Oklahoma hiring Drake’s Jennie Baranczyk as new head women’s basketball coach

Oklahoma is hiring Drake’s Jennie Baranczyk as the new head coach of the Sooners women’s basketball.

A little over three weeks after long-time Oklahoma women’s basketball coach Sherri Coale announced her retirement, the Sooners have found her replacement.

Former Drake head coach Jennie Baranczyk was officially announced as the new leader of the program on Saturday in an official release.

At just 39 years old, Baranczyk built Drake into one of the very best programs in the Missouri Valley Conference, winning the league in 2017, 2018 and 2019. She was also named the coach of the year in the conference in both 2017 and 2018. She previously spent time at Kansas State, Marquette and Colorado as an assistant before taking over with the Bulldogs in 2012.

“It is an honor and a privilege to be named the next head coach for the University of Oklahoma’s women’s basketball program and follow the highly successful and much-admired Sherri Coale,” said Baranczyk in the release. “My coaching philosophy is based upon the most powerful human emotion to me and that is love. The players who put on this jersey must love the game, love to compete and love OU.

“We are going to compete at the highest level on the court and in the classroom. We will play hard, play together and be fun to watch. I’m looking forward to being at Oklahoma where there are amazing people and where we can – and will – compete for championships.”

As a player, Baranczyk (then by the name of Jennie Lillis) was one of the elite players in the history of the Iowa Hawkeyes. From 2000-2004, she was an all-Big Ten selection three times and graduated as the only player in program history inside the top 10 in all five categories of points, rebounds, assists, blocks and steals.

Now, she takes over the helm for the legendary Coale to try and get Oklahoma women’s basketball back to prestige it once had. Athletic director Joe Castiglione released a statement on the new hire:

“This is a truly exciting day for our university and athletics department, as we welcome Jennie Baranczyk as our new head women’s basketball coach,” said Castiglione. “Her track record of overseeing creative and effective offenses, and producing high win totals, conference championships and postseason appearances during her time at Drake certainly appealed to our search committee as it evaluated the very competitive candidate pool. But her mastery of the head coaching role extends far beyond the court, and it’s clear that her personal and professional values align with ours.

“Jennie prioritizes the overall well-being of everyone in her program, is passionate about empowering her student-athletes and recognizes that a program is only as good as its people. She is family-oriented and community-minded, both of which will help her generate enthusiasm among our fans and as she works to return our program to Big 12 and national prominence. We are thrilled that she and her husband Scott and kids Eli, Jordi and Hope have joined the OU family, and we are so eager for their arrival in Norman.”

University of Oklahoma President Joseph Harroz Jr. also offered some words on the hire:

“We’re thrilled to have Coach Baranczyk join the Sooner Nation,” said OU President Joseph Harroz Jr. “Her enthusiastic coaching style fits perfectly in our culture and her track record of excellence will serve our student-athletes and our program well into the future. The Baranczyks will make a wonderful addition to our OU family.”

An offseason of change for both Oklahoma basketball programs is starting to have both teams take more shape, as they now each have their new head coaches after Porter Moser was named the new leader of the men’s team a week ago.