Many things go into making this week’s University of Oklahoma football contest an important one and an interesting one.

It’s the Sooners first home game of the season. Oklahoma is coming off an emotional victory over Texas, and this week’s foe, Miami, is of significant enough national stature that a Sooner triumph should bolster Oklahoma’s standing in the polls.

Of equal interest is the return to Oklahoma of Jimmy Johnson. The former Oklahoma State University football coach brings a 4-1 Hurricane team to Norman.

Welcome back, Jimmy. No hard feelings.

It was October, 1983, the week of the annual Bedlam football battle between Oklahoma State and Oklahoma. At the time, this reporter worked for Norman radio station KNOR. Johnson was in what would be his final season as head coach at OSU.

Our paths had crossed professionally in previous years. As a radio sportscaster, I had been a regular at Cowboy home games and Johnson’s Monday press luncheons. The coach knew me; however, as it turned out, I knew very little about the coach.

As I drove to Stillwater from Norman that Monday before the OU-OSU clash, I contemplated the game ahead. Certainly, plenty of drama surrounded that year’s Bedlam matchup. Standout running back Marcus Dupree’s sudden departure from the Sooners had left the Oklahoma program in turmoil. Oklahoma State, meanwhile, was playing well, sporting a 4-1 record with their lone defeat a narrow setback against mighty Nebraska by what should have been a confidence-boosting 14-10 score. The time appeared right for a Cowboy upset of their struggling intrastate rival. The Johnson-led Pokes had yet to defeat Oklahoma in his four seasons at the OSU helm.

Following his general remarks to the media that day, Johnson began his one-on-one interviews with the state’s television outlets. They were all there: Oklahoma City, Tulsa, even Lawton. After the coach completed his TV rounds, I approached him for a few comments.

Our conversation was short, as were Johnson’s answers. My questions were of a general nature, dealing with the game, the rivalry and the Cowboy’s chances to pull out a win. I got nothing in the way of a “meaty” response Johnson. Mostly, his replies were just one- or two-sentence answers, nothing scintillating around which to build a feature story. Still, I had him on tape, and I thanked him for his time.

I also wanted to record a few interviews with Cowboy players to help fill my sportscasts that week and my station’s elaborate game-day programming. Standard procedure at OU was for the reporter(s) to wait outside the Sooner locker room, grab the players as they came by and get the job done. Dealing with the media is a necessary evil for athletes, even those in college. From my experience, most enjoy the attention.

Before heading off to round up some Cowboys, I asked Tom Durato, OSU’s director of radio and television, the best procedure for securing players interviews. Durato told me to wait for the players inside the locker room. So, I did, along with reporters from several other media outlets.

The wait for my targeted subjects was a lengthy one, but enjoyable. The mood among Cowboy players was relaxed and optimistic. Gradually, the standouts arrived. Interviews were requested, and interviews were granted.

 

About 90 minutes before practice was scheduled to begin, Johnson entered the player’s dressing room. After one pass, he returned, and decided enough was enough.

“I think it’s about time you guys wrapped things up in here,” he said to the assembled media. “This is the players’ facility. I don’t think they appreciate you disturbing their privacy.”

Most of the reporters present smiled at the remark, but Johnson was serious.

“The interviews are over. Get out now.”

I still had work to do, players to engage, but I made my way outside with no hard feelings. Johnson had a job to do, too, one which mattered a lot more than mine. Along the walkway between the locker room and Lewis Field, the banished reporters congregated. When Johnson emerged from the locker room to head to practice he again addressed–no, lambasted–my peers and me with the same accusations about invading players’ privacy.

He then singled me out.

“We haven’t seen you here all year.”

True enough. In the past I had worked for small-market Oklahoma radio stations with no bias toward either of the state’s big-time college football playing schools. Now, I worked in Norman. My listeners were rabid OU fans. I was in Stillwater to cover the Sooners’ opponent that week.

I thought about responding, “I’ve missed you, too, Jimmy,” but held my tongue. It was obvious the Cowboy boss was a little on edge.

My player interview list had been whittled down to two. I had not yet talked with OSU quarterback Rusty Hilger or standout tight end John Chesley. As the Cowboy players filed by on their way to a closed-door practice, I decided to take up my plight with the Oklahoma State University sports information staff.

Cowboy sports information director Pat Quinn is one of the nicest men in all of sports. After arriving at his office, he invited me in and confirmed my observation that Johnson was, indeed, “uptight” about the upcoming game. In fact, Quinn told me, Johnson had been difficult to work with all season.

Johnson’s Cowboys had gone a disappointing 4-5-2 the previous year, and the head coach was taking steps to avoid a repeat of that performance. If it meant being testy with the press, so be it. In the world of college football, the head coach is like the Great and Mighty Oz, It’s his way or the highway, and most of the time there’s not a lot you can do to change his thinking.

Quinn assured me players would be available for interviews after practice, so I waited some two and a half hours for workouts to conclude. Since it was a closed practice, meaning no visitors allowed, I waited the campus killing time and fuming just a bit.

