| Revision as of 06:50, 10 March 2006 edit129.15.166.131 (talk) →Women's basketball← Previous edit | Revision as of 07:04, 10 March 2006 edit undoTmrobertson (talk | contribs)194 edits →[]: (I swear, OSU fans are the most annoying, tattle-tale crybaby fanbase in the nation)Next edit → | ||
| Line 114: | Line 114: | ||
| The Sooners headed into the 2005-06 season ranked #6 in the AP preseason poll, led by Taj Gray, Kevin Bookout, Terrell Everett, and David Goldbold. Despite disapointments throughout the early season, after the finding of Micheal Neal, the Sooners salvaged a top 4 seed in the Big XII Conference Tournament | The Sooners headed into the 2005-06 season ranked #6 in the AP preseason poll, led by Taj Gray, Kevin Bookout, Terrell Everett, and David Goldbold. Despite disapointments throughout the early season, after the finding of Micheal Neal, the Sooners salvaged a top 4 seed in the Big XII Conference Tournament | ||
| The men's basketball program is currently under investigation for NCAA recruiting violations, mainly regarding an excessive number of telephone calls made by coaching staff members to recruits. |
The men's basketball program is currently under investigation for NCAA recruiting violations, mainly regarding an excessive number of telephone calls made by coaching staff members to recruits. The school has submitted a list of self-imposed sanctions which the NCAA has yet to accept. A final ruling is due in April 2006. | ||
| ]-] Big 12: Kelvin Sampson | ]-] Big 12: Kelvin Sampson | ||
Revision as of 07:04, 10 March 2006
The University of Oklahoma's sports teams are called the Sooners, a nickname given to early Oklahoma land rush pioneers. They participate in the NCAA's Division I-A, and in the South Division of the Big 12 Conference. The University's current athletic director is Joe Castiglione.
NCAA National Championships
- 2005 Men's Gymnastics: Mark Williams
- 2003 Men's Gymnastics: Mark Williams
- 2002 Men's Gymnastics: Mark Williams
- 2000 Softball: Patty Gasso
- 1994 Baseball: Larry Cochell
- 1991 Men's Gymnastics: Greg Buwick
- 1989 Men's Golf: Gregg Grost
- 1978 Men's Gymnastics: Paul Ziert
- 1977 Men's Gymnastics: Paul Ziert
- 1974 Wrestling: Stan Abel
- 1963 Wrestling: Tommy Evans
- 1960 Wrestling: Tommy Evans
- 1957 Wrestling: Port Robertson
- 1952 Wrestling: Port Robertson
- 1951 Baseball: Jack Baer
- 1951 Wrestling: Port Robertson
- 1936 Wrestling: Paul V. Keen
The Sooners also possess seven poll-determined national championships in football, with the 1950, 1955, 1956, 1974, 1975, 1985, and 2000 seasons featuring the Associated Press poll year-end number one team, along with the 2000 Bowl Championship Series National Championship. True Division I-A football championships are not sanctioned by the NCAA. In addition, the Sooner tradition includes 205 conference championships and more than 700 All-Americans.
College football
Undoubtedly the most famous aspect of Sooner athletics is the college football program, considered by many to be a top five all-time program. Calling Gaylord Family Oklahoma Memorial Stadium at Owen Field its home since the 1920s, the team has won numerous bowl games, 39 conference championships (including every Big Seven championship awarded), and seven Associated Press National Championships, making the Sooners the most decorated program in the Big XII and third most decorated in all of college football. Individual success is also a major part of Oklahoma football; four Heisman Trophy winners, Billy Vessels, Steve Owens, Billy Sims and Jason White, are surrounded by many other award winners, including Joe Washington, Brian Bosworth, Greg Pruitt, Josh Heupel, Jerry Tubbs, Lee Roy Selmon, Roy Williams and Tommy McDonald.
