Bud Wilkinson and the Rise of Oklahoma Football

Bud Wilkinson and the Rise of Oklahoma Football
Author: John Scott
Publisher: University of Oklahoma Press
Total Pages: 512
Release: 2021-10-14
Genre: Biography & Autobiography
ISBN: 0806177012

At the end of World War II, the top ten college football teams were largely the same as they are today—with one exception: Oklahoma. In 1947, Bud Wilkinson was named OU’s head football coach and became the architect of Oklahoma’s meteoric rise from mediocrity to its present status as a perennial powerhouse. Based on interviews with Wilkinson, former OU president George L. Cross, and numerous former players, author John Scott gives us the behind-the-scenes story of Wilkinson’s years at the University of Oklahoma. Scott takes us through the teams Wilkinson directed from 1947 to 1963, revealing the philosophies and tactics Wilkinson used to turn OU into one of college football’s elite programs. A close-up view of games—from strategy to execution—brings OU football and its cast of colorful characters to life. Scott details the Sooners’ 47-game winning streak as well as thrilling games against Notre Dame, Army, USC, and others. He also provides details of Wilkinson’s breaking of the color line in OU athletics and the infamous food-poisoning incident in Chicago in 1959. Before his death in 1994, Wilkinson reviewed the first draft of the book and wrote in a letter to the author, “The explanations of football strategies are concise and clear. They rank among the best I have ever read.” Including vignettes of Wilkinson’s closest coaching friends (Royal, Bryant, Leahy, Sanders, Blaik, Tatum), Bud Wilkinson and the Rise of Oklahoma Football captures all the drama of Oklahoma’s ascendance and serves as an authoritative and entertaining history of the sport that will appeal to all college football fans.

Breaking Down the 2018 Oklahoma Offense

Breaking Down the 2018 Oklahoma Offense
Author: Noah B. Riley
Publisher: Independently Published
Total Pages: 204
Release: 2019-03-29
Genre: Sports & Recreation
ISBN: 9781790659500

This is an in-depth breakdown of Lincoln Riley's record setting 2018 Oklahoma offense. This book examines the Sooner's playbook with diagrams and stats included. I hope coaches reading this book come to understand the thought process, and concepts that make up this offense so that they can implement some of these ideas into their own system. Email me at [email protected] or dm me on twitter @noahriley21 with any questions or if you want full season 2017/2018 cut ups.

Echoes of Oklahoma Sooners Football

Echoes of Oklahoma Sooners Football
Author: Triumph Books
Publisher: Triumph Books
Total Pages: 214
Release: 2007-09
Genre: Sports & Recreation
ISBN: 1617490342

With a proud tradition dating back to 1895, a worldwide following of rabid, devoted fans, and an ever-growing list of national championships, Oklahoma Sooners football is one of the most elite programs in collegiate sports. Throughout the years, the players who have worn the familiar red helmet and jerseys, the coaches who have led them into battle, and the games in which they participated have shaped the sport that millions of fans enjoy today. Oklahoma won its first conference championship in 1915 and nabbed its 40th and most recent one in 2006 on its way to yet another BCS bowl game.

Lets Go Sooners!

Lets Go Sooners!
Author: Aimee Aryal
Publisher: Mascot Books
Total Pages: 0
Release: 2004-09
Genre: Football fans
ISBN: 9781932888294

A University of Okalahoma children's book

When I Grow Up, I'M Going to Play For... the Oklahoma Sooners!

When I Grow Up, I'M Going to Play For... the Oklahoma Sooners!
Author: Gemma Cary
Publisher: Sourcebooks Jabberwocky
Total Pages: 0
Release: 2016-08-15
Genre: Football stories
ISBN: 9781492640134

You step out onto the field. The crowd roars and shouts your name. You're about to play your first game at Gaylord Family--Oklahoma Memorial Stadium. Are you Oklahoma's biggest fan? Then this story is for you!

Legends of Oklahoma Sooners Football

Legends of Oklahoma Sooners Football
Author: Ray Dozier
Publisher: Simon and Schuster
Total Pages: 270
Release: 2014-10-21
Genre: Sports & Recreation
ISBN: 1613217358

