Oklahoma Sooners: Head-coaching symbiosis bigger deal than realized
By Chip Rouse
The name Oklahoma Sooners generally conjures images of football greatness.
That’s because in the world of college athletics, Oklahoma, first and foremost, considers itself a football school. But that is hardly the only sport in which the Sooners have tasted championship success.
It is unusual in the college sports world to have a school that boasts an elite football reputation also excel at the championship level in men’s and women’s basketball. The University of Oklahoma is one that can say it has.
You call out for me the college teams that regularly compete for national championships in football or basketball, and I will show you a great head coach that is behind that success. It’s pretty obvious that superior on-field and on-court talent is what generates year-in and year-out success, but it is the head coach and his or her staff that is responsible for recruiting and developing that talent.
Oklahoma Sooners Basketball
When you have a trio of head coaches who have smelled the roses and with proven track records of success leading your football and men’s and women’s basketball programs, you’ve hit the jackpot as a college director of athletics.
The Athletic had some fun this week with its five national college writers. They were asked to imagine “they are the newly hired athletic director of Big State U” and they have their pick of head coaches in the three primary revenue sports (football, men’s basketball and women’s basketball. There’s a catch, though. You have to hire all three, en masse, from an existing university.
The five college writers went through two rounds of selections. They were asked to hire for the next five years, prioritizing future prospects over past results.
As you might suspect, the usual subjects came off the board first. The coaching trios at Ohio State, Alabama and Michigan all went in the first round, along with Oregon and Texas A&M.
On her second selection, The Athletic’s Nicole Auerbach chose the Oklahoma coaching staff of Lincoln Riley (football), Lon Kruger (men’s basketball) and Sherri Coale (women’s basketball). She had selected Michigan with her first pick
Here is what Auerbach had to say about the Oklahoma coaches:
"“Much like (colleague Matt) Fortuna is banking on one of the best young coaches in college football (Ryan Day at Ohio State), and an elite recruiting operation, to contend for league championships and national titles on a yearly basis, I’m putting my faith in Lincoln Riley. I’d also like extra points for Heisman Trophy winners, in addition to Big 12 titles and CFP berths.“Lon Kruger is just a tad older than Riley, but he’s also one of the best coaches in his sport. I love the way his teams play, love the way he teaches the sport and love that he comes with 669 career wins and a recent trip to the Final Four.“Add in longtime women’s basketball coach and HOFer Sherri Coale, and I’ve got a trio I feel great about.“I’d also like to apologize to Joe Castiglione for knocking him out of the AD chair.”"