Larry Brown Sports

It takes a certain kind of man with a certain kind of swag to pull off the fur coat at an indoor practice look. What that picture does not show you is that former Oklahoma football coach Barry Switzer complemented the fur coat he wore to the Sooners’ practice Sunday with jeans and New Balance sneakers, according to Oklahoma fullback Trey Millard.

Barry switzer at practice yesterday had on new balance shoes Levi jeans and a mink fur coat #LetEmKnow

— Trey Millard (@fat_daddy33) March 11, 2013

Barry Switzer is the full package, ladies and gentlemen. You just can’t touch him.

Photo credit: Twitter/Pete Morris
H/T Reddit

Former Oklahoma coach Barry Switzer is saying what many people believe about Joe Paterno and his coaching staff at Penn State: they had to know about Jerry Sandusky. What gives Switzer’s word slightly more credence is that he was the head coach of a big-time college football program for 16 years and was a coach in other capacities for an additional 20 years.

“Having been in this profession a long time and knowing how close coaching staffs are, I knew that this was a secret that was kept secret,” Switzer told The Oklahoman. “Everyone on that staff had to have known, the ones that had been around a long time.”

The question is: To what end did they know? Did they know that Jerry Sandusky was investigated in 1998 for alleged sexual assaults? Or did they just think his attachment to kids was a bit strange? We’ve also heard the opposite from people who believe Sandusky was just a good guy who was charitable.

If the coaches, including Joe Paterno, knew that Jerry Sandusky had a history of alleged sexual assaults and still did little after the alleged ’02 anal rape witnessed by Mike McQueary, then the conclusion that there was a systemic coverup is fair. But if they did not know about past abuse investigations, and just thought something was odd, then Paterno’s behavior was somewhat more understandable.

H/T Eric Bickel

More on the Penn State Scandal:
Jerry Sandusky Could Face Criminal Charges in San Antonio
Why Did Campus Police Director Call Off ’98 Jerry Sandusky Investigation?
Paterno Likely Did Not Know in ’02 What We Know About Sandusky Now
Urge to Rip Joe Paterno Leaves Society Ignoring Most Important Lesson

Mack Brown has enjoyed plenty of success at Texas, including a national championship and streak of nine straight double-digit win seasons. But since losing Colt McCoy after the ’09 season, the Longhorns have struggled. They went 5-7 last year — their first losing season since John Mackovic was fired in ’97 — and they’ve gone 4-2 this season. Going 4-2 doesn’t sound bad, but Texas got obliterated by Oklahoma 55-17 and lost to Oklahoma State 38-26. That’s enough reason for former Oklahoma coach to want Texas to keep Mack Brown. He’s even sharing laughs about Texas’ struggles with Oklahoma State booster T. Boone Pickens.

At a luncheon on Wednesday, Pickens described an email he received from Switzer after Oklahoma had beaten Texas 55-17 earlier this month.

Pickens says Switzer wrote to him suggesting that Oklahoma State shouldn’t “beat them as bad as the Sooners did because we want to keep Mack Brown as coach — we want somebody that both of us can beat.”

Switzer was sitting in the audience and encouraged Pickens to share the story.

Yeah, laugh all you want guys, but let’s look at the history. Mack Brown has gone 6-8 against Oklahoma. He’s gone 12-2 against Oklahoma State with his only losses to them coming the last two seasons. Oklahoma may have the edge on Texas, but I don’t think laughing about wanting to keep Mack Brown around is the best idea.

Helmet knock to The Big Lead

Bear with me here — I’m still trying to get my hands around this. As if it wasn’t bad enough that Switzer used to beat opponents at Oklahoma like Scott Kazmir does the Red Sox, now he’s trying to tell us all what the proper way to lose is. Because apparently whatever North Texas did against Oklahoma two weekends ago didn’t cut it. From Chris Dufresne of the LA Times, who thinks the Big East is the second best conference in the country, and thus should probably stick to reproducing quotes:

Quote of the year so far comes from former Oklahoma coach Barry Switzer, upset that North Texas kept passing the ball during a 79-10 loss to the Sooners on Sept. 1: “They had no game plan for losing. . . . Because when you can’t win a game, you need to run the clock, don’t let it stop, don’t throw passes incomplete . . . get the game over with, get on the bus and go home.”

What, like North Texas shouldn’t be allowed to work on their passing game just because they’re getting their asses kicked? Sorry the Mean Green didn’t comply with your wishes, Barry. Maybe you should give a seminar to all underdogs in non-conference games. See how that speech would’ve worked with Appalachian State.