From the moment I picked up a copy of Semi-Tough by Dan Jenkins as a junior at John Marshall High School he made an impact on me as to how I view the world.
He almost got me suspended for three days when Juanita Elijah my American Lit teacher caught me reading Semi-Tough when I was supposed to be reading various Mark Twain and Edgar Allen Poe suggested readings.
She caught me reading Semi-Tough at a point in the book where the oilman Big Ed Bookman’s daughter Barbara Jane was performing oral sex on her high school boy friend Billy Clyde Puckett for the first time in their relationship.
I cannot convey the rage in her eyes when she was reading the page to herself. I tried to tell her Dan Jenkins was the J.D. Salinger of his time, but her rage didn’t allow her to hear my words. She said, “Michael, we don’t read pornography in my classroom. My classroom isn’t a brothel.” It was a life changing moment for me. But I never fell out of love with Dan Jenkins.
So as I’m sitting here in the corporate headquarters of okcthunderground.com today trying to grasp this 2021 college football season the day after OU lost Caleb Williams in unrestricted free agency…I’m thinking to myself..”How is it Dan Jenkins couldn’t have stayed with us another ten years to help us plow through all of this?”
So I’m going to interview Dan from sportswriter heaven today on the blog.
I’ll start by asking, “Is NIL really that big of a deal with all the money which has always been involved in college football from boosters?”
He would say,” We’ve always had NIL to some degree. Every team in the Top 10 maybe minus Notre Dame has at least one Big Ed Bookman, a Phil Knight or a Boone on a mission. OU has always had their share…they just stay in background, unlike Boone. Texas has too many of them. You can’t have five of these guys calling the plays in the huddle at the same time though. Then it gets messy and you have what you have at Texas.”
On the transfer portal, “The portal is the best thing going it keeps guys like Switzer from stock-piling players four deep. Switzer could have been Saban if he’d had more personal discipline.”
Me– “But what about Alabama?”
Dan, “If you were a NFL prospect and thought you had a future in the NFL where you could go in the first two rounds… that’s where I’d go. If they play by Saban’s rules and if they stay the course they’re set for life. Period. Not complicated. Pure transactional free enterprise. Quid pro quo.”
Me–“You think OU can spend its way to the top of the SEC at some point?”
Dan, “If they can keep the right coach and come to the understanding they’re going to have spend money to get there…sure.”
Me– ” Will a team from the Big 12 ever win a national championship in football again?”
Dan, “Not likely. They won’t have the cash flow to attain that status of the top tier. They would need four or five Boones to keep pace with what’s getting ready to transpire.”
Me– “Boone or Big Ed Bookman from TCU in Semi Tough…who was the better mega booster?”
Dan, “Easy. Big Ed Bookman. He won national championships at TCU and would have fired Gundy the first time he dangled the Tennessee job to get a raise. Probably would have kept the coordinators and hired his lawn guy to be the head coach.”
Me–“Favorite novel you wrote?”
Dan, “Dead Solid Perfect. Not even close. Kenny Lee winning the Open and getting Beverly Tidwell back was the best I ever was as a novelist.”
Me–‘Why isn’t people didn’t know you love chick flicks and were a hopeless romantic?”
Dan, “I didn’t feel it was any of their business.”
Me–‘What are your three favorite chick flicks?”
Dan, ” You tell me your three first, slick.”
Me–“1 Serendipity, 2 Four Weddings and a Funeral, and 3 Sleepless in Seattle with Dead Solid Perfect making my Top 10.”
He’d smile and say, “Gone With the Wind, Love Story, and Thomas Crown Affair.”
Me–“Alabama or Georgia?”
Dan–“Alabama, the gap at the quarterback position. I thought Kirby Smart was going to kill his quarterback at the end of the first half on Friday when the clock ran out.”
Me– “Dan…thank you for taking the time today to help me through all of this. It was an honor.”
Dan, “Sorry your American Lit teacher didn’t have a sense of humor. We all need to laugh at ourselves more. Take care, kid.”