Since 1895, the University of Oklahoma football program has amassed some impressive numbers: seven national championships, 47 consecutive wins, 44 conference championships, 28 bowl wins, five Heisman Trophy winners, and more than 150 All-America players. In Legends of Oklahoma Sooners Football, Ray Dozier profiles 36 players and coaches who provided the talent and inspiration that put Sooner football on the national sports landscape. Many of those legends played before the dawn of the television era, but standouts such as Forest “Spot”Geyer, Tommy McDonald, Prentice Gautt (the first black football player at the University of Oklahoma), Clendon Thomas, and Bob Kalsu remain alive and well in the hearts and minds of loyal Sooner fans. The legends of Sooner stars such as Steve Owens, Joe Washington, Jack Mildren, the Selmon brothers, Billy Sims, Greg Pruitt, Tony Casillas, Brian Bosworth, Adrian Peterson, and Sam Bradford continue to grow with time. Coaching legends include Bennie Owen, Bud Wilkinson, Barry Switzer, and the all-time leader in wins, Bob Stoops. Legends of Oklahoma Sooners Football chronicles the players, coaches, rivalries, and events that transformed a club team that played its first games on a dusty territorial prairie into a national powerhouse. Skyhorse Publishing, as well as our Sports Publishing imprint, are proud to publish a broad range of books for readers interested in sports—books about baseball, pro football, college football, pro and college basketball, hockey, or soccer, we have a book about your sport or your team. Whether you are a New York Yankees fan or hail from Red Sox nation; whether you are a die-hard Green Bay Packers or Dallas Cowboys fan; whether you root for the Kentucky Wildcats, Louisville Cardinals, UCLA Bruins, or Kansas Jayhawks; whether you route for the Boston Bruins, Toronto Maple Leafs, Montreal Canadiens, or Los Angeles Kings; we have a book for you. While not every title we publish becomes a New York Times bestseller or a national bestseller, we are committed to publishing books on subjects that are sometimes overlooked by other publishers and to authors whose work might not otherwise find a home.

No Excuses

No Excuses
Author: Gene Wojciechowski
Publisher: Little, Brown
Total Pages: 339
Release: 2019-09-10
Genre: Sports & Recreation
ISBN: 0316455938

From the legendary Oklahoma coach, a candid and inspiring memoir. When Bob Stoops took over as football coach in 1999, the Oklahoma Sooners were in disarray with back-to-back losing seasons. But in just two years' time, Stoops achieved the seemingly impossible: winning a national championship and returning the struggling Sooners to their powerhouse status, churning out NFL talent, Heisman Trophy winners and conference championships, bowl wins and national title runs on a regular basis. During his 18 seasons at OU, his record was a remarkable 190-48. At only age 56, at the peak of his career, he stunned the college football world by walking away. For the first time, Bob opens up about his career alongside the evolution of the game itself. From his unlikely emergence as a star player at the University of Iowa, to his coaching apprenticeships under giants like Hayden Fry, Bill Snyder, and Steve Spurrier, Stoops recounts how the game he fell in love with as a boy has evolved into a billion-dollar business often compromised by recruiting wars, aggressive agents, overzealous boosters and alumni, and the emergence of the CEO head coach rather than mentor and teacher. Bob holds nothing back while explaining why it was time to step away from the game--and players--he still loves. Told with a rare combination of sincerity, vulnerability, and pure heart, No Excuses is both an engaging and eye-opening football memoir and an unprecedented portrait of a coach of one of the greatest legacy programs in the history of the college game.

Down and Dirty

Down and Dirty
Author: Charles Thompson
Publisher: Carroll & Graf Pub
Total Pages: 288
Release: 1990
Genre: Biography & Autobiography
ISBN: 9780881846232

An inside look at big-time college football by a former University of Oklahoma player offers a look at coach Barry Switzer, NCAA rule violations, and the permissive lifestyle

Tales from the Oklahoma Sooners Sideline

Tales from the Oklahoma Sooners Sideline
Author: Jay C. Upchurch
Publisher: Simon and Schuster
Total Pages: 224
Release: 2018-07-31
Genre: Sports & Recreation
ISBN: 1683582160

No single element or ingredient has the power to absolutely define the lasting enchantment of Oklahoma football. Decades of great successes and occasional heartbreak have spawned generations of faithful disciples, who treat fall Saturdays like sacred holidays dedicated to their heroes donning the crimson and cream. Tales from the Oklahoma Sooners Sideline offers these fans a glimpse, often with a behind-the-scenes perspective, into the tradition surrounding Oklahoma football. Dozens of stories and details describe the individual and team triumphs that commenced with the hiring of legendary coach Bud Wilkinson and continue today. This newly revised edition of Tales from the Oklahoma Sooners Sideline captures the stories from OU greats such as Pop Ivy, Bud Wilkinson, Tommy McDonald, Eddie Crowder, Billy Vessels, Prentice Gautt, Joe Don Looney, Granville Liggins, Steve Owens, Barry Switzer, Greg Pruitt, the Selmon brothers, Billy Sims, Joe Washington, Brian Bosworth, Keith Jackson, Thomas Lott, Bob Stoops, Roy Williams, Josh Heupel, Rocky Calmus, Adrian Peterson, Sam Bradford, Baker Mayfield, and many, many more. This treasure trove of history, anecdotes, and stats is sure to satisfy any Sooners fan.

Oklahoma Sooners

Oklahoma Sooners
Author: Margaret Weber
Publisher: Weigl Publishers
Total Pages: 32
Release: 2019-08-01
Genre: Juvenile Nonfiction
ISBN: 1791100791

Did you know that the early settlers in the Territory of Oklahoma were known as Sooners? The Oklahoma Sooners were named in their honor. Learn more about this college team’s history, traditions, uniforms, team records, coaches, and legendary players in Oklahoma Sooners, part of the Inside College Football series.