PhillyGirl
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http://ftw.usatoday.com/2014/10/barry-switzer-misdemeanor-charges
Barry Switzer said he never tried to cover up a felony when he was coaching football at the University of Oklahoma in the 1970s and 1980s. But misdemeanors, well, thatās a different story.
Switzer told USA TODAY Sports a cozy relationship with the local sheriff and other officials helped keep embarrassing incidents involving his players out of the newspapers and out of the public eye.
āIād have local county people call me and say, āOne of your guys is drunk and got in a fight and is jail down here.ā And Iād go down and get him out. Or Iād send an assistant coach down to get his ass out,ā Switzer said Thursday. āThe sheriff was a friend of the program. He didnāt want the publicity. He himself knew this was something we didnāt need to deal with in the media or anything with publicity.ā
This was standard operating procedure in college football, according to Switzer.
āThis is back before social media and the Internet and all that,ā he said. āAnd most colleges ran it that way. Most coaches ran it that way. We all did.ā
Switzerās comments came in the wake of a startling disclosure by Jerry Angelo, former Chicago Bears GM, who told USA TODAY Sports that during his 30 years in the NFL he helped keep āhundreds and hundredsāā of domestic violence incidents from coming to light. Switzer, who coached the Dallas Cowboys from 1994 to 1997, said he was unaware of such cover-ups during his time in the NFL.
But Switzer spoke candidly about helping a kid on less egregious criminal matters when he was the head coach at Oklahoma between 1973 and 1988 and won three national championships.
Switzer said he or an assistant coach oversaw the discipline of the offending player.
āIād get his ass up at 5 oāclock in the morning for two weeks in a row and run his ass, up and down the stairs, the stadium steps,ā he said. āAnd the (assistant) coaches would be so pissed off that they had to get up and do it that they wore their ass out because they had to be the ones that run them. And a couple of the guys that were star players, I ran their asses off. So I had to be there at 5 oāclock in the morning.
āWe could handle things internally in an era 30 years ago that you canāt today. You get a traffic ticket today, itās everywhere. No one escapes what we have today, the attention and technology we have today.
āIt was a different era, a different time.ā
Barry Switzer said he never tried to cover up a felony when he was coaching football at the University of Oklahoma in the 1970s and 1980s. But misdemeanors, well, thatās a different story.
Switzer told USA TODAY Sports a cozy relationship with the local sheriff and other officials helped keep embarrassing incidents involving his players out of the newspapers and out of the public eye.
āIād have local county people call me and say, āOne of your guys is drunk and got in a fight and is jail down here.ā And Iād go down and get him out. Or Iād send an assistant coach down to get his ass out,ā Switzer said Thursday. āThe sheriff was a friend of the program. He didnāt want the publicity. He himself knew this was something we didnāt need to deal with in the media or anything with publicity.ā
This was standard operating procedure in college football, according to Switzer.
āThis is back before social media and the Internet and all that,ā he said. āAnd most colleges ran it that way. Most coaches ran it that way. We all did.ā
Switzerās comments came in the wake of a startling disclosure by Jerry Angelo, former Chicago Bears GM, who told USA TODAY Sports that during his 30 years in the NFL he helped keep āhundreds and hundredsāā of domestic violence incidents from coming to light. Switzer, who coached the Dallas Cowboys from 1994 to 1997, said he was unaware of such cover-ups during his time in the NFL.
But Switzer spoke candidly about helping a kid on less egregious criminal matters when he was the head coach at Oklahoma between 1973 and 1988 and won three national championships.
Switzer said he or an assistant coach oversaw the discipline of the offending player.
āIād get his ass up at 5 oāclock in the morning for two weeks in a row and run his ass, up and down the stairs, the stadium steps,ā he said. āAnd the (assistant) coaches would be so pissed off that they had to get up and do it that they wore their ass out because they had to be the ones that run them. And a couple of the guys that were star players, I ran their asses off. So I had to be there at 5 oāclock in the morning.
āWe could handle things internally in an era 30 years ago that you canāt today. You get a traffic ticket today, itās everywhere. No one escapes what we have today, the attention and technology we have today.
āIt was a different era, a different time.ā
