How Switzer earned quick credibility recruiting Rodgers
CATHEDRAL CITY, Calif. — Barry Switzer snuffed out the problem quickly.
Getting off the phone with a prized defensive recruit in 1986, the OU football coach confirmed directions to the player’s house for a visit.
“But I thought you lived in Carson,” Switzer asked Tyrone Rodgers. “If I go that direction, I’m going over to Compton. I’ll be over there in Nutty Blocc.” Rodgers was stunned. “Damn,” Rodgers said. “He knows the gang and everything. He knew the neighborhood and everything.”
Rodgers quickly corrected the directions and Switzer earned credibility with the Los Angeles-area recruits.
Rodgers told the story recently while working his post at the team drop-off point for the Mary Nutter Collegiate Classic softball series.
Rodgers is a regular working the event, driving the more than 90 minutes from his Anaheim home to Cathedral City to work the event.
Rodgers won’t stop anytime soon, thanks to Deb Hartwig, the event’s Chief Operations Manager.
Hartwig helped connect Rodgers with her brother, Scott, a Pop Warner football coach.
Hartwig’s brother welcomed Rodgers’ youngest son, who has special needs, onto his team.
“It did wonders for my special needs son and him communicating and having friends and everything else,” Rodgers said. “The whole team just loved him. From that point on, I told Deb and Scott, whatever they want. ‘No matter what time, you call me, I’m here for you.’”
Back in the mid-1980s, Rodgers ultimately committed to the Sooners, coming to Norman a couple of years after one of his Phineas Banning High teammates — Jamelle Holieway.
During one of his first practices with the Sooners, Rodgers came off the edge and brought Holieway down hard.
“I just laid him out,” Rodgers said.
He was quickly rebuked.
“The O-line and everyone just jumped on me,” Rodgers said. “We had a few cuss words back and forth, and I’m on top of him, joking with him.”
Rodgers was used to hitting Holieway in practices in high school and didn’t expect any difference at OU.
Rodgers was used to seeing Holieway do incredible things, so it wasn’t a surprise when the quarterback helped lead the Sooners to a national title in 1985, while Rodgers was still in high school.
“Jamelle is a whole other type of character,” Rodgers said. “He’s built in a whole ‘nother type of stone. He was that way in high school.
“Even when he made a mistake on the option, he turned the wrong way and everybody thought the running back turned the wrong way. No, that was Jamelle. He messed up and just took it. … That’s just Jamelle. He just had that swag. No one hates Jamelle other than the defense.”
While Switzer’s direction correction gave the coach credibility, Norman solidified Rodgers on the Sooners.
“I just loved the OU defensive experience and family,” Rodgers said. “Going to a country town like Norman and it was like bigger than Dallas in a way.”
When Switzer resigned, Rodgers transferred to Washington, where he helped the Huskies win the 1991 national title before spending three seasons in the NFL.
Even though he was only with the Sooners for a short time, Rodgers still stays connected with many of his OU teammates.
“They’re still my teammates,” Rodgers said. “Still my family.”
And Rodgers still marvels at Switzer’s recruiting acumen.
“Every neighborhood he knew, no matter what school he went in,” Rodgers said. “There is no recruiter like Barry Switzer. He could start a new company teaching people how to recruit. He could sit down with someone in Beverly Hills, and he would go down in the country in Longview, Texas and drink moonshine with them and then go and drink some wine with someone else.
“He has that level where he can fit in everywhere. He’s an unbelievable person.”