Legendary coaches Barry Switzer, Bud Wilkinson, Bennie Owen, and Bob Stoops have passed though the gameday tunnel for the Sooners. Owen was the first major coach at the university and was a major advocate of the forward pass, which at the turn of the century was not popular. Wilkinson left many imprints on the game, such as the 5-2 defense with five linemen and two linebackers; the perfection of the split-T, an early option offense; three national championships; and his teams set the NCAA record for consecutive wins at 47. Switzer won three national championships and forged arguably the fiercest rushing offense, the Oklahoma wishbone, throughout the 1970s and 1980s. Though the end of Switzer's career was marked by controversy among players leading to the end of his tenure at Oklahoma, he is generally well-regarded by both his past players and Sooner fans. The university is currently home to head coach Bob Stoops and junior Adrian Peterson, one of college football's most talented running backs.
Conference championships
2004 Big 12: Bob Stoops
2002 Big 12: Bob Stoops
2000 Big 12: Bob Stoops
1987 Big 8: Barry Switzer
1986 Big 8: Barry Switzer
1985 Big 8: Barry Switzer
1984 Big 8: Barry Switzer
1980 Big 8: Barry Switzer
1979 Big 8: Barry Switzer
1978 Big 8: Barry Switzer
1977 Big 8: Barry Switzer
1976 Big 8: Barry Switzer
1975 Big 8: Barry Switzer
1974 Big 8: Barry Switzer
1973 Big 8: Barry Switzer
1972 Big 8: Chuck Fairbanks
1968 Big 8: Chuck Fairbanks
1967 Big 8: Chuck Fairbanks
1962 Big 8: Bud Wilkinson
1959 Big 8: Bud Wilkinson
1958 Big 8: Bud Wilkinson
1957 Big 7: Bud Wilkinson
1956 Big 7: Bud Wilkinson
1955 Big 7: Bud Wilkinson
1954 Big 7: Bud Wilkinson
1953 Big 7: Bud Wilkinson
1952 Big 7: Bud Wilkinson
1951 Big 7: Bud Wilkinson
1950 Big 7: Bud Wilkinson
1949 Big 7: Bud Wilkinson
1948 Big 7: Bud Wilkinson
1947 Big 6: Bud Wilkinson
1944 Big 6: Snorter Luster
1943 Big 6: Snorter Luster
1938 Big 6: Tom Stidham
1920 Missouri Valley: Bennie Owen
1918 Southwest: Bennie Owen
1915 Southwest: Bennie Owen
College basketball
The men's basketball team is highly successful and has risen to national prominence since the early 80’s with head coach Billy Tubbs and three time All-American power forward Wayman Tisdale, to the current coach Kelvin Sampson. It currently plays in the Lloyd Noble Center, which came to be known as the house Alvan Adams built and Tisdale filled. While the team has never won a national championship, it ranks second in most tournament wins without a championship behind Illinois. The team played in the 1988 national championship game but lost to Kansas, despite having beaten the Jayhawks three times earlier in the season. The program has won a combined twenty regular-season and tournament championships.
The Sooners headed into the 2005-06 season ranked #6 in the AP preseason poll, led by Taj Gray, Kevin Bookout, Terrell Everett, and David Goldbold. Despite disapointments throughout the early season, after the finding of Micheal Neal, the Sooners salvaged a top 4 seed in the Big XII Conference Tournament
The men's basketball program is currently under investigation for NCAA recruiting violations, mainly regarding an excessive number of telephone calls made by coaching staff members to recruits. The school has submitted a list of self-imposed sanctions which the NCAA has yet to accept. A final ruling is due in April 2006.
