Senior Sooner, a question for you.....

[CTOkie]

OU's demise in the early 1960's, which probably started to show its ugly head with the 1959 season, was due to (from what I have heard and read):
Wilkinson not taking advantage of air travel to expand OU's recruiting outside of northern Texas and instate (by Bud's own admission).....and.....Wilkinson's preoccupation with entering politics (my speculation).
His last 5 years featured no significant wins, except for the 1962 Missouri and Nebraska games and the 1963 USC game (even though USC lost 3 games including one to a 2-7 Notre Dame team). And 5 straight losses (1959-1963) to Texas by a combined 32-108 score witch featured one shutout (1960) and 4 games in which OU scored a single touchdown. (His 1958 game with Texas, a 14-15 loss, also featured a lone offensive touchdown, the other being a fumble return by LB Jim Davis).
Did I miss anything ?

 

[Senior Sooner]

CT...You've compiled a good fact sheet...I can't think of any boxes that you've left unchecked. However, and isn't there Always a However? That all looks correct, On Paper, but it was the 'Others', that probably made the difference. There were Opinions, Suppositions, and Hypotheticals all over the place. There was Media Frenzy before that even had a name. Same with Fake News. I don't think anyone ever knew, for sure, what prompted Coach's final decision to resign, but we were accepting of 'All of the Above'. One part This...One part That.

The Times, they were a changin'...There was unrest in America...There was unrest in the locker room...The Strong Leadership and Work Ethic of the Men of the 47 Straight were Huge Factors in winning those games. After the last of those Players were gone, through the normal attrition process, Graduation, the TEAM Concept was diluted. The demographic change was noticeable, and disappointing.

It seemed that Bud may have replaced his goals, when he decided that, under those conditions that he couldn't, or didn't want to try, for 48...

 

[Soonerborn59]

Its always great to hear the two of you talk about the late 40s and 50s about those great OU teams. I wasnt born till 59 so I missed those golden years. Never stop telling us those stories

 

[CTOkie]

I’ve never reasoned why such a great coach could allow his program to suddenly fall off the wagon so quickly unless other interests and priorities came into play.
Perhaps I saw the first cracks in the armor when OU lost to Texas in 1958 as DKR used the new two point conversion rule to upset OU 15-14.....a year later in 1959, I saw OU squander a 12-0 lead to lose 19-12. Texas had turned the tide on Wilkinson’s dominance in the 1950’s and relegated the Sooner program to mediocrity through the 1960’s except for 1967.
While I saw the end of OU dominance in the RRR in 1958, I saw the beginning of OU dominance in 1971. Two historical games in my opinion !

 

[iasooner1]

It's ironic that the domers were the last team to beat OU in '53 to begin 47 straight and then to end it 4 years later in '57. My Dad was there for the game in '57 and didn't go back until a game in the Schmells of Bourbon year to witness a loss as well