What makes college football rivalries so exciting isn’t just the banter between opposing fan bases.
The passion either for or against respective teams is also present among the coaching world. In the current times, Alabama head coach Nick Saban and Texas A&M head coach Jimbo Fisher have each expressed their opinions about each other and fans are now anxiously awaiting the next matchup between the two programs on Oct. 8.
There were also many intense coaching rivalries in the 1900s, including Texas’ own Darrell Royal. Royal’s ongoing feud with Oklahoma head coach Barry Switzer was among Paul Myerberg’s top 10 college football coaching rivalries.
Here’s why Myerberg chose to include the Red River foes on the list.
The Red River Rivalry reached its peak in 1976, when Royal, in his last season at Texas, accused Switzer and OU of spying on the Longhorns’ practice — even challenging Switzer and others close to the program to take a lie-detector test to prove their innocence. Royal was technically right: OU had, in fact, spied on the team’s practices four years earlier.
Lane Kiffin, Jim Harbaugh, Joe Paterno and several others were also included in the list below. To read the explanations as to why Myerberg chose each coaching rivalry, click here.