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The Oklahoma Sooners are the athletic teams that represent the University of Oklahoma, located in Norman. The 19 men's and women's varsity teams are called the "Sooners", a reference to a nickname given to the early participants in the Land Run of 1889, which initially opened the Unassigned Lands in the future state of Oklahoma to non-native settlement. The university's athletic teams compete in the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA)'s Division I in the Southeastern Conference (SEC). The university's current athletic director is Joe Castiglione.
The Sooners have won 45 team national championships. In 2002, the University of Oklahoma was ranked as the third best college sports program in America by Sports Illustrated.
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In July 2021, Oklahoma and the Texas Longhorns accepted invitations to join the Southeastern Conference after the two universities had reached out the conference. In May 2023, it was announced that the two universities had approved the necessary contractual agreements with both conferences in order officially join the SEC on July 1, 2024. Oklahoma will remain as an affiliate member of the Big 12 in men's wrestling as the SEC does not sponsor the sport, no other sport will be affected.
When combined with Blake Griffin's John Wooden Award and Sam Bradford's Heisman Trophy, Oklahoma became the second school to have a top winner in both basketball and football in the same year (in 1968, Gary Beban won the Heisman Trophy and Kareem Abdul-Jabbar won the USBWA "Player of the Year" award for UCLA).
The Sooners possess 7 national championships in football, with 1950, 1955, 1956, 1974, 1975, 1985, and 2000 seasons featuring the top team in the Associated Press final poll, and the 2000 Bowl Championship Series National Championship as well. This number is 3rd only to the Alabama Crimson Tide (12) and the Notre Dame Fighting Irish (8) for the most AP titles of any Division I college football team after the end of World War II (which is commonly used as the division between eras in college football).SoonerSports.com. Seven National Championships . University of Oklahoma. Retrieved on August 21, 2007. No. 1 program of the modern era . University of Oklahoma. Retrieved on August 21, 2007.
In addition to these seven acknowledged national championships there are also ten additional years in which the NCAA's official record book lists other selections (mostly by math rating systems) of the Sooners as national champions, with the first four years in retrospect: 1915, 1949, 1953, 1957, 1967, 1973, 1978, 1980, 1986, 2003. Past Division I-A Football National Champions . www.ncaa.org In general, math formula rankings are not recognized as national championships. The University of Oklahoma does not acknowledge these additional "championships", as they were not awarded by the Associated Press, United Press International (UPI), USA Today Coaches Poll, or the Bowl Championship Series (BCS).
Individual success is also a major part of Oklahoma football; seven Heisman Trophy winners (Billy Vessels, Steve Owens, Billy Sims, Jason White, Sam Bradford, Baker Mayfield, and Kyler Murray) are surrounded by many other award winners, including NFL MVP Award winner Adrian Peterson, Joe Washington, Brian Bosworth, Tony Casillas, Greg Pruitt, Josh Heupel, Jerry Tubbs, Rocky Calmus, Granville Liggins, Teddy Lehman, Lee Roy Selmon, Roy Williams, Tommy McDonald, Mark Clayton, Tommie Harris, J. C. Watts, Keith Jackson, and Jammal Brown. More than a dozen Sooner players have been inducted into the College Football Hall of Fame. Oklahoma has more Butkus award winners than any other school.
Coaches Bennie Owen, Bud Wilkinson, Barry Switzer and Bob Stoops have passed through the game-day tunnel for the Sooners, each on his way to the College Football Hall of Fame. Owen was the first highly successful coach at OU and was a major advocate of the forward pass, which at the turn of the century was not popular. The playing surface at Oklahoma's Gaylord Family Oklahoma Memorial Stadium is popularly known as Owen Field in honor of his long tenure and devotion to the university. Wilkinson left many imprints on the game, such as the 5–2 defense with five linemen and two linebackers; the perfection of the Split-T, an early option offense; three national championships; and his teams set the NCAA Division 1 record for consecutive wins at 47 (started October 10, 1953, vs. Texas and ended in 1957 with a loss to Notre Dame 7–0). Switzer won three national championships (the National Championship of 1975 is highly controversial; Arizona State went 12–0 that season while Oklahoma was 11–1) and forged arguably the fiercest rushing offense ever, the Oklahoma wishbone formation, throughout the 1970s and 1980s. Though the end of Switzer's tenure at Oklahoma was marked by controversy and poor player behavior, he is generally well regarded by both his past players and Sooner fans. During his 16 years as the Sooners' head coach, Switzer led his team to 12 conference championships and never lost more than two games in a row. His winning percentage of .837 stands as the fourth-highest in the history of 1-A football. Other Hall of Fame coaches whose tenure included stints at the University of Oklahoma are Biff Jones and Jim Tatum.
