Switzer on Sooner QBs: No Whites Allowed

Doug Williams, Warren Moon, Donovan McNabb, and other pro passers have had to overcome the “black quarterback” label. Did white quarterbacks face a stigma at the University of Oklahoma?

“I’ve always said I’d never recruit a white quarterback,” Barry Switzer told CBS Sports 920 in St. Louis. “The only way I’d ever recruit a white quarterback to play for me was if his mom and daddy would have to both be black, and that’s the only way I would do it. My offense is a quarterback-fullback offense, I’d have to have a Jamelle Holieway, J.C. Watts [or] Thomas Lott.Those guys are gonna be my quarterbacks. They’re great runners. They’re great ball carriers.”

Switzer, who coached the Oklahoma Sooners to national championships in 1974, 1975, and 1985, displayed a fondness for the wishbone offense and tailbacks disguised as quarterbacks in his days in Norman. He settled for a traditional pocket passer in Troy Aikman as the head coach of the Dallas Cowboys in the mid-1990s.When you’ve won three national championships in the college ranks and a Super Bowl in the pros, you can say whatever comes to mind. And lately, that’s just what Switzer has been doing.

“I don’t like his antics,” he remarked of Johnny Manziel earlier this week. “I think he’s an arrogant little prick. I’ve said that and I’ll say it again. He’s a privileged kid. He’s embarrassed himself. He’s embarrassed his teammates. He’s embarrassed his coaches.”

A few lines later, Coach Switzer called Johnny Football “the best that I’ve seen.”