2004-2005 Big 12: Kelvin Sampson
2002 Big 12*: Kelvin Sampson*
2001 Big 12*: Kelvin Sampson*
1990 Big 8: Billy Tubbs*
1988 Big 8: Billy Tubbs*
1985 Big 8: Billy Tubbs*
1928-1929 Big 6: Hugh McDermott
1927-1928 Old Mo. Valley: Hugh McDermott
* Conference Tournament Champion
Men's gymnastics
The men's gymnastics program has won three of the last four national championships (2002, 2003 and 2005) and goes into 2006 with a #1 preseason ranking in the GymInfo Coaches' poll. They return six All-Americans from the nine of the 2005 national championship team, including Jamie Henderson and Jonathan Horton, the captains of the team. The team is led by their coach, Mark Williams.
Baseball
The Oklahoma Baseball tradition is long, proud and storied, with two National Championships in 1951 and 1994, along with numerous All-Americans. The baseball program was a source of recent controversy when the head coach, Larry Cochell, resigned after making racially charged remarks about one of the players on the team. OU rebounded to make the college baseball playoffs as a third seed. They call L. Dale Mitchell Park home and now have a new head coach, Sunny Golloway.
Women's basketball
Also, the Women's Baseketball has gained national prominence, after the 2002 season, in which they advanced to the National Title game, losing to UConn. They are led by their coach, Sherri Coale, and star the nationally-known freshman twins, Courtney and Ashley Paris. As with the Men's team, they call Lloyd Noble home.
2005-2006 has been a particularly good season for the Sooners, winning the Big XII regular season championship with a 16-0 conference record.
Wrestling
The wrestling program is the fourth most decorated in college wrestling, having won seven national championships in 1936, 1951, 1952, 1957, 1960, 1963 and 1974. They are led by their coach, Jack Spates. While Oklahoma State claims the mantle of most dominant wrestling program in the state, the Sooners are considered a power in their own right.
Sooner traditions
The "fight song" of the University of Oklahoma is "Boomer Sooner", a version of "Boola Boola", the fight song of Yale University. Other songs played at athletic events by the Pride of Oklahoma Marching Band are a version of Rodgers and Hammerstein's "Oklahoma!," "OK Oklahoma," played after touchdowns, and the "OU Chant".
The Mascot present at all football games is the Sooner Schooner, a Conestoga wagon, pulled by two crème white ponies, Boomer and Sooner.
Recently, in time for the 2005 football season, two new mascots, based on the ponies who pull the Schooner, were created, named appropriately, Boomer and Sooner. They are costumes of two identical (except for eye color) crème white ponies.
Rivalries
The University of Texas is considered the primary rival of the Sooners. Inverted versions of the Longhorn mascot can be seen on automobiles all over the Norman campus, and many T-shirts referring to the rivalry present the word "Texas" in mirror image, upside-down, or possibly surrounded by obscenities. While, unlike most of their Big 12 South opponents, there is no official hand signal equivalent to the Hook 'em or Gig 'em Aggies signs, an inverted form of Texas's sign is highly popular. Their annual college football match up in Dallas, Texas draws attention from all of the college football world, known as the Red River Shootout. 2005 marked the 100th "Red River Shootout", taking place on October 8th in the Cotton Bowl, alongside the Texas State Fair. Oklahoma was defeated by Texas, 45-12, in the 100th Red River Shootout.
A college football rivalry with the University of Nebraska has been less intense in recent years, but several historical match-ups, including the "Game of the Century" and the so-called "Game of the New Century" have pitted Nebraska and Oklahoma against each other ranked 1 and 2 in the Associated Press Poll, making the games of great importance in deciding the national championship.
Other rivals include Oklahoma State University, whose athletic contests with the University of Oklahoma are known as the "Bedlam Series". Today, this has developed into a major game in Big 12 basketball, both teams having well-respected coaches. The football rivalry, while intense, remains lopsided, being 77-16-7 in favor of the Sooners. However, legends such as Barry Sanders have featured prominently in the Cowboys' lineup during these games.
External links
- Official Oklahoma athletics site
- University of Oklahoma Football - Updated daily news, articles, featuring roster and past history.
- OU Insider
- SoonerSidelines.com - Oklahoma Sooners Fan Site and the only all Sooners Podcast.