During the 2005–2006 season, the Sooners were given a home regional at L. Dale Mitchell Park and were named the No. 1 seed. They beat the University of Houston, Texas Christian University, and Wichita State University to win the regional and advanced to a Super Regional where they were defeated by Rice University in a best-of-three series. Oregon State University went on to win the College World Series that year.
Prior to 2006, the Sooners hosted regionals at minor league parks in Oklahoma City, first All Sports Stadium and then AT&T Bricktown Ballpark. Scheduling conflicts with the Oklahoma Redhawks, the Class AAA affiliate of the Houston Astros, led OU to bid for future regionals at its on-campus stadium.
The Sooners headed into the 2005–06 season ranked No. 5 in the AP preseason poll, led by Taj Gray, Kevin Bookout, Terrell Everett, and David Godbold, but had a disappointing early season. After the emergence of Michael Neal as a potential star, the Sooners salvaged a No. 3 seed in the Big 12 Conference Tournament but lost in the first round of the NCAA Tournament.
On March 29, 2006, Kelvin Sampson left the University of Oklahoma to become the head basketball coach at Indiana University. 13 days later, on April 11, 2006, Oklahoma Athletic Director Joe Castiglione named Jeff Capel III the new head coach. Capel encountered trouble in his first few months as several players who had been recruited by Sampson backed out of their commitments. Also, under Sampson's watch, Oklahoma was placed under a three-year investigation by the NCAA for recruiting violations. At the end of their investigation, the NCAA issued a report citing more than 550 illegal calls made by Sampson and his staff to 17 different recruits. The NCAA barred Sampson from recruiting off campus and making phone calls for one year, ending May 24, 2007. The Sooners looked to continue a streak of 12 consecutive postseason tournament appearances in 2006–2007, but were disappointed when they did not receive a bid for either the NCAA Tournament or the NIT.
In the 2009 NBA draft, the Sooners produced the No. 1 overall draft selection Blake Griffin.
The Sooners won the NCAA Championship in 1989 and 2017. OU has also crowned two individual national champions: Walter Emery in 1933 and Jim Vickers in 1952.
Several Sooners have had successful amateur and professional careers after college: Charles Coe (1949 and 1958 U.S. Amateur winner), Glen Day (one PGA Tour win), Todd Hamilton (two PGA Tour wins including 2004 Open Championship), Anthony Kim (three PGA Tour wins), Andrew Magee (four PGA Tour wins), Craig Perks (one PGA Tour win), Greg Turner (four European Tour wins), Grant Waite (one PGA Tour win) and Abraham Ancer (winner of 2018 Emirates Australian Open).
Gymnastics began at the school in 1902. The program folded in 1917 when the original coach left. The program was revived in 1965 with the new coach, Russ Porterfield having to beg students to join the squad. Within 6 years, OU had its first winning season. OU's next coach, Paul Ziert, turned the program into one of national prominence. He led OU to two national championships in 1977 and 1978. One of Ziert's athletes, Greg Buwick, would replace him as head coach in 1980 and would lead the team to its third national title in 1991. Buwick's assistant of 12 years, Mark Williams, took over the head coaching position in 2000 and has led the Sooners to six national championships, thirteen conference titles, several individual champions, and even more All-Americans. OU has produced more Nissen Award winners than any other university and is the only school to have back-to-back Nissen Award winners.SoonerSports.com Seven Nissen Emery Award Winners . University of Oklahoma. Retrieved on August 21, 2007.
The University of Oklahoma women's rowing team practices in the Oklahoma City River (formerly the Canadian River), located in the Bricktown area of Oklahoma City. The river was designated as a U.S. Olympic Training Center for the sports of kayaking, canoeing, and rowing on July 28, 2009. The University's boathouse was completed in 2011.
the head coach is Mark Carr, a graduate of Bournemouth University, who was formerly head coach of the United States women's national under-20 soccer team.[https://soonersports.com/sports/soccer Soccer] soonersports.com
In October 1994, OU hired Patty Gasso as the fifth head coach in program history. In 29 years, she has built OU into one of the premier collegiate softball programs in the nation. Within her first five seasons in Norman, Gasso led the Sooners to the final Big Eight championship (1995) and 15 Big 12 titles (1996, 1999, 2000, 2009, 2012, 2013, 2014, 2015, 2016, 2017, 2018, 2019, 2021, 2022, and 2023).
