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Oklahoma Sooner Fans: Ten Things to Be Thankful for in 2016

By Chip Rouse

Dec 31, 2015; Miami Gardens, FL, USA; The Oklahoma Sooners run out for the start of the 2015 CFP Semifinal against the Clemson Tigers at the Orange Bowl at Sun Life Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Kim Klement-USA TODAY Sports
Dec 31, 2015; Miami Gardens, FL, USA; The Oklahoma Sooners run out for the start of the 2015 CFP Semifinal against the Clemson Tigers at the Orange Bowl at Sun Life Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Kim Klement-USA TODAY Sports /
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Feb 25, 2015; Norman, OK, USA; Oklahoma Sooners head coach Sherri Coale speaks to her team in action against the Baylor Bears in the second half at Lloyd Noble Center. Mandatory Credit: Mark D. Smith-USA TODAY Sports
Feb 25, 2015; Norman, OK, USA; Oklahoma Sooners head coach Sherri Coale speaks to her team in action against the Baylor Bears in the second half at Lloyd Noble Center. Mandatory Credit: Mark D. Smith-USA TODAY Sports /

Sherri Coale Taking OU Women’s Basketball to 17 Consecutive NCAA Tournaments

You can’t talk about Oklahoma basketball without bringing up the tremendous job that Sherri Coale has done in 20 seasons as head of the Sooner women’s program.

Coale’s teams have won outright or shared six Big 12 regular-season championships and produced 14 seasons of 20 wins or more. Her 2001-02 team finished with a 32-4 record, the best record in OU women’s hoops history and the school’s highest AP national ranking, at No. 2. The Lady Sooners advanced all the way to the national championship game that season, where they lost to UConn 82-70.

Coale came to Oklahoma from the high school ranks. She was the head coach at nearby Norman High School for six seasons before taking the OU job the year the Big 12 was formed.

The Oklahoma women have compiled an overall record of 445-217 in Coale’s 21 seasons at the school, including 17 consecutive NCAA appearances and three Final Fours.

In the spring of 1990, the University of Oklahoma announced that it was dropping women’s basketball as an intercollegiate sport. That sparked enormous pushback and public criticism and the plans to discontinue the program were abandoned.

Several years later, Coale came aboard and completely turned the program around,to where today the Sooners are considered one of the elite programs in women’s college basketball.

All thanks to the hard work and dedication of Sherri Coale.

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