Notre Dame: Why not hire Switzer?
If Notre Dame wants an Oklahoma football coach they can get, why not Barry Switzer? The Fighting Irish, should they fire Charlie Weis, is not likely to entice Bob Stoops (or Urban Meyer) to South Bend.
The Chicago Sun-Times report that Stoops has told confidants he would like to talk to Notre Dame is “people making stuff up,” Stoops said.
Former Oklahoma coach Barry Switzer follows the game against Nebraska in the first half of their NCAA college football game, in Lincoln, Neb., Saturday, Nov. 7, 2009. (AP Photo/Nati Harnik)
Not the first time someone has made up stuff about a Sooner coach and Notre Dame. In fact, it was fiction-writing at the very core.
In July 1998, the HBO comedy series “Arli$$,” about a sports agent, had a plotline that included the announcement that Notre Dame had hired Switzer. “Nuns and priests fainted,” Switzer laughed this week.
Switzer is an old hand at acting. “Coach,” “Saving Grace,” “Possums,” “Varsity Blues,” “Any Given Sunday.” Switzer has been all over both the small and large screens.
In real life, Switzer had little chance of drawing Notre Dame’s interest. The Irish are not in the habit of hiring rogues. But he would always listen.
“Tell them to call me,” said Switzer, 72 years old and 12 years out of football. “Tell them I can beat Navy.”
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.
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Comments
Notre Dame is a University of high ethics, and Switzer is morally corrupt. Remember, he had it in for Lacewell.
Yep, he can beat Navy. Geez, what a crappy Notre Dame team. How many years of bad results at a school that should be a perennial top 10?
Just the fact that this is an article makes this year one of the worst since Blake.
Other possible story titles:
Stoops out…Schnelly’s back!
Why we should paint our field blue like Boise State…
Return to where it all started…Independence Bowl here we come!
and so on…
To Gerald, if you don’t think Switzer is morally bankrupt, then you must have slept through his tenure at OU.
i love barry switzer and what he did for oklahoma football and the state. heck if he ran for governor of oklahoma i give him my vote, but i live in texas-exempt. anyway if he wants too coach again at notre dame or where ever more power too him. he was one of the greatest coaches in college football, i don,t care what people say about him his record speaks for itself. even with the trouble years down the road at oklahoma, all oklahoma fans love him and what he did too put oklahoma back on the map. thank you coach for all the great players at oklahoma, especially billy sims, the BOZ, and alot of other great ones. i like too see him coach one day again. heck you can,t go play golf or fish all the time. barry smells the football field and wants too get back in, you have my vote coach. go get em barry and not let anyone stand in your way and please do not take any crap at all. sincerely ou-johnny in texas.
Uh Don…really? I mean really? You think ND is better than OU? Really? ND can’t get a winning season in the 2000s to save their life…at least OU is always in contention for something other than the John Deere Tracker Bowl…Even the coach for A&M said that even with 4 losses OU is a tough team to play. Pretty sure my younger brother could beat ND this year, last year, or any year. Also, the fact that ND beat OU some 30 years ago doesn’t mean in two seasons OU won’t return the favor.
Personally meeting Coach Switzer once showed me the man has what it takes in terms of motivating players. Put all his other actions aside, I think he could coach ANY team to be a winner. You can’t just PUT that in a man, nor be taught as a learned skill. Say what you want, but Coach Switzer is a winner who can instill that intangable in ANY team. Look at his 16 years at OU…they won a lot of games when they were outmatched and outplayed. He has a knack for showing teams how to “refuse to lose”. ND or any other team should consider that, which is always their alumni’s bottom line. If its about raising money and selling tickets, he can bring both to the table. Personally, I’d love to see him coach again somewhere…and wish him the best. I would go as far as to say give him a couple of recruiting classes and a decent staff, and he would have a winner in three to four years….maybe sooner (no pun intended). TO COACH: It’s 4th down and 1…You should go for it and prove all your doubters WRONG!
Forget Notre Dame. I would like to see him back at OU helping recruit the best in Oklahoma and Texas. I miss the OU play back every Sunday night with Switzer.
PT, My post to Abe Stice was a comment on his ridiculous assertion that Notre Dame is some paragon of high morals and ethics. ND is the same sink hole of cheating as any of the rest of us, they just have a better crew of off campus @$$-holes who keep it all hushed up. There was some real sleeze disclosed during the latter part of the Holtz years and nothing was done about it. The same goes for the University of Spoiled Children. Depending on which web site you read, Reggie Bush and his entourage got paid up to $500,000 in cash and benefits while playing there. Just like at ND, nothing will ever come of it. Go back to sleep.
I think Barry is great! I’d love to see him back in coaching but preferably not at Notre Dame.
If he regains the hunger to win that put Nebraska down so many times – he could be formidable again as he was often when OU coach.
If Joe Paterno can coach at 95 or however old he is then I’m sure Switzer could still do a great job even at 72. The guy can flat out recruit and coach but would he really want to get back into it now?
i agree with Ed, if barry wants to coach come back to ou and recruit! that is one thing that john blake could do was recruit. that is what we need is a recruiter.
Notre Dame is such a institution of high moral integrity that they invited abortion endorsing Obama to speak at graduation.
Brook, believe it or not, ND beat OU in 1999, Stoops first season. The only reason OU doesn’t own ND is because they don’t play that often. If they played every year, OU would use them as a warm-up. Teams like Boise State and ND are very careful who they schedule, knowing full well that their record would be in the toilet if they scheduled real football teams.
Barry,
Mark Richt is coaching on borrowed time. The SEC would be a better place with you coaching in it. Call the folks down in Athens. Why would you want to deal the Pope meddling in your program?
I am praying on my rosary beads for a golden shaft of light to fall on the golden dome and be seen by the the cabal in power in South Bend. May they see the light and realize that Barry Switzer is the only way to undue the wrong they did to other coaches like Willingham, and what a profane thing they did to the coaching profession by keeping Weiss this long. They have to do a wrong to undue their wrongs, it’s the only way. Boomer Irish !
Nobody wants to go to Notre Dame anymore.They haven’t gotten quality atheletes since Holtz was fired.Why anybody would want to go coach at there is beyond me,I know rich tradition money etc.But you got to back up and look at the big picture it comes down to players.Now days if there is a star athlete chances are he is going to USC,Texas,Oklahoma Florida,etc.For example look at Florida State they aren’t getting the atheletes they once were neither is Miami,is it possible they will one day soon get back on top yes it is possible but Notre Dame hasn’t been there since 1990 ,1991 twenty years ago I just think it would be a good job if you want to reep the results an Notre Dame isn’t going to be patient for it to come!!!!!!!!!!!!!
That last line is a great quote by Switzer. Made me laugh.