous discipline of Jimmy Johnson. That's why Aikman ended having to takeover the role of tyrant to try and keep the ship from sinking.
 
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