Ex-Cowboys coach Switzer still bullish on the NFL — and the NBA

OKLAHOMA CITY – His roots may be in football, but Barry Switzer also has some skin in the NBA game.

An absolute legend in Oklahoma, Switzer attended Wednesday’s game between the Dallas Mavericks and Oklahoma City Thunder at the Paycom Center. After he left his suite to go down a hallway to conduct an interview with Mavs.com, fans kept rushing up to him to get a photo, or just to say hello or reminisce about the good old days.

For Switzer, the adulation comes with the territory of being the football coach at Oklahoma University from 1973-88, and of leading the Sooners to national titles in 1974, ’75 and ’85. It also comes because Switzer coached the Dallas Cowboys from 1994-97, and led them to a Super Bowl title following the 1995 season.

The Cowboys, in fact, have had six coaches since Switzer called it quits following the 1997 season. And the last coach to lead them to a Super Bowl was Switzer, who told Cowboys owner Jerry Jones of his retirement in his own unique way.

“I came back north of the Red River, and I told Jerry I’m going to tell you when I’m going to leave,” Switzer said. “He knew I was leaving. I said I’ll pick a time. He said, ‘You’re not going to the press conference with me?’

“I said, “You got to be kidding me? Why would I do that?’ I said, ‘Half (the media) beat me up anyway, so why would I go in there (and say), hey guys, I’m leaving. What you think about that? Anybody got any questions?’ I was going across the Red River when I heard Switzer quit.”

During his four-year tenure coaching the Cowboys, Switzer posted a 40-24 record in the regular season and an impressive 5-2 record in the playoffs. In addition to his Super Bowl season, he also led the Cowboys to the NFC championship game in his first season, to the NFC divisional round in his third season, and to three consecutive NFC East titles.

Switzer, 86, wore a Cowboys jacket and his Super Bowl ring to Wednesday’s game. Nowadays, he’s dabbling in some work here and there.

“I’ve got partners in different businesses and we’re doing well,” Switzer said. “I’m into advertising and oil and gas.”

Switzer also is into the Thunder. He recalls the days – from 2009-12 — when the Thunder had Kevin Durant, James Harden and Russell Westbrook. And now he’s cheering on the Thunder’s triplets of Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, Chet Holmgren and Jalen Williams.

“They’re so young and quick and they play good together, and they haven’t been siphoned off,” Switzer said. “At one time we had Harden here, we had Kevin Durant, we had Westbrook and we had the makings of a helluva championship team. Then all of a sudden, they’re gone.

“It’s going to happen to us here, too, with these guys. So, we better win this year if we’re going to do it, because these guys, I doubt they’re going to all stay together. They’re going to go where the money is, and that’s to be expected.”

Switzer said he was recently at The Star – the Cowboys’ headquarters – in Frisco, taking care of business and preparing to do an interview with Netflix, who is doing a documentary about Jones.

“I went down and met with Jerry, and took my daughter with me, and we visited with Jerry in his office for two hours and had a helluva time reminiscing,” Switzer said. “The next morning I got up and did eight hours (of interviews) with Netflix, starting from the time Jerry was a 17-year old freshman from (the) Rose City (neighborhood of North Little Rock) Arkansas.

“It was an opportunity for me to talk about and reminisce about how I saw Jerry progress, how I knew he was different then than the rest of the guys who were out drinking beer on Friday night and Saturday night, while Jerry Jones was out selling whole life insurance policies. Jerry was different. He was a guy that, first of all he married Miss Arkansas. I didn’t think he was the best-looking guy, but he’s got a great gift for gab.”

Switzer remembers when Gil Brandt, the former vice president of player personnel for the Cowboys, told him Jones had purchased the Cowboys on Feb. 25, 1989.

“When he bought the Cowboys – and this is kind of funny — I get a phone call at night from Gil Brandt and he said, ‘Switzer, you know a guy name Jerry Jones?,’ “ Switzer said. “I said, ‘Yeah, I know Jerry. I know him well.’

“He said, ‘He just bought the Dallas Cowboys for $140 million.’ I said, ‘Well, that sounds like Jerry.’ I knew he wanted to buy the San Diego Chargers, but his daddy talked him out of it.”

Switzer said when Jones purchased the Cowboys, he only considered hiring him or Jimmy Johnson to coach the team. The job eventually went to Johnson, who guided the Cowboys to Super Bowl victories following the 1992 and ’93 seasons before he and Jones mutually agreed to part ways.

Jones hired Switzer as the Cowboys’ coach on March 30, 1994 – a day after Johnson announced his departure from the Cowboys.

“On March 28, Jerry called me and said, ‘You want to coach the Cowboys?’ “ Switzer said. “I said, ‘I didn’t know the job was open.’ He said, ‘Well, it’s going to be open.’ I said, ‘Well, call me then.’

“The next day he called me and said, ‘Come on to Dallas.’ He had already handled the situation with Jimmy, so I headed to Dallas.”

The popularity of free agency, Switzer said, is what drove him away from the National Football League.

“When I went to the league, free agency had just started,” he said. “So, if you had good players, they’re going to be siphoned off.

“I left for two reasons. I lost our tight end, Jay Novacek, and (defensive end) Charles Haley. Haley was the best pass rusher in the league and (Novacek was) the best third-and-2, third-and-1 tight end in the league.”

As far as today’s Cowboys are concerned, Switzer said: “The Cowboys are pretty damn good right now. They’ve got players in positions as good as anybody in the league. (Micah) Parsons is as good as anybody in the league at rushing the passer.”

Asked his thoughts on Dak Prescott, Switzer admits he’s a huge fan of the Cowboys’ quarterback.

“I called Jerry, when Dak Prescott came out of Mississippi State, the first game I saw him play in,” Switzer said. “I told Jerry, I said this guy will probably take you to the Super Bowl. He’s a pretty damn talented guy. I was impressed with him.

“Dak gets a lot put on him — he really does. I got to think he feels a lot of pressure. I know he busts his butt and he wants to do well, and he’s been unlucky sometimes.”

When asked if he believes the Cowboys will win a Super Bowl in the next three or four years, Switzer was noncommittal.

“I’m like everybody else — I have no idea,” he said. “You’ve got to live in the house and know what’s going on. You’ve got to live there, you’ve got to see, you’ve got to evaluate, and I’m not there, so I’m not going to guess on it.

“The job that those guys do, they all work their butts off. If they have good talent, they’re going to win. But they’ve got to have the talent to do it all the way around. And you’ve got to stay healthy, too. You’ve got to have the good players, but you’ve got to have some luck, but you’ve got to play good when it’s time to play good.”

Meanwhile, when he was coaching the Cowboys, Switzer was a big fan of the Mavericks. And he’ll be watching Game 6 when the Mavs host the Thunder on Saturday at 7 p.m. at American Airlines Center.

“I rather watch the games on TV,” Switzer said. “You see more, and you get to see why the officials made the call.

“But being there, you get the personal experience of being there and the emotions of it. The fans love it.”

X: @DwainPrice