Feb 13, 2019

March 5, 2019

88-82 Texas Tech wins over Oklahoma

Wonder how loud the noise is now? Gave up 104 to Tech yesterday in first round B12 tournament loss. Only time any team has broken 100 in the tournament. At this point Tech certainly looks to have more hope for the future than OU. Ouch!

There are some rumblings here in OKC that a Big 12 WBB coaching change is imminent this week. I doubt it will be OU. I think they will give her another year. Kansas maybe? Although they had one not that long ago. Maybe Oklahoma State? Who knows.

I think everything should just stay like it is. Don't rock the boat.

Oklahoma hasn't been good since Stacey Dales.

greggor25 said:

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Oklahoma hasn't been good since Stacey Dales.

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Stacey Dales is good now.

geewago said:

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GarlandBear84 said:

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I've got to wonder is she got complacent. She can't blame the school, tradition, or facilities.

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About 10 days ago a poster on the Sooner board summed it up like this: Laziness, poor recruiting, horrible assistant coaches and now here we are.

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Explain to me how if your entire job depends on recruiting, you would get "lazy" about it?
(I have always had problems accepting that rationale.)

I can see it if you've already earned $20 million or whatever and your kids and grandkids are set for life financially.

greggor25 said:

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Oklahoma hasn't been good since Stacey Dales.

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The Paris sisters (well after Stacey Dales) say hello.

Now - after they left, a good case could be made that it's been downhill ever since for Coale and OU women's bball.

GarlandBear84 said:

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I can see it if you've already earned $20 million or whatever and your kids and grandkids are set for life financially.

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Then leave.
Take that financially-set-for-life deal and get out.
Why stay if you don't care, and why set up a lousy season if you don't want to recruit?
I still don't accept the reasoning that recruiting was bad because a coach was "lazy."
Their jobs depend on recruiting.

2018 Big 12 freshman of the year Shaina Pellington just announced her transfer from Oklahoma. She was in the doghouse all year and hardly played. A lot of talent has left that program recently.

It's called coasting until retirement and I'm sure many people do it if they're set and don't feel much threat of being fired. They've lost the burning desire to succeed. Human nature. I can see that with Coale though I could be wrong.

Will still be interesting to see if Coale is still in place next season. If she is, I don't see how at best she won't be on the hot seat, big time. As others have noted, it's not beyond the realm of possibility that since she's set for life, she's just riding out the string as long as OU will let her do it.

Coaches are only as good as the staff that they have around them, and this is nowhere more apparent than in recruiting. Head coaches are usually the closers, though in exceptional cases they may spend more time on a prospect than usual. It is the assistants who most often make contacts, go to games or tournaments to watch and be watched by prospects and do much of the heavy lifting in terms of locating and evaluating them.

The hiring of assistants is often done with an eye for their reliability in the various stages of the recruiting process and whether or not they enjoy it and take a positive attitude toward the demands that it represents. Mulkey dominates the Lady Bear practices and I am sure that she does her share of work on the recruiting trail, but she has two fine and hardworking assistants in Messier and Wilson and the results since they have been at Baylor confirm that they are very good at their assignments. I suspect that Bill Brock, though less actively involved, also does due diligence when it comes to dealing with parents and interior prospects.

Coale may be in some trouble because she does not have a staff that is as actively engaged in recruiting, or as good as they need to be at it, as is needed to compete effectively in the conference. By contrast, Bill Fennelly has done well recruiting certain types of preferred players at ISU and it appears that other programs are trying to ramp up their recruitment in order to compete with the Baylor program which sets the standard.

For a considerable time Oklahoma had put together what appeared to be a solid program, but for several years now injuries and transfers have hurt them. Quality depth has been a problem for them for quite some time, and that is a reflection of poor results on the recruiting trail. The state has a limited number of Division I prospects, and both OU and OSU need to recruit better out of state, and of late, for whatever reasons, they have not had much success at doing that.

Great and thoughtful insight as usual.

This may have already been mentioned, but I just watched the postgame after their loss to Texas Tech. Maddison Williams said "we will win a national championship before we leave"

Didn't Rellah Booth say the same thing at Texas?

Oh, the delusion! They won't win a B12 title.

She didn't say in which sport.

Good to hear from you, Bill. It's been a long time since we had to sit together through that regional loss to that team south of Waco that shall remain nameless.

