Barry Switzer

[Halas Hall]

It has been almost twenty five years since Barry Switzer coached the Dallas Cowboys. Although he will be more remembered for coaching the Oklahoma Sooners, I think he is underrated as a pro coach. His record was 40-24 with the Cowboys, then 5-2 in the playoffs with one Super Bowl win. It's accurate to say he won with a team Jimmy Johnson assembled, but win he did. Does anyone else feel he is not thought of enough?

Thanks.

[Oszuscik]

I don't know, I don't really feel Switzer is lacking credit. From reading about the team and watching a few documentaries, you get the impression Barry Switzer was mostly there for a good time. The Cowboys were the best team in the league, and his buddy Jerry Jones offered him a plum gig. Why not come out of retirement? But I don't think Switzer was as driven at that point in his career.

It's almost become cliche to say Switzer won because of Jimmy Johnson's players, but honestly that probably IS the simple truth. That team was young and stacked with talent, yet it only took a few years after Johnson left for the thing to fall apart, and that was on Switzer's watch. Troy Aikman couldn't stand Switzer either, so that probably says something too.

[BD Sullivan]

In Switzer's first year, the Cowboys made a big comeback from a 21-0 deficit to trail 38-28 with six minutes left. They had second-and 10 at the Niners 43, when a no-call came on Sanders apparent bump of Irvin at the 3-yard line. Switzer went ballistic and bumped a ref, which turned 3rd-and-10 into 3rd-and-25 and effectively killed the comeback.

It probably didn't hurt the 95 Super Bowl run to have Deion added to the team.

In 96, Dallas could only manage a WC berth, blowing out the Vikes before losing to California.

In 97, the era ended with a 6-10 record and Switzer was gone at the end of the year.

[lastcat3]

Switzer was the traditional situation of a coach that was more suited for college was coaching pro. Pro football took Switzer's greatest strength away from him which was his ability to recruit. He was more of a players coach and he was more suited to a situation where he could recruit top talent and then allow his assistants to coach them up. He probably would have stayed in college but OU was facing a lot of NCAA violations and they were placed on probation in '89.

I think Switzer could have had a successful run as an NFL coach if he was placed in a situation like Dallas but just prior to the salary cap era. If they were able to hold on to that talent Switzer very well may have been the type of coach to lead them through through the rest of the decade as even though Aikman didn't like him a lot of players really did. Jimmy may have had more trouble motivating a veteran Cowboys team who had already won two Super Bowls than he did a young Cowboys team that was still trying to prove themselves.

[BD Sullivan]

Switzer was the traditional situation of a coach that was more suited for college was coaching pro. Pro football took Switzer's greatest strength away from him which was his ability to recruit. He was more of a players coach and he was more suited to a situation where he could recruit top talent and then allow his assistants to coach them up. He probably would have stayed in college but OU was facing a lot of NCAA violations and they were placed on probation in '89.

I think Switzer could have had a successful run as an NFL coach if he was placed in a situation like Dallas but just prior to the salary cap era. If they were able to hold on to that talent Switzer very well may have been the type of coach to lead them through through the rest of the decade as even though Aikman didn't like him a lot of players really did. Jimmy may have had more trouble motivating a veteran Cowboys team who had already won two Super Bowls than he did a young Cowboys team that was still trying to prove themselves.

Switzer's predecessor, Chuck Fairbanks, had gotten the Patriots to where they were a legitimate Super Bowl contender, but his lack of ethics messed things up--he had bolted Oklahoma just ahead of NCAA sanctions; his secret negotiations with Colorado; bolting Colorado for the USFL and the Walker contract mess.

I may have mentioned this quote before, but when his New Jersey Generals signed Walker--after Fairbanks said they wouldn't, one columnist said that Fairbanks' word had as much value as Hitler's on a peace treaty.

[Bryan]

I remember a funny comment that Brian Bosworth's greatest football accomplishment was being the only Oklahoma Sooner under Switzer to test positive for steroids, as Oklahoma had a regular steroid regiment for years. The story was that Switzer allowed Bosworth to test positive because Switzer was jealous of the media attention Bosworth was getting. Seems perfectly in character for Switzer.

Switzer was successful when he had the advantage of operating with no rules, no oversight, no ethics. The NFL is more of a level playing field with independent drug testing, a league office, etc. So it's not surprising to me that Switzer couldn't sustain his initial success with the Cowboys.

[74_75_78_79_]

https://thegruelingtruth.com/football/n ... uper-bowl/

[7DnBrnc53]

Switzer was successful when he had the advantage of operating with no rules, no oversight, no ethics. The NFL is more of a level playing field with independent drug testing, a league office, etc. So it's not surprising to me that Switzer couldn't sustain his initial success with the Cowboys.

He was also in a Big-8 conference that was fairly weak during his time there. It was usually looked at as the Big 2 and little 6 because OU and Nebraska were usually the ones that won the right to go to Miami (except in 76 when Colorado snuck in on a tie-breaker). Oklahoma St. had some success, but could never beat OU or Nebraska. Colorado had success for a while, but declined after their 70's success until a few years after McCartney took over (they didn't break through and go to the Orange Bowl until right after Barry left OU). Also, Missouri, Iowa State, and Kansas have been bad to mediocre for years (for the most part), and Snyder took over at K-State just as Switzer was leaving OU.

[lastcat3]

THere was no limit on the amount of scholarships teams could give out at that time. Both Nebraska and Oklahoma would give a huge number of scholarships out. It's no coincidence that Nebraska started falling off as soon as they started restricting the number of scholarships they could give out. Oklahoma has been able to stay good because they are closer to the Texas recruiting hot bed than Nebraska is.

[7DnBrnc53]

THere was no limit on the amount of scholarships teams could give out at that time. Both Nebraska and Oklahoma would give a huge number of scholarships out. It's no coincidence that Nebraska started falling off as soon as they started restricting the number of scholarships they could give out. Oklahoma has been able to stay good because they are closer to the Texas recruiting hot bed than Nebraska is.

Even they went downhill a little bit in the 90's (before Bob Stoops returned them to the top). They didn't stink, but they weren't dominant like they were in the late-80's.