It is rare to find sustained success in college athletics today. With students staying for four years at the most and coaches always chasing a better job or bigger paycheck, it is almost impossible to be a national title contender year in and out.
Just look at OU’s major teams’ seasons for example.
The football team, after making a national championship appearance during the 2008 season, was unable to withstand a barrage of injuries to key players in 2009 and finished the season in the Sun Bowl.
The men’s basketball team backed up its Elite Eight run in 2009 by missing the post season entirely in 2010 after playing without National Player of the Year Blake Griffin, who left for the NBA and pre-season All-American Willie Warren, who missed half the season due to injury.
Then there is the women’s basketball team, who finished last season in the Final Four, lost the Paris twins to graduation and the 2009 Big 12 freshman of the Year Whitney Hand to injury and ended the season … well, they turned out OK, actually.
It is interesting that the women’s basketball team, who dealt with just as much adversity as other Sooner squads, was able to make it back to the Final Four this year.
The answer to the team's success may have been revealed the post-game press conference following OU’s loss to Stanford on Sunday night.
While the Sooners exceeded most everyone’s expectations this season, they did not talk about their success after the game, but rather discussed the disappointment of not getting a chance to play for a national championship.
This team really believed it could be Stanford, who many thought was women’s basketball clear-cut second-best team in the country. Even when the Sooners were down by 18 in the second half against the Cardinal, they expected to win.
The way the players spoke after the game, they sounded like they honestly thought they would have had a chance at taking down unbeatable Connecticut, too, if they had gotten past Stanford.
It is cliché, but it has to be that belief and that confidence in teammates that took OU so far this season. No one had high expectations for this year’s women except for the women themselves. When they faced adversity, though, that confidence is what was able to push them through.
When the football team faced adversity this year, it consistently came up a few points short of victory. When the men’s basketball team was not living up to expectations, it crumbled.
But when the women were up against the wall this season, they continually found ways to win. Their success speaks to how important team camaraderie can be. Players can have abundant confidence in themselves, but until they trust their teammates, success is hard to find.
That is what women’s head coach Sherri Coale has consistently created in Norman, regardless of her players. Media and fans were unsure what to expect in the post-Paris era, but the Sooners have shown while parts may change, the results do not.
Coale continually puts together teams of talented players who honestly believe not just in themselves, but in their team. And that may just be the elusive secret to consistent success in college athletics.
The Oklahoma Daily is pleased to provide you the opportunity to share your thoughts about this article. We encourage lively debate on the issues of the day, but we ask you refrain from using profanity or other offensive speech, engaging in personal attacks or name-calling, posting advertising, or straying from the topic at hand. To comment, you must be a registered user of OUDaily.com. Thanks for taking the time to offer your thoughts.
You must be logged in to leave a comment. Log in | Register
sooner12 2 years, 1 month ago
I really like this article. I just wish more people at OU cared more about women's basketball.
matthewmurrayday 2 years, 1 month ago
Coale is a good coach, but her players are USELESS. They play for a useless athletic program at a university that doesn't care about academics. Regardless of stature, the athletes here at OU are WORTHLESS and IRRELEVANT. I don't care that they got to a Final Four. They cheat worse than Arizona State, worse than SMU, and worse than the sleaziest of the sleazy sports teams.
I hope football, men's basketball, and women's basketball lose ALL of their games over the next 12 months; they won't contend for anything for the next 50 years.