Finally, after practice-ending conditioning drills, the Cowboys made their way back to the locker room. I spotted defensive coordinator Pat Jones–now the Cowboys’ head coach–and, with tape recorder in hand, asked to talk to him. Saturday’s game figured to be a defensive battle and Jones was always obliging and gracious with his time.

Before I let Jones go, I asked him the best means to access players. I explained the earlier incident with Johnson. Jones smiled and suggested finding the players inside the dressing room, then doing the interviews outside the back door.

Good idea.

Good man.

Both Chesley and Hilger’s lockers were near that back door. I quickly found Chestley, we had our visit, and I re-entered the players dressing room to find Hilger.

The Cowboy quarterback was removing his shoulder pads when i asked if I could talk with him. He agreed, but wanted to finish cutting tape off his ankles, so he retreated to the training room. I told him I would be right outside the back door, so I retreated to back door and waited, not wanting to miss my chance to talk to the OSU signal caller. Yes, technically, I was in the locker room. And, yes, Johnson chose that moment to re-arrive on the scene.

The Oklahoma State head coach ushered me outside, and began another assault on my professional character.

Johnson criticized the way I approached the players. I apologized, explaining, “That’s what Tom told me to do.”

“Well, Tom’s not the boss around here,” Johnson snarled. Coming a step closer to me–I never felt in danger in his presence–he voiced offense at my line of questioning during the lunch-time press gathering. That made little sense to me. After I concluded my interview with him, I figuratively kicked myself for my bland approach.

Continuing with his tirade, Johnson then brought up an interview I had conducted prior to practice with OSU linebacker Matt Monger, a former Oklahoma State walk-on, who now was a defensive star and Oklahoma native preparing for the biggest football game of his life. In my interview with him, I asked Monger if this game meant a little more to him since he wasn’t recruited by the Sooners.

Johnson told me he interpreted that to mean I was suggesting Monger wasn’t good enough to pay at OU.

What???

How in the world could he know the details of my interview with one of his players? He hadn’t been anywhere around when Monger and I talked.

In response to my obvious befuddlement, Johnson said, “That’s what Matt told me.”

What???

Johnson had taken the time to discuss the specific of my interview with one of his players? Didn’t he have more important things to do?

After several futile attempts to defend myself, I blurted out, “Do you want to hear that interview?” As soon as the words left my mouth, I realized how foolish the question was. Johnson was a busy man with a big game on the horizon. The last thing he would be inclined to do was to review my interview with Monger. I couldn’t believe he was spending any time  berating a reporter for what, on the surface, appeared to be a small and insignificant transgression.

Johnson’s answer to my question stunned me. “Sure,” he said. “Let’s hear it.”

After playing the interview–with no malice of any kind evident in my questions to Monger–Johnson offered no explanation or apology for his erroneous accusation. Finally, he seemed ready to conclude our bizarre exchange. I was certain he not only wanted me out of his sight, but also out of his life…for good. I’m sure he didn’t expect me to tell him, “I still need to talk to Hilger.”

“I still need to talk to Hilger,” I said, refusing to back down in the face of his attempts to intimidate someone from the rival camp.

Suprisingly, he acquiesced to my request and stood within spitting distance of the Cowboy quarterback and me as we talked, no doubt ready to pounce on my first derogatory word.

After finishing the interview, Hilger smiled, said thanks, and left the scene. Johnson just scowled.

I left Stillwater replaying the events of the day. In trying to make sense of Johnson’s behavior, I began to wonder if something else, away from football, might be going on in the coach’s life.

That Saturday, returning to Stillwater, I hosted my station’s pregame show from the Lewis Field press box. During a commercial break, I noticed Johnson emerging solo from the Cowboys’ locker room, pacing the empty sidelines for a while, and then taking a seat on the Cowboys’ bench. There, with his team yet to take the field for pregame warmups, Johnson leaned over and put his head into his hands.

No doubt he assumed that same position at some point after the game ended.

Johnson’s Cowboys held a 20-3 lead in the fourth quarter, but the Sooners rallied. Following a late onside kick, Tim Lashar’s last-second field goal gave Oklahoma the 21-20 victory.

The Cowboys finished that year with an 8-4 record. All four losses came in Big 8 conference play and Oklahoma State finished in the middle of the league pack.

As it turned out, the next spring, I got to break the story of Johnson’s departure to become head football coach at the University of Miami.

I was in Omaha, covering the Cowboy baseball team’s appearance in the College World Series. I roomed with OSU assistant SID Steve Buzzard, and was awakened in the middle of the night by a phone call for him. He spoke quietly and briefly, then hung up. Assuming the call had wakened me and that I had heard his end of the conversation, Buzzard apologized and shared that Johnson had just told school officials he was leaving for Miami.

That story was the lead on my sportscast from Omaha that morning.

Ironically, Miami had also qualified for the College World Series and Florida reporters were eager to get the lowdown on the Hurricane’s new head coach. As a member of the media contingent covering Oklahoma State’s baseball fortunes, I became a popular target for interviewers

When asked, I replied Miami had gotten a fine coach who would have much success at the school.
Jimmy Johnson would have been proud of how I kept my answers short and to the point.