Oklahoma coach Gary Gibbs says the emotion of his last game as coach of the Sooners will not affect his team against No. 22 Brigham Young in the Copper Bowl.
"Any game you participate in you want to win," Gibbs said Friday. "Our goals, in terms of how we approach a bowl game is that we want to have fun and go ahead and win a football game."Gibbs announced his resignation last month, and Oklahoma (6-5) hired his successor, Howard Schnellenberger, hours after Gibbs and coach Lavell Edwards of BYU (9-3) attended a function in Tucson for the Dec. 29 game.
Although he was forced out, Gibbs showed little bitterness.
"I haven't been involved in anything to do with the replacement, but I want to wish him and his staff the best in '95," Gibbs said.
Edwards said he was surprised to hear Schnellenberger was in line for the Oklahoma job after going 54-56-2 in 10 years at Louisville.
"I thought he was pretty well entrenched in Louisville," Edwards said.
The veteran BYU coach said Gibbs' 21-11-2 record in five seasons shows he can coach. But Edwards acknowledged that Sooners fans want the team to beat Nebraska and Colorado.
"He's done pretty well by normal standards, but for some schools that's not enough," Edwards said. "It's a little bit like Southern Cal. That job is predicated on how they do against UCLA and Notre Dame. Around the country there seems to be games that carry more weight than other games."
Edwards said other coaches assume that Gibbs, a friend of Dallas coach Barry Switzer, may be looking for employment in the NFL.
"I hate to see him leave college coaching, we need people like that," he said.