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- The Oklahoma Sooners college football team compete as part of the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) Division I Football Bowl Subdivision, representing the University of Oklahoma in the Big 12 Conference. Oklahoma has played their home games at Oklahoma Memorial Stadium in Norman, Oklahoma since 1923. The Sooners claim seven national championships. They have also recorded 50 total conference championships, twelve undefeated, untied seasons, and the longest winning streak in Division I FBS history with 47 straight victories. The Oklahoma football program is one of the most successful programs in history, with 598 wins and a winning percentage of .764 since the end of World War II, leading the nation in both stats. Their total of 909 wins ranks sixth all-time in FBS history, and their all-time winning percentage of .726 ranks third among all teams with at least 600 games played. Football was introduced to the university by John A. Harts in 1895. Harts was a student from Kansas who had played the game in his home state. The university had its first paid coach in Vernon L. Parrington, who led the Sooners to a record of nine wins, one loss, and two ties over four seasons. Bennie Owen brought Oklahoma to the national stage during his 22-year tenure as head coach. He retired with a 122–54–16 record, including four seasons in which the team went unbeaten. During Owen's tenure, Oklahoma became a charter member of the Southwest Conference, in which they remained for five years before leaving to join the Missouri Valley Intercollegiate Athletic Association. The MVIAA conference would later transform into the Big Six, Big Seven, and finally the Big Eight Conference. In 1947, Oklahoma promoted Bud Wilkinson, then an assistant coach, to head coach. Wilkinson led the Sooners to national championships in 1950, 1955 and 1956, as well as a stretch of 47 consecutive victories that began in 1953 and ended in 1957. Wilkinson's tenure included a streak of 13 consecutive conference championships (in addition to one by his predecessor). Oklahoma continued to perform well after Wilkinson left, but only returned to the national title picture following the hiring of Barry Switzer in 1973. Switzer began similarly to Wilkinson, with eight consecutive conference championships in addition to national championships in 1974 and 1975. Switzer added Oklahoma's sixth national championship in 1985. After a decline that lasted more than a decade, Oklahoma again won the national championship in 2000, after coach Bob Stoops had been hired the previous year. By then Oklahoma had joined a new conference, the Big 12 conference, a combination of the Big Eight Conference and four Texas schools of the Southwest Conference. As head coach Stoops won ten conference championships, while no other team in the Big 12 has more than three. On June 7, 2017, Stoops retired after 18 seasons. Offensive coordinator Lincoln Riley was promoted to head coach following Stoops's retirement. During Riley tenure, the Sooners won a further 4 Big 12 Conference championships before Riley departed for the vacant USC coaching job. Through the 2022 season, Oklahoma has compiled an overall record of 934 wins, 337 losses, and 53 ties. The Sooners have won 50 conference championships and have appeared in 55 bowl games, most recently in the 2021 Alamo Bowl. (en)
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