This legendary football team has a funny name, but a rich history - one that pulls at the heartstrings and tickles the funny bone. The Oklahoma Sooners have gone from strength to strength throughout their history, as one of the most consistently great teams across the US. If you've got Oklahoma football tickets to enjoy this weekend, today we give you some of the history that has carried the Sooners to their current position.
The First Nine Years
The Sooners started off with a modern language professor as the football coach, Vernon Louis Parrington - it seems like an odd matchup, but Parrington actually gave those purchasing early Oklahoma football tickets nine wins, one loss and two ties. He stopped coaching after three years to pursue teaching, his real passion, and earned a Pulitzer Prize for history in 1928!
The Owen Era
The Owen Era ran from 1905 to 1946 ... although the Sooners were looking for a permanent coach, and the era is named after Bennie Owen, there were actually several coaches during this sizable timeframe. Bennie Owen was a quarterback on Kansas's undefeated team of 1899, and his team had beaten Oklahoma twice in the five years prior to the start of his coaching stint. He coached the Sooners for 22 years, and had a win average of 67.7% during that time frame.
The two coaches that came after Owen, Adrian Lindsey and Lewie Hardage, just couldn't live up to the legend ... and the pressure of the coach that came before them probably didn't help! Their combined record was 30-31-10. After these two coaches, Lawrence 'Biff' Jones reigned in the finances, administration and coaching methods, and even though his record was only 9-6-3 over two seasons, his coaching is seen as a turning point in the Sooners' history.
The Wilkinson Era
Running from 1946 to 1963 was the Wilkinson era, when the Sooner's playing style was defined by Bud Wilkinson, a former quarterback for the University of Minnesota. He led the Sooners to an undefeated season in 1949, and also created an undefeated streak of 47 games - this record has only been seriously threatened twice, by the University of Southern California and Miami, in the past few years. He maintained a massive winning percentage of 90.9%, and unlike in the Owen Era, every year in 'The Wilkinson Era' was coached by Bud Wilkinson.
From Wilkinson to Switzer
In the period between Wilkinson's departure and the hiring of Barry Switzer in 1973, Oklahoma football ticket fans saw three main coaches - Gomer Jones, Jim Mackenzie and Chuck Fairbanks, of whom Fairbanks was the undisputed standout.
The Switzer Era
The height of the Switzer era, in the 1970s, saw the Sooner s go 73-7-2 over 7 years. Switzer was succeeded by the not-quite-so-impressive, but vey solid, Gary Gibbs, then a couple more coaches, before Bob Stoops took over the Sooner's helm.
Stoops still coaches the team that Oklahoma football ticket purchasers see today, and has produced six Big 12 Conference Championships, 22 All-Americans, 2 Heisman Trophy winners and two runners-up.
To learn more about subjects like Oklahoma football tickets please visit the web site at: http://www.totallytickets.com
For more information and informative related articles and links about this subject matter and content, please visit Majon's Sporting Goods | Memorabilia | Fitness directory: http://www.majon.com/directory/sporting-goods-memorabilia-fitness. Also visit our Shopping Directory Marketplace for more related sites.
About the Author
Chris Robertson is a published author of Majon International. All Rights Reserved. Copyright 2011 (Mon Oct 04 2010) Majon International. Majon International is one of the worlds MOST popular internet marketing and internet advertising companies on the web. Visit their main business resource internet marketing web site at: http://www.majon.com
