The Oklahoma Sooners are one of the most iconic blue-blood programs in the history of college football. With seven national championships, 50 conference titles, 58 bowl appearances, seven Heisman Trophy winners, and nearly 1,000 all-time victories, OU is one of the most successful programs the sport has ever seen.
Today, we take a closer look at the program, examining its history decade by decade. OU Football began way back in 1895, and has been going strong for 130 years since. The record for the program is 950 wins, 348 losses, and 53 ties, good for a winning percentage of .723. But which decades were the most successful for the Sooners, and which provided leaner years?
Oklahoma has also had different conference affiliations over the years. From 1895 to 1914, OU was an Independent. For a brief period of time from 1915 to 1919, the Sooners were in the Southwest Conference, before spending time in the Missouri Valley Conference from 1920 to 1927.
Then, the Sooners found their home in the Big Six Conference. That league ran from 1928 to 1947 before it became the Big Seven Conference from 1948 to 1959. It had a long run as the Big Eight Conference from 1960 to 1995 before becoming the Big 12 in 1996.
Oklahoma was a member of the same league from 1928 to 2023, specifically the Big 12 Conference from 1996 to 2023. They joined the Southeastern Conference in 2024, and they enter their second year in the league in 2025.
We’ll walk back through each decade since OU’s inception, giving the year-by-year record and the head coaches that led the way in Norman. Here is how the Sooners fared in each decade in the history of Oklahoma Football.
The 1890s
Head Coaches:
- John A. Harts (1 season; 1895)
- No Head Coach in 1896
- Vernon Parrington (3 three seasons; 1897-1899)
Year By-Year Results
- 1895: 0-1
- 1896: 2-0
- 1897: 2-0
- 1898: 2-0
- 1899: 2-1
1890s record: 8-2
The 1900s
Head Coaches:
- Vernon Parrington (1 season; 1900)
- Fred Roberts (1 season; 1901)
- Mark McMahon (2 seasons; 1902-1903)
- Fred Ewing (1 season; 1904)
- Bennie Owen (5 seasons; 1905-1909)
Year-By-Year Results:
- 1900: 3-1-1
- 1901: 3-2
- 1902: 6-3
- 1903: 5-4-3
- 1904: 4-3-1
- 1905: 7-2
- 1906: 5-2-2
- 1907: 4-4
- 1908: 8-1-1
- 1909: 6-4
1900s record: 51-26-8
The 1910s
Head Coaches:
- Bennie Owen (10 seasons; 1910-1920)
Year-By-Year Results:
- 1910: 4-2-1
- 1911: 8-0
- 1912: 5-4
- 1913: 6-2
- 1914: 9-1-1
- 1915: 10-0
- 1916: 6-5
- 1917: 6-4-1
- 1918: 6-0
- 1919: 5-2-3
1910s record: 65-20-6
The 1920s
Head Coaches:
- Bennie Owen (7 seasons; 1920-1926)
- Adrian Lindsey (3 seasons; 1927-1930)
Year-By-Year Results:
- 1920: 6-0-1
- 1921: 5-3
- 1922: 2-3-3
- 1923: 3-5
- 1924: 2-5-1
- 1925: 4-3-1
- 1926: 5-2-1
- 1927: 3-3-2
- 1928: 5-3
- 1929: 3-3-2
1920s record: 38-30-11
The 1930s
Head Coaches:
- Adrian Lindsey (2 seasons; 1930-1931)
- Lewie Hardage (3 seasons; 1932-1934)
- Biff Jones (2 seasons; 1935-1936)
- Thomas E. Stidham (3 seasons; 1937-1939)
Year-By-Year Results:
- 1930: 4-3-1
- 1931: 4-7-1
- 1932: 4-4-1
