As Sooner head football coach Lincoln Riley led his team in protest of racial injustice on OU's South Oval Friday morning, former OU women's basketball guard Gioya Carter chastised head women's coach Sherri Coale on Twitter for her lack of similar leadership.
I wish I knew what it felt like to have a head coach at OU like this but instead my 4yrs there was filled with comments like. “You guys act like it happened to you.” “If y’alls long braids hits one of my players in the face” as if the ppl in braids weren’t her players. https://t.co/nU3VTVI2Q3
— Gioya Carter (@GioyaCarter25) August 28, 2020
"I wish I knew what it felt like to have a head coach at OU like this," Carter tweeted in light of Riley's leadership on Friday. "But instead my four years there (were) filled with comments like 'You guys act like it happened to you' (and) 'If y’alls long braids hits one of my players in the face' as if the people in braids weren’t her players."
Carter's comment was an obvious jab at Coale, who's coached OU since 1996 and was inducted into the Women's Basketball Hall of Fame in 2016 thanks to a 442-217 career record at the time. The OU Daily reached out to Coale for a statement but she declined to comment on the matter.
From 2013–2017, Carter played in 120 games under Coale, shooting 38.6 percent from the field and scoring 7.9 points per game in her OU career.
Following Carter's tweet, former Sooner guard T'ona Edwards and forward Ijeoma Odimgbe backed their teammate with their own criticisms of Coale.
Coach Coale: “lets just keep everything vanilla” https://t.co/V71KExdoxD
— t’ona edwards (@ttdonowrong) August 28, 2020
one thing about my sister... she never speaks anything but facts. https://t.co/skwzHXD4lK
— Ijeoma Odimgbe 🇳🇬 (@justcallme_ejay) August 28, 2020
“LEAVE YOUR STORY BETTER THAN YOU FOUND IT” — Sherri coale 😂
— t’ona edwards (@ttdonowrong) August 28, 2020
Odimgbe shot 51.6 percent from the floor from 2015–2019 under Coale's tutelage, and Edwards averaged 3 points per game for Coale's Sooners from 2013–2017, and was named the team's top defender in her senior season.
The trio played together on two of Coale's NCAA tournament teams during a decade in which the acclaimed coach led her squad to the NCAA postseason eight years in a row.
