Playing the blame game for the decline of OU football
Published: 6/30/2009 11:54 AM
Last Modified: 6/30/2009 11:54 AM
During recent coverage of the 20-year-anniversary of Barry Switzer's Oklahoma downfall, the name "Howard Schnellenberger" came up again. Ted Hutton, the Florida Atlantic beat writer for the South Florida Sun-Sentinel, noticed.
"Say what you will about The Voice (Hutton's nickname for Schnellenberger), he has never run a program where there was even the hint of scandal," Hutton wrote, in reference to the end of Switzer's run at OU. "And that is why, when he got out to Oklahoma, he refused to bow down to ‘King’ Switzer.
"Howard won’t say it outright, but he felt Switzer had earned his fate through his actions, or inactions, and The Voice was not going to condone that behavior by pretending to like Switzer. Instead, he ignored Switzer while being the bodacious Howard that FAU fans know, talking about the books that would be written and movies made about what would happen with him in charge of the Sooners.
"This did not sit well with Sooner fans, who viewed Howard as an interloper who failed to acknowledge all the great things that had happened before he arrived.
And as fans know, Schnellenberger gets blamed for the woeful teams Oklahoma had between Switzer and (Bob) Stoops, even though Howard was 5-5-1 in his ONE season, while John Blake, who followed Howard, went 12-22 in his three years and really is the guy who left the program in a shambles.
"But Blake was an inside guy, having been a Sooner player and coaching under Switzer, so he gets the pass while outsider Howard gets the blame. And don't get me started on how the fans and media out there treated Beverlee Schnellenberger. It got ugly and personal."
Don't know anything about that. I was in Wichita, Kan., the year Schnellenberger coached the Sooners. But I do realize how controversial a figure Schnellenberger remains around Norman, even 15 years after his departure. Hutton's blog should stir the pot even more so.
-- Guerin Emig
Written by
Guerin Emig
Sports Writer
