Barry Switzer reveals his recruiting pitch to Texas recruits (Longhorns fans will be irate)

Barry Switzer tells us how he got Texas natives to come play for him at OU.

Barry Switzer just added a little heat to the spicy Red River Rivalry between Oklahoma and Texas.

I mean, who doesn’t love a good heated rivalry with a side of pettiness? In terms of neutral-site affairs, few rivalries in college football can hold a candle to what Oklahoma football has with Texas football in the Red River Rivalry. Every year, the Oklahoma Sooners meet the Texas Longhorns in the Cotton Bowl to usually decide who wins the Big 12. Oklahoma normally has the upper hand.

Switzer had a phenomenal coaching career at Oklahoma from 1973 to 1988. He went 157-29-4 overall, going a ridiculous 100-11-1 in Big Eight Conference play, finishing inside of the top-10 12 times, winning 12 conference titles and winning three national championships as the Oklahoma head coach. His favorite thing to do while leading Oklahoma was beating Texas in the Cotton Bowl.

When an Oklahoma fan tweeted out a picture of Switzer wearing a “Beat Texas” hat with the quote, “Believe in something. Like kicking Texas’ ass in the Cotton Bowl.” you knew the legendary coach would quote tweet it with something great. “Why I recruited Texas HS athletes? I thought they too should have an opportunity to win championships!” Longhorns fans must really hate this.

Barry Switzer knew he could make any Texas player a winner at Oklahoma.

It’s weird to think that back when Switzer coached the Sooners, they played in a totally different conference than the Longhorns. In fact, neither of those conferences even exist any more. The Big Eight added four Southwest Conference schools, including Texas, in 1996 to become the Big 12. By that time, Switzer was already a Super Bowl-winning head coach of the Dallas Cowboys.

During his 16-year run leading Oklahoma football, Switzer’s Sooners went 9-5-2 against the arch rival Longhorns in the Cotton Bowl. Back when Switzer was dominating the Big Eight, the other program of note was the Nebraska Cornhuskers, while the other six member institutions spent most of their time looking up at the Sooners and Big Red.

Despite having considerably less in-state talent, Oklahoma is seen as one of the bluest of blue-bloods in major college football. It is because the Sooners have a massive recruiting footprint in Texas, as not every player of note in the Lone Star State can play his college football for the Longhorns. If they go to Oklahoma, they have a better shot of being a champion.

Switzer used the power of winning to his advantage to use Texas natives to beat Texas regularly.

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