Saturday is Billy Tubbs Day as OU entertains Kansas at Lloyd Noble Center

The University of Oklahoma is best known as a football school. There's really no question about that. But the Sooners have also made quite a few headlines over time in the sport of basketball and none more than during the time Billy Tubbs was head coach, a time that many recognize as the Golden Era of Oklahoma basketball.

Tubbs' legend and legacy will be honored during Saturday's game with Kansas at the Lloyd Noble Center.

Tubbs will long be remembered by Sooner fans as well as his peers, former players and fans all across the college basketball landscape not only for his winning ways at four different schools, but for his sharp wit, colorful (to say the least) personality and being a fierce competitor who, like most successful coaches, hated to lose.

During his 14 seasons as the Oklahoma head coach, Tubbs won 333 games, won four Big Eight regular-season championships, finished second four times and led the Sooners to nine NCAA Tournaments, including the 1988 national championship game against OU's Saturday opponent, Kansas.

Tubbs was named National Coach of the Year in 1983 and 1985 while at Oklahoma.

In 35 total games with Kansas during Tubbs' time at OU, the Sooners prevailed 14 times. Even though the Sooners lost 21 times to the Jayhawks during the time Tubbs was at Oklahoma, his 14 wins is better than any other OU coach of recent memory.

Tubbs coached at TCU and at Lamar, his alma mater, after leaving Oklahoma. He retired from coaching in 2011. He died in 2020 in Norman, Oklahoma, after a five-year battle with leukemia. He was 85 years old.

Although it's been over three years since his passing, and almost 30 years since reigned over the men's program at Oklahoma, the memories and success he achieved at OU will live on forever.

As much success as he achieved at Oklahoma, Tubbs was not the school's first choice to become head coach. The OU administration was hopeful of convincing John Thompson to leave Georgetown, That didn't work out, and Tubbs was hired.

"It didn't bother me," Tubbs said the day he was hired. "I was also my wife's second choice. And I've been with her for 25 years."

That was just one of the many examples of Tubbs' quick wit and memorable quotes. Here are a few more:

"This year we plan to run and shoot. Next year we plan to run and score."

- Billy Tubbs

"This year we plan to run and shoot. Next year, we hope to run and score." --Billy Tubbs

In December 1987, the 14th-ranked Sooners were routing Georgia State. One of the Georgia State players walked over to the OU bench during a second-half and informed Tubbs that his head coach wondered if the Sooners would "call off the dogs. " Tubbs quickly processed the request, then turned his head back to his team and said:

"They think you're a bunch of dogs. Let's show them what greyhounds do."

- Billy Tubbs

The most memorable Billy Tubbs moment I can recall occurred in a 1989 game with Missouri at OU. The Sooners, ranked No. 5 in the country at the time, fell behind early in the contest and trailed Mizzou by a score of 23-8 in the opening half. Fans began booing and hurling things on the floor. Referee Ed Hightower stopped the game and asked Tubbs to address the crowd and get them to stop throwing things on the court.

"The referees request that regardless of how terrible the officiating is, do not throw stuff on the floor."

- Billy Tubbs

Tubbs was immediately issued a technical foul. That not only charged up the crowd but the entire Sooner team. OU immediately started to play better and eventually won the game 112-105.

Oklahoma's style of play during the Tubbs era was famously referred to as "Billy Ball." His OU teams rarely used the shot clock, operating under the philosophy that the more shots you put up in a game, the more you are able to score.

And the Sooners scored plenty. Tubbs was a champion of fast-paced games and plenty of scoring. His teams frequently eclipsed 100 points a game and once almost scored 200 in a 173-101 win over U.S. International. The Sooners scored 172 the following season against Loyola Marymount.

In fact, 47 of the 50 highest-scoring games in Oklahoma basketball history were Tubbs-coached Sooner teams. In 1988-89 alone, OU had 20 100-point games, including one stretch of nine in a row.

Oklahoma's style of play during that era was famously referred to as "Billy Ball." His OU teams rarely used the shot clock, operating under the philosophy that the more shots you put up in a game, the more you are able to score.

In the 30-year period that preceded Tubbs' time at Oklahoma, the Sooners won just 47 percent of their games. That winning percentage rose to 72 percent in the 14 seasons with Tubbs at the helm.

There are five retired jerseys that hang in the rafters at the Lloyd Noble Center. Three of those (Wayman Tisdale, Stacey King and Mookie Blaylock) were recruited by and played at Oklahoma for Tubbs.