In 2000, Oklahoma won its first Women's College World Series title by defeating perennial power UCLA. It marked the first national championship by a women's athletics program in school history. OU rolled through the 2013 season en route to its second WCWS title. The 2016 Sooners won the program's third national title while starting four sophomores and four freshmen. Despite entering the 2017 postseason tournament as a No. 10 national seed, OU won its second consecutive WCWS title and fourth overall. Game One of the WCWS champion series featured a 17-inning thriller in which the Sooners defeated Florida 7-5. The 2021 WCWS saw OU drop its opener to James Madison before rebounding to earn a spot in the championship series against Florida State. The Sooners defeated the Seminoles in three games to win the program's fifth national title.
Notable Oklahoma Sooner wrestlers include:
Oklahoma Sooner Wrestling team accomplishments:
The Oklahoma University Rugby Football Club was established in 1974. OU Rugby has experienced success since its founding, including an undefeated record in the 1983–1984 season, and reached the national quarter-finals five times from 1980 to 1990.Oklahoma Rugby, http://rugbyou.wordpress.com/history/ The early 2000s saw Oklahoma return to its winning ways, winning the Big 12 Rugby Tournament four times. The captain of that squad, All American Tyson Meek, played for the US national rugby team, and went on to become OU's first professional rugby player. Oklahoma finished the 2005 season with a 19–1 record.
The Sooners maintain annual rivalries with the University of Central Oklahoma and Oklahoma State University.
Oklahoma has participated several times in the ACHA National Tournament. In 2013, the Sooners climbed to the country's No. 2 ranking before eventually suffering an overtime loss in the national semifinals.
The annual game between the schools at the Cotton Bowl in Dallas, Texas, known as the Red River Showdown, is a game that draws attention from all around the college football world.
The Mascot present at all football games is the Sooner Schooner, a Conestoga wagon, pulled by two crème white ponies, Boomer and Sooner. The caretakers of the wagon are the spirit group called the RUF/NEKS, who shoot off modified shotguns in celebration of scores by the home team. The group was launched in 1915 when an elderly female spectator at an OU-Oklahoma A&M basketball game chided the group for raising hell ("Sit down and be quiet, you roughnecks!") Road Trip: University of Oklahoma. Sports Illustrated: On Campus. September 9, 2004.
Recently, in time for the 2005 football season, two new mascots, based on the ponies who pull the Schooner, were created, named appropriately, Boomer and Sooner. They are costumes of two identical (except for eye color) crème white ponies. Before, the Boomer and Sooner costume mascots, OU was also represented by Top Dawg. Top Dawg did some appearances at football games, but was primarily used at wrestling and basketball events.
The official school colors are Crimson and Cream, with red and white sometimes used as substitutes for simplicity. The school logo is an interlocking OU design. A stylized version was used from the 1970s through the 2000s, though the traditional version remained on the football team's helmets during this time.
| Baseball | 1951 | Jack Baer | 16–9 |
| 1994 | Larry Cochell | 50–17 | |
| Football | 1950 | Bud Wilkinson | 10–1 |
| 1955 | 11–0 | ||
| 1956 | 10–0 | ||
| 1974 | Barry Switzer | 11–0 | |
| 1975 | 11–1 | ||
| 1985 | 11–1 | ||
| 2000 | Bob Stoops | 13–0 | |
| Golf | 1989 | Gregg Grost | |
| 2017 | Ryan Hybl | ||
| Gymnastics | 1977 | Paul Ziert | |
| 1978 | 10–1 | ||
| 1991 | Greg Buwick | 15–1 | |
| 2002 | Mark Williams | 28–1 | |
| 2003 | 26–0 | ||
| 2005 | 21–2 | ||
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| Wrestling | 1936 | Paul V. Keen | |
| 1951 | Port Robertson | ||
| 1952 | |||
| 1957 | |||
| 1960 | Tommy Evans | ||
| 1963 | |||
| 1974 | Stan Abel | ||
| 2014 | K. J. Kindler | 31–2–1 | |
| 2016 | 38–1 | ||
| 2017 | 33–0 | ||
| 2019 | 32–0 | ||
| 2022 | 31–2 | ||
| 2023 | 2025 | 33-2 | |
| Softball | 2000 | Patty Gasso | 66–8 |
| 2013 | 57–4 | ||
| 2016 | 57–7 | ||
| 2017 | 61–9 | ||
| 2021 | 56–4 | ||
| 2022 | 59–3 | ||
| 2023 | 61–1 | ||
| 2024 | 59–7 |
Select men's and women's basketball games, select softball, and select baseball games, were also distributed to the regional Bally Sports networks and their affiliates as part of the programming block.
The network was created in 2012 as part of an agreement with the Fox Sports Networks. In 2021, following the re branding of the Fox Sports Networks to Bally Sports, Bally Sports took over operation. On May 5, 2022 it was announced that SoonerSports.TV will be ending and will be rebrand as Soonervision on ESPN+ under a multi-year deal with ESPN. .
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