- 1933: 4-4-1
- 1934: 3-4-2
- 1935: 6-3
- 1936: 3-3-3
- 1937: 5-2-2
- 1938: 10-1
- 1939: 6-2-1
1930s record: 49-33-12
The 1940s
Head Coaches:
- Thomas E. Stidham (1 season; 1940)
- Dewey Luster (5 seasons; 1941-1945)
- Jim Tatum (1 season; 1946)
- Bud Wilkinson (3 seasons; 1947-1949)
Year-By-Year Results:
- 1940: 6-3
- 1941: 6-3
- 1942: 3-5-2
- 1943: 7-2
- 1944: 6-3-1
- 1945: 5-5
- 1946: 8-3
- 1947: 7-2-1
- 1948: 10-1
- 1949: 11-0
1940s record: 69-27-4
The 1950s
Head Coaches:
- Bud Wilkinson (10 seasons; 1950-1959)
Year-By-Year Results:
- 1950: 10-1 (National Champions)
- 1951: 8-2
- 1952: 8-1-1
- 1953: 9-1-1
- 1954: 10-0
- 1955: 11-0 (National Champions)
- 1956: 10-0 (National Champions)
- 1957: 10-1
- 1958: 10-1
- 1959: 7-3
1950s record: 93-10-2
The 1960s
Head Coaches:
- Bud Wilkinson (4 seasons; 1960-1963)
- Gomer Jones (2 seasons; 1964-1965)
- Jim Mackenzie (1 season; 1966)
- Chuck Fairbanks (3 seasons; 1967-1969)
Year-By-Year Results:
- 1960: 3-6-1
- 1961: 5-5
- 1962: 8-3
- 1963: 8-2
- 1964: 6-4-1
- 1965: 3-7
- 1966: 6-4
- 1967: 10-1
- 1968: 7-4
- 1969: 6-4
1960s record: 62-40-2
The 1970s
Head Coaches:
- Chuck Fairbanks (3 seasons; 1970-1972)
- Barry Switzer (7 seasons; 1973-1980)
Year-By-Year Results:
- 1970: 7-4-1
- 1971: 11-1
- 1972: 11-1
- 1973: 10-0-1
- 1974: 11-0 (National Champions)
- 1975: 11-1 (National Champions)
- 1976: 9-2-1
- 1977: 10-2
- 1978: 11-1
- 1979: 11-1
1970s record: 102-13-3
The 1980s
Head Coaches:
- Barry Switzer (9 seasons; 1980-1988)
- Gary Gibbs (1 season; 1989)
Year-By-Year Results:
- 1980: 10-2
- 1981: 7-4-1
- 1982: 8-4
- 1983: 8-4
- 1984: 9-2-1
- 1985: 11-1 (National Champions)
- 1986: 11-1
- 1987: 11-1
- 1988: 9-3
- 1989: 7-4
1980s record: 91-26-2
The 1990s
Head Coaches:
- Gary Gibbs (5 seasons; 1990-1994)
- Howard Schnellenberger (1 season; 1995)
- John Blake (3 seasons; 1996-1998)
- Bob Stoops (1 season; 1999)
Year-By-Year Results:
- 1990: 8-3
- 1991: 9-3
- 1992: 5-4-2
- 1993: 9-3
- 1994: 6-6
- 1995: 5-5-1
- 1996: 3-8
- 1997: 4-8
- 1998: 5-6
- 1999: 7-5
1990s record: 61-51-3
The 2000s
Head Coaches:
- Bob Stoops (10 seasons; 2000-2009)
Year-By-Year Results:
- 2000: 13-0 (National Champions)
- 2001: 11-2
- 2002: 12-2
- 2003: 12-2
- 2004: 12-1
- 2005: 8-4
- 2006: 11-3
- 2007: 11-3
- 2008: 12-2
- 2009: 8-5
2000s record: 110-24
The 2010s
Head Coaches:
- Bob Stoops (7 seasons; 2010-2016)
- Lincoln Riley (3 seasons; 2017-2019)
Year-By-Year Results:
- 2010: 12-2
- 2011: 10-3
- 2012: 10-3
- 2013: 11-2
- 2014: 8-5
- 2015: 11-2
- 2016: 11-2
- 2017: 12-2
- 2018: 12-2
- 2019: 12-2
2010s record: 109-25
The 2020s
Head Coaches:
- Lincoln Riley (2 seasons; 2020-2021)
- Bob Stoops (1 game; 2021. Stoops served as the interim head coach for the 2021 Alamo Bowl victory over Oregon after Lincoln Riley left to become the head coach at Southern California)
- Brent Venables (3 seasons; 2022-present)
Year-By-Year Results:
- 2020: 9-2
- 2021: 11-2
- 2022: 6-7
- 2023: 10-3
- 2024: 6-7
2020s record so far: 42-21
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