A former boss who is from that “other” school once told me that Oklahoma’s tradition would only take them so far.
Translation: it wouldn’t help them win any games in the future.
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This remark was coming off of the decade of the ‘90’s when Oklahoma football was coming off of probation purgatory following the “Bootlegger’s Boy” years of Barry Switzer.
You remember the “rapin’, shootin’ and druggin’” of the late 1980’s that Barry referenced in his book.
But I digress.
Of course, he wasn’t right.
Just full of a few Bob Simmons victories against my old high school football nemesis from Tulsa, John Blake.
Ah, the high school years.
Seems the older we get; we just can’t get them out of our head.
Kind of like The Who.
Who?
The Who.
You know, Pete Townsend, Roger Daltrey, Keith Moon and John Entwistle.
Probably the top 3 rock and roll bands ever.
However, you want to rank them.
Beatles, Stones…
Stones, Beatles…
The Who.
And “who” better than to transition this story than the group that brought you the rock anthem for a generation of Baby Boomers that still receives air play today:
“My Generation”
You see I have come to appreciate The Who more since I have had a Sirius XM satellite radio subscription these past 10 years or so.
And I immediately found my spot.
“Classic Vinyl” station #26.
Never moves.
Which over the years is a staple of my music collection.
You know, songs from the formative years through high school.
Songs like…
“My Generation.”
“Eminence Front”
“Love Rain O’er Me”
“Baba O’Riley”
“Who Are You?”
You can raise your hand now if you didn’t recognize one of those songs as a Who-song.
I’ve come to appreciate them over the years listening to “Classic Vinyl” because in addition to the Beatles, Stones, Jimi, Jim, Janis, Led Zeppelin, Bowie and the Allman Brothers, they play tons of The Who.
A couple of other bands on that list that I have grown to love include David Bowie and the Allman Brothers Band.
Sure, everyone loved “Ramblin Man” in 5th grade in 1972 but no one would ever admit in public they also loved “Major Tom” from Bowie.
Wouldn’t have been good for the rep with the bell bottom jeans, flowered shirts and long hair.
And just like The Who have grown with age and wisdom, so have I and my former boss.
And both have come to acknowledge that some things just get better with age and time.
Things we appreciate more as time goes by and relish in past accomplishments.
Tradition.
And, some things never change. They just keep getting better.
Like The Who.
Welcome to the Southeastern Conference
Or better known around these parts as the “It Just Means More” conference.
Which is kind of funny because nothing has mattered more for Oklahoma football fans and Sooner football for 130 years!
And we take second place to no one.
No one.
Which is funny because all of the SEC schools fandoms on the Twittersphere and beyond have been hazing Oklahoma fans all summer as if we are some kind of pledge coming into the new fraternity.
Newsflash.
We ain’t coming to join nobody’s fraternity.
In fact, we’re bringing our own football club to take over your entire football world.
And it’s an exclusive club that only a handful of schools can claim.
Let’s count the ways, shall we?
Oklahoma is one of the true, so-called “Blue Bloods” in college football. No one argues with this fact. Kind of like the classic rock band list. Oklahoma. Alabama. Michigan. Ohio State. Notre Dame. USC. Nebraska. Texas. It’s a small club for a reason. All-time wins. National Championships. Heisman Trophies. National Award winners. Consensus All-Americans, etc. Rank them however you want subjectively but Oklahoma is at the top of everyone’s list. Kinda like the Beatles and the Stones.
Quarterback U. No one has put more #1 NFL Draft choices at quarterback in the NFL than Oklahoma. Beginning with Sam Bradford from Oklahoma City back in 2010, the hits just keep coming from Oklahoma: Baker Mayfield in 2017, Kyler Murray in 2018, and skip a Jalen Hurts year in 2019 plus Covid in 2020, and Caleb Williams took over the college football world mid-season in 2021. And just became the fourth former Sooner QB to become the #1 NFL draft choice at quarterback in 2024, albeit at USC. We’ll take him as a Sooner first where he began as a freshman. Bradford, Mayfield and Murray all won Heisman’s at Oklahoma, too.
Elite 11 Finalists. Oklahoma is second at 14 with the most Elite 11 Finalists in the nation. Elite 11 is the nation’s premiere quarterback competition. It’s a series of camps and competitions across the country featuring the top high school quarterbacks in the nation. It’s the brainchild of Benn Martiniello and Lisandro Paz who started working together out of high school in 2014 in the sport gear wholesale world before creating Elite 11. And yep, nobody puts more quarterbacks in Elite 11 than Oklahoma
National Titles. Oklahoma is atop the leaders in all-time national championships with 7. In the modern era, only Alabama, Notre Dame and Ohio State have more than the Sooners. And, only 10 teams have 3+ natties in the last 50 years. Yep, the Sooners are tied with USC at 3rd with 4 championships since 1974. The last one may have been in 2000 but nobody wins championships historically like Oklahoma. Nobody.
