Oklahoma basketball: OU should move fast in head coach hire
By Chip Rouse
The search is on for the next head coach(es) of Oklahoma basketball.
The OU job is one of three openings in the Big 12. In fact, the Sooners situation is a little different in that Oklahoma is looking for a new head coach for both men’s basketball and women’s hoops. That is because of the rare occurrence of having two head coaches in the same sport retire within days of each other.
The coaching replacement(s) at Oklahoma are not the result of declining performance. Both Lon Kruger and Sherri Coale, the OU women’s coach, had been in their posts a long time: — Coale for 25 years and Kruger for 10, his longest stint at any one school — and were popular head coaches and revered by the OU administration and the players under them.
The Oklahoma basketball coaching position may not be one of the premier jobs in college basketball, but it is a very good job in one of the best basketball conferences in the country. Three of the past four OU head coaches of men’s basketball (Billy Tubbs in 1988, Kelvin Sampson in 2010 and Kruger in 2016) have taken a Sooner team to the Final Four. So Oklahoma basketball has had recognition at the national level.
The challenge for OU in its hiring search is finding a high-quality head coach candidate for a program that will always be second in priority to football. Oklahoma may not be in the upper tier of basketball programs but it is definitely a blue blood in college football.
That’s not to say that the resources aren’t there for basketball (they are, largely due to the sustained national success of OU football), but the reality is that Oklahoma has long prided itself as a football school.
At one time, according to ESPN research, there were as many as 40 head-coach positions open for next season. Most have already been filled, but a handful still remain, including the job at Texas and at OU.
Iowa State recently announced a new coaching hire. T.J. Otzelberger, who previously was at UNLV, is the new coach of the Cyclones, replacing Steve Prohm. Lon Kruger’s son, Kevin, replaces Otzelberger at UNLV.
A half dozen names have been speculated as being possible candidates for the Oklahoma job, with the name of Maryland coach Mark Turgeon coming up most often.
The bigger question with Turgeon is would consider Oklahoma a better job than the one he has. Having grown up in the Midwest and played at Kansas could possibly be an inducement as it was for Kruger, who also grew up in the Sunflower State and played at Kansas State.
Regardless of who it is, it is imperative that Oklahoma move relatively fast — but not foolishly, of course — to fill the open position created by Kruger’s retirement. An inordinate delay not only impacts recruiting, including decisions being made by players who could consider transferring to OU, but also impending decisions by several players on the current roster.
It doesn’t take a college basketball expert to realize that the uncertainty that looms without a head coach in place could have serious implications on the talent level returning for the 2021-22 season.
On the other hand, no one is better at getting his man than OU athletic director Joe Castiglione. His record with coaching hires is an excellent one. You don’t have to look much further than Bob Stoops, Lincoln Riley and Kruger to serve as proof of that. You can also add K.J. Kindler and Mark Williams, the head coaches of the No. 1-ranked Sooner women’s and men’s gymnastics programs.
The Oklahoma AD is actively on the search now to find the 14th OU men’s basketball head coach. While Sooners hoops fans are anxiously waiting to learn the results of the search, I would be surprised if we don’t hear something definitive within the next week to 10 days.