Oklahoma basketball coach search nearing closure

Multiple news sources are reporting that the search for the next men’s Oklahoma basketball coach is reaching the final stages.

Joey Helmer, who covers Oklahoma athletics for 247Sports, and John Hoover, who does the same for Sports Illustrated, are both reporting that OU athletic director Joe Castiglione has narrowed his coaching search down to a very short list of candidates.

Both Helmer and Hoover cited a Twitter message from New York Times freelance journalist Adam Zagoria, stating that he has learned from unnamed sources that Porter Moser of Loyola of Chicago is the “leading candidate to become the new head coach at Oklahoma and “is weighing a six-year contract offer at OU but is said to be on the fence.”

Zagoria also indicated that North Texas head coach Grant McCasland is also under consideration, but he reportedly finalized a contract extension there just this week. McCasland has been at North Texas for four seasons. He played for and was an assistant at Baylor previously.

Moser has been at Loyola of Chicago for 10 seasons, led the Ramblers to a surprising Cinderella run to the Final Four in 2018. This season, Loyola knocked out No. 1 seed Illinois in the second round of the NCAA Tournament to advance to the Sweet 16. Both times Loyola was an 11 seed.

The 52-year-old Moser’s 10-year record at Loyola is 188-140 (.573).

Before taking the job to coach at Loyola of Chicago, Moser was head coach at Illinois State for four seasons and for three seasons at Arkansas-Little Rock. His overall record in 17 seasons as a head coach is 293-241 (.549).

Moser’s rise in college basketball coaching circles is closely tied to the success he has achieved at Loyola of Chicago. Because of that, his name has popped up for several coaching vacancies the past couple of years.

It was earlier rumored that Oklahoma might be looking at Mark Turgeon of Maryland and Paul Mills of Oral Roberts as potential replacements for Lon Kruger, who announced his retirement after 10 seasons heading the OU men’s basketball program.  The Tulsa World reported late this week that those two names were no longer in consideration.

This will be the third Oklahoma men’s basketball coach hired during Castiglione’s 23-year tenure at OU. Jeff Capel was hired to replace Kelvin Sampson in 2006, and Kruger took over the program in 2011 after Capel’s dismissal.

If Moser agrees to come to Oklahoma — and we know how persuasive Castiglione can be when he zeros in on a candidate — it would be a good hire for the Sooners and should be very popular with the OU fan base.