Florida coach Billy Donovan won back-to-back titles at what was once known as a football school. During the 2006-07 season, the Gators won national titles in football and basketball. Associated Press
The Sooners played for the national title in both sports, though Barry Switzer's Sooner Magic came up short against Miami in the Orange Bowl, while Billy Tubbs' high-powered club lost in a third matchup with Kansas.
OU will be hard-pressed to duplicate that level of success in one season again.
But there's reason to believe the Sooners could have the nation's top combination of football and basketball teams next season, and one of the best in school history.
OU is expected to contend for a national championship in football, thanks to a dominating defensive line and an offense that returns eight starters, not counting playmaking running back DeMarco Murray and tight end Jermaine Gresham.
In hoops, third-year coach Jeff Capel brings back the best returning player in the Big 12 in forward Blake Griffin, who will team up with hotshot freshman guard Willie Warren to form perhaps the best tandem in the league.
"Jeff is doing a fabulous job,” football coach Bob Stoops said. "Everything he does, the way he recruits, the way his teams play, he's been a major positive influence.”
How many other teams can lay claim to national frontrunner in one sport, and top 15 in the other?
Maybe West Virginia. Perhaps Texas. Possibly Wisconsin.
Last year, Kansas could, after kicking Virginia Tech in the Orange Bowl before dramatically knocking off Memphis for the national title in basketball.
Kansas' hoops squad, however, was decimated by early entries to the NBA Draft, and the football team lost several key players,
This season, the Sooners seem to be atop a short list of schools capable of emulating Kansas' success.
Stoops doesn't see why OU can't consistently flourish nationally in both sports.
That's because before coming to OU, Stoops witnessed the formation of a thriving basketball program at
