Switzer stories from the 1970-71 days
Here’s the great thing about Barry Switzer. Everytime you talk with him, you hear new stories you’ve never heard before.
Saturday morning, I called Switzer, and he said he was getting dressed to go pick up Steve Owens and go to the funeral home where Jack Mildren’s body lay. Switzer asked if he could call me back on his way to pick up Owens.
Switzer indeed called back, and he started chatting about Mildren and the wishbone, and the next thing you know, he was cussing himself. He had driven to 89th Street in Oklahoma City without stopping to pick up Owens.
But the stories were priceless. Here are three.
1. OU opened the 1971 season with a 30-0 rout of SMU, then went to Pittsburgh and drilled the Panthers 55-29. Back in those days, you could scout opponents, and Texas sent Bill Ellington to Pitt.
Ellington reported back to Darrell Royal. “Best offensive team I’ve ever seen,” Ellington said.
Royal responded, “Including ours?”
“Including ours,” Ellington replied.
2. When OU switched to the wishbone, Switzer said he was worried only about two players. Mildren, I wrote about in the Sunday paper. The other? Greg Pruitt.
Pruitt was a sophomore speedster from Houston who had been playing flanker in the veer. “Everytime he touched the ball that spring, he ran for a touchdown,” Switzer said. “We knew he was a great player.”
But in the wishbone, Pruitt would need to play halfback. “He was having to move to a foreign position,” Switzer said. “We were sticking his (butt) at second-string . It really upset Greg.”
Switzer said he worked extra with Pruitt, learning the halfback position. At Iowa State, in the fourth game of the wishbone era, starting halfback Everett Marshall was knocked out of the game. “We put Greg Pruitt in with (fellow halfback) Joe Wylie, and it was all over. Once (Pruitt) learned the assignments, he would become what he became.”
Outside of Mildren and Pruitt, “the rest I didn’t give a s— about,” Switzer said. “Players are going to do what you tell ‘em.”
3. The wishbone was not the only major schematic change OU made to jump-start the dynasty. OU switched from the 4-4 defense to the 5-2 in 1971. Coordinator Larry Lacewell wanted to make the switch in 1970, but head coach Chuck Fairbanks, already switching offenses from the I formation to the veer, didn’t want to inflict too much change on his football team.
In the 4-4, OU used a rover and a monster (remember those positions?). Iowa State got up 21-0 on OU in 1970; the Sooners rallied for a 29-28 victory. “Lacewell wanted to be a four-deep team,” Switzer said, referring to a four-defensive back set. “I wish we’d have gone to it sooner. We weren’t a great defensive team.”
-------------Berry Tramel can be heard Monday through Friday from 4:40-5:20 p.m. on The Sports Animal radio network, including AM-640 and FM-98.1. You can e-mail him here and follow him on Twitter @BerryTramel. Visit Berry's website here.
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