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Big-name coach unnecessary for OU

By Berry Tramel
The Oklahoman

Joe Castiglione's great coaching odyssey continues with plenty of rumor and even more stipulations.
The requirements for Castiglione, some self-imposed, some not, are many. Find a coach who meets all, or dang near most, of the following criteria:

1. Winner, which is the prime directive of all coaches in this bottom-line game of college hoops.

2. Purer than Caesar's wife, in the wake of OU's NCAA probe.

3. Self-assurance, which can guide a man in the many times when the spotlight will ignore him, since football is king in these parts.

4. Uptempo sage in this slowdown age, which could ignite much-needed excitement.

5. Big name who can sell tickets in a marketplace that is becoming quite competitive for the entertainment dollar.

Go 5-for-5, and Castiglione ascends to wizard status. Frankly, I can't name the man who fits all five essentials, including Roy Williams and Mike Krzyzewski, who long have been big man on their campus and might find rough sailing sharing with a gridiron emperor.

OK, here's one. Billy Donovan, who I guess is NCAA clean. Can the Sooners hire Florida's coach, fresh off a national title? Don't think so.

So Castiglione is going to have to compromise somewhere, and here's my suggestion: No. 5.

A big name is absolutely unnecessary. Nice, but unnecessary.

A big name would make a big splash and generate a frenzy around a program that has stagnated with the public. Apathy has grown like fungus around the Sooner basketball fan base.

All new hires create a buzz; a big-name kicker would thrill the crimsons and make Lloyd Noble Center a popping place next winter.

A coach with the clout of a Tubby Smith or a John Calipari would signal to any holdouts that OU is serious about basketball and would keep fire kindled during what figures to be a rebuilding season in 2006-07.

But the benefits of a big name provide only temporary tonic. A big name will not sell tickets in Year No. 3. By then, such a coach's stock, at least at OU, will be based not on what he brought to Norman, but what he's done since he got there.

Quick fixes are not the answer for Castiglione, in any of the criteria.

I don't think Joe C.'s head would be turned by a coach who promises to bring in a couple of salty power forwards. Yes, the Sooners are in need of inside players, but this hire is about much more than one season.

This hire is about the long-term good of OU hoops. This hire is about a worthy successor to the 14-year term of Billy Tubbs and the 12-year term of Kelvin Sampson.

Tubbs and Sampson are about as different as any two coaches could be, but this they have in common: neither were big names when hired by OU. The Sooners went after John Thompson in 1980 and Bob Huggins in 1994. They settled for Tubbs and Sampson, and it worked out famously.

Sooner basketball has been nationally prominent and in solid hands for almost all of the last 25 years. Castiglione's decision is critical not because OU hoops are at a wrinkle in time, but because it's vital anytime you select a drover for a program that's been this consistently competitive.

A big name is fine. But a big name is not required.

they could get tubbs back pretty cheap.

Looks like they will be hiring Jeff Capel from VCU.

Sources: Capel will replace Sampson at OklahomaBy Andy Katz
ESPN.com


Oklahoma is expected to name Virginia Commonwealth coach Jeff Capel as its next men's basketball coach, multiple sources told ESPN.com on Monday night.

A news conference is expected either late Tuesday or Wednesday.
Jeff Capel led Virginia Commonwealth to the CAA title and an NCAA Tournament berth in 2004.
Capel was scheduled to meet with his team Tuesday morning to tell them he has accepted the Sooners job.

Capel was the stealth candidate Oklahoma athletic director Joe Castiglione had been working the past 10 days. Earlier Monday, Wichita State's Mark Turgeon and Miami's Frank Haith, thought to be front-runners for the position, both made it clear they were staying at their respective schools. Regardless, Capel was a target of Castiglione's since Kelvin Sampson announced he was leaving for Indiana two weeks ago.

Capel, 31, led the Rams to the NCAA Tournament in 2004 and the NIT in 2005. The fourth-year VCU coach is considered a rising star in the business and was selected last summer to be an assistant coach with Manhattan's Bobby Gonzalez on the USA World University Games staff led by Villanova's Jay Wright. The United States won the gold medal in Turkey.

VCU finished 19-10, 11-7 in the Colonial Athletic Association this past season.

After the season, Capel agreed to a two-year contract extension that gave him six years on his VCU deal. His record at the school was was 79-41.

Multiple sources told ESPN.com that Capel rated very high when Castiglione and other Oklahoma officials checked him out with high-profile basketball-related people. Oklahoma was looking for a person to lead the Sooners' program long term and was willing to think "out of the box" with Sampson's successor.

Oklahoma's program is at an all-time high with some of the top facilities in the country. Sampson signed his highest-rated recruiting class before he left for Indiana. The Sooners lose seniors Taj Gray, Terrell Everett and Kevin Bookout -- three of their top four scorers. But they return Michael Neal (12.4 points per game), Nate Carter (6 points) and David Godbold (5.7 points), three of the top four guards from last season's 20-9 team (11-5 in the Big 12 and a first-round loser to Wisconsin-Milwaukee in the NCAA Tournament).

Oklahoma is still waiting for an April 21 NCAA infractions hearing on rules violations from 2000-04 dealing with excessive phone calls under Sampson. The school already self-imposed penalties on Sampson (freezing his salary, no July recruiting) as well as cutting scholarships and recruiting visits from the past year.

Capel played at Duke from 1994-97 and is the son of Charlotte Bobcats assistant Jeff Capel, a former head coach at Old Dominion and North Carolina A&T.

Andy Katz is a senior writer at ESPN.com.

The Big 12 just got closer to being as good as the fans of many of its overrated schools think it is. I hate to see a Dookie have any success at anything, but the guy can coach.

In addition to being able to coach, he can also hit a running 30 footer against Carolina to send the game into double overtime and the crowd, including me, into a screaming frenzy. Best game I have ever attended. I doubt I will ever attend a better one. I saw the news and thought, "Damn, now I'm going to have root for OU to do well."

Now we're competing with VCU (who has a lot of good players returning) for a head coach. Memphis will be next to be looking.