SHERRI COALE energized for second Sooner rebuild
April 6, 2019

Entire article
https://www.normantranscript.com/sports/all_ou_sports/ou-women-s-basketball-sherri-coale-energized-for-second-sooner/article_fec09187-c854-56f0-a017-70c2bf0ceebc.html

Excerpt
"For the first time in two decades, Coale's Sooners weren't in the NCAA Tournament field. OU had a young roster that had been stripped down by transfers and injuries. It finished 8-22 and won just four Big 12 conference games. It didn't have much chance at the NIT, let alone the NCAAs. At one point, four freshmen and a sophomore started, none of them taller than 6-foot.

Coale wants to attract an experienced post player from the transfer market, but isn't stamping a promise on that. "We're looking under every rock," Coale said. "Everywhere in the country, out of the country, everywhere. But I can't emphasize this enough, that we need size, but we need the right length and the right size in other words, we're going to do it right. And if that means we're good tomorrow, great. If we can't find what we need for tomorrow, then we'll find it for the next day and we'll get there."

Incoming freshmen
.. Liz Scott 6-2 forward ranked No. 9 overall by Prospects Nation
.. Gabby Gregory high-scoring guard ESPN Top-100 prospect

2 new assistant coaches Coale said she wasn't surprised by their decisions, adding "when it's time, it's time." It was a coincidence, she believes, that both left simultaneously.

"I'm not tired," Coale said. "I would hope that my passion has not waned at all through time. Right now, I feel as invigorated as I ever did. It's an exciting time because the future's bright, and these kids that made it through a really tough year. You're going to be writing stories about them in a couple of years as their careers go full circle, because they're going to be the guys that brought it back."

LIB,MR BEARS said:

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Johnny Bear said:

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Sherri Coale = gone after this season.

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OU is exceptionally young. In two years, they are going to be scary good again.

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BU had 6 freshmen and two sophs on its 2019 national championship team.

GoldenBear said:

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LIB,MR BEARS said:

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Johnny Bear said:

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Sherri Coale = gone after this season.

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OU is exceptionally young. In two years, they are going to be scary good again.

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BU had 6 freshmen and two sophs on its 2019 national championship team.

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I'm not saying that OU is going to replace BU at the top of the conference. That aren't. We (BU) had a great recruiting class and have tons of young talent. Our young talent got to practice everyday against our upperclassmen.

From the OU side, they were starting 4 freshmen and a sophomore. When that group practiced they went against players that couldn't crack the starting lineup. Simply put, our young'uns have gone against better talent than their young'uns. They may have more minutes in actual games but I think our practice time against better quality will pay better dividends.

I think OU will be back just not back on top.

WOW !

COQUESE WASHINGTON NAMED OKLAHOMA ASSISTANT COACH

Entire press release
http://www.soonersports.com/ViewArticle.dbml?SPSID=750397&SPID=127261&DB_OEM_ID=31000&ATCLID=211800447

Excerpt
Penn State head coach 2008-19
.. 4 NCAA Tournament appearances; 2 Sweet 16 showings
.. 3 Big Ten regular season championships 2012-14
.. 3x Big Ten Coach of the Year 2012-2014
.. Seasoned recruiter that signed 6 McDonald's All-Americans to Penn State
Notre Dame assistant /associate head coach 1999-2007
.. 2001 NCAA Championship & 4 Sweet 16 appearances in 8 seasons
WNBA player 1999-2003 Houston Comets 2000 WNBA championship
Notre Dame player 1989-92

All must not be happy in Happy Valley. No one moves down a role unless they are frustrated or fired.

OU is not ready to lay down and die yet

I don't fear them at all. At least not in WBB.

There's no disposable money for college basketball in Oklahoma. Unless you are alumni, you won't spend your money on OU or OSU basketball.
Desperate measures to save women's basketball at Ou from the permanent cellar seem a bit late.

https://instagr.am/p/BwpZ7MnABr4

ckilpatrick said:

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https://instagr.am/p/BwpZ7MnABr4

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The buzz around this has been very strong for several days here in the SW Missouri sports talk radio market. Jackie was personally crushed, humiliated, and insulted that she got no consideration for the job at Missouri State, and a lot of the fans are seriously hacked off about it.

potential to be another egg-on-the-face of the adminstration akin to Tech refusing Mulkey's contract...