Individual Awards. Everyone talks Heisman’s. And, that’s ok, too. Oklahoma is well represented on the Nissan “Heisman House” television commercials with Baker Mayfield, Kyler Murray and Billy Sims still being featured every spot. Heck, even Brian Bosworth is the main character in the Dr Pepper “Fansville” commercials and he hasn’t played collegiately since 1986. But at Oklahoma we also play defense. And no one has won more Butkus Awards (4), signifying the nation’s top linebacker, or Thorpe Awards (3), signifying the nation’s top secondary player, than Oklahoma. (Yes, Brian Bosworth is one of our 4 Butkus Award winners—a 2x winner!) And, interior linemen? Oklahoma has 5 Outland Trophy winners which ranks top 3 all-time only behind two other “Blue Bloods” Nebraska (9) and Alabama (6). Are you beginning to see how this works?
Recruiting. Brent Venables has reeled in three straight Top 10 recruiting classes since climbing aboard the Oklahoma plane in December of 2021 and landing in Norman. And, the Sooners are top 3 or 5 depending upon which recruiting service you subscribe to for the 2025 SEC class. In fact, 247Sports Team Recruiting Rankings just released this week have Venables’ Sooners at #3 in the SEC. Oklahoma has been buzzing recently picking up several commitments raising their total haul to 18. And, the Sooners are currently in a big-time recruiting battle for 5-star prospects Jonah Williams, Ty Haywood, Andrew Babalola and Michael Fasusi. They are also in on 4-star offensive lineman Lamont Rogers as they try to put together an all-time class along the offensive line. Yep, nobody is out-recruiting Oklahoma for “crootin’” anymore. And that should scare the you-know-what out of all those fratty boys down south.
Cash. Oklahoma has consistently ranked in the Top 10 top revenue-generating football programs in the country for the past decades. And, it is all self-sustaining. Oklahoma is one of the few remaining departments that stand alone from their respective universities. And, just this week, Oklahoma announced a new exclusive market-based NIL collective that will be run and managed by the University of Oklahoma: 1 Oklahoma. All of the other collectives such as Crimson and Cream will be consolidated under the 1 Oklahoma umbrella. The days of losing out on 5-star defensive lineman to those other schools because of last-minute bankrolls coming under the table are over. Oklahoma will never lose another recruit because of money. Book that, Dano.
Leadership. Joe Castiglione has been the Vice President, and Director of Athletics at Oklahoma since 1998. And he’s considered one of the top AD’s in the country. In fact, the Sooners have won 24 of their 43 team national championships since he arrived in Norman. He has celebrated 110 conference titles in that same period. His programs have been consistently good across the spectrum and he has created a top women’s athletics department as well. The Sooners have ranked in the Learfield Director’s Cup Top 25 in 20 of his 25 years and finished 10th in 2021-22, their best showing since 2012-13. At a time with huge upheaval in college athletics, especially football, no one is more prepared to face that challenge than Joe Castiglione. He and his co-wort at Texas, Chris Del Conte, single-handedly changed the football landscape when they partnered and brokered the SEC deal that landed the Sooners and Longhorns in the SEC. And, with the pending legal decision regarding payment of players, nobody is more prepared to welcome in the beginning of pay-for-play college athletics than Joe Castiglione
.
Stadium. Oklahoma Memorial Stadium is celebrating its 100th season of hosting football games at the University of Oklahoma. Sure, it’s been rebranded the Gaylord Family Oklahoma Memorial Stadium in recent years but us old boots still call it Owen Field. A series on social media is running this season highlighting the Top 100 moments at Owen Field. It’s not the largest stadium in the SEC. We will be mid-pack when we join. But no field or stadium will have more lore and history of winning plays and championships than Oklahoma
.
Tradition. Here is that word again. The one my old boss tried to use against us in the 1990’s. Embrace it. Own it. Cherish it. No one has a more historical winning tradition in college football than Oklahoma. Bud Wilkinson’s 47-game winning streak in the fifties is still the best ever in college football. OU is atop all the national award lists both teamwise and individually. And, still winning today in all sports. But it all started in football back in 1946 when Bud Wilkinson arrived from Iowa Pre-Flight. After one year as an assistant, Bud became one of the youngest football coaches in America. And Oklahoma football has never looked back at anyone. Anyone.
Boomer.
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