30 biggest college football scandals of all time
By Ethan Lee
Barry Switzer, Brian Bosworth’s book and Oklahoma
The Oklahoma Sooners have had many remarkably successful coaches in their program history. Barry Switzer is arguably the most successful coach in OU’s history. But even though Switzer was remarkably successful on the field, he still ran a program that had controversy and scandal.
By the time that Switzer was done coaching in Norman, Oklahoma was on probation and he was named in four violations but was never penalized by OU and denied knowledge of those violations.
Brian Bosworth, a star linebacker for the Sooners, claimed players used cocaine and steroids regularly. Bosworth also referenced NCAA violations in his autobiography. According to Bosworth’s book, one Oklahoma player even fired a machine gun from a dorm balcony.
Switzer dismissed the book as sensationalism.
Later on in life, Switzer did admit his coaching staff handled misdemeanor offenses internally thanks to a relationship he had with local law enforcement, but it’s not totally clear what all Oklahoma kept from becoming public knowledge.
Between NCAA sanctions, claims of recreational drug and steroid use, the covering up of small crimes, and even accusations of spying on rival Texas, Switzer’s OU program were full of controversies and scandals.
That happened right up until the end of Switzer’s time in Norman. Just months before he resigned, the OU coach had to handle one player being charged for shooting another, three players facing rape charges, and then another player getting charged for selling cocaine, according to the Norman Transcript.