Trae Young pays respect to his old Oklahoma AD

Born in 1998, Norman, Oklahoma, native Trae Young wouldn't even know a Oklahoma sports without Joe Castiglione in charge as athletic director.

News broke Monday morning that Castiglione will retire as OU's athletic director this upcoming 2025-26 academic year after serving in the role since July 1998. Two months after OU hired Castiglione away from Missouri, Young was born in Lubbock, Texas, before eventually becoming a star at Norman North High School and for the Sooners.

Young, now in the NBA with the Atlanta Hawks, paid respect to his old AD on social media. He posted a picture of himself and Castiglione (the same one from above) on his Instagram story with the caption, "1of1 Run Joe C! One more year! Congrats."

Young also reacted to the news on X.

"A legend," Young wrote. "I know The University is gonna go all out for your last run, a well deserved finale."

Trae Young honors retiring Oklahoma AD Joe Castiglione

Young was one of the best athletes from OU during Castiglione's tenure, which is an impressive group. The Sooners' football team has had four Heisman Trophy winners during that time, while the men's basketball program has produced four first-round NBA Draft picks, including Young.

Before becoming the fifth overall pick in the 2018 NBA Draft and a four-time NBA All-Star, Young spent just one season at OU. Young led the country in scoring and assists that season as a freshman before being named the winner of the Wayman Tisdale Award for National Freshman of the Year.

Young has continued to make an impact at his alma-mater long beyond that lone season, though. This past basketball season, he bought tickets for local kids to attend OU's women's basketball NCAA Tournament games at Lloyd Noble Center to help fill seats.

In March, Young was named assistant general manager for OU men's basketball and also donated $1 million to the program.

The respect between Young and Castiglione is obviously mutual.

"Trae is a son of Norman, Oklahoma, and he's given so much to our city and its people," Castiglione said then in a statement. "He has a strong affinity for this place and his commitment to ensuring our community is a thriving one is truly unmatched. He's also an OU legend who, in his time here and since, continues to achieve excellence both on and off the court. With this appointment, we're taking his commitment to Norman and to OU to the next level, dedicating our mutual support together to the success of our men's basketball program. His mind is made for this game, and we're incredibly fortunate he's in our corner wanting to put his talents and innovative thinking toward strengthening our program.

"On top of that, his continued financial generosity buoys our efforts in ways few other schools can enjoy. Even as he's thriving in the NBA, he never forgets his roots. We couldn't be more appreciative of him as well as excited to work together in helping our program flourish in this new era of college athletics."

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