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The Oklahoma Sooners recently received news that current men’s basketball coach Lon Kruger would follow Sherri Coale‘s lead and retire from coaching.
Oklahoma Sooners athletic director Joe Castiglione now has his hands full with replacing both head coaches for the school’s basketball programs. Kruger took over the men’s program after leaving UNLV. Kruger’s son is now taking over the program that his father left following the 2010 season. Lon finished his OU career with a loss in the second round of the 2021 NCAA Tournament against No. 1 seeded Gonzaga.
Coale retired after taking over the head coaching gig in 1996. She finished with 513 wins and 294 losses during her 25-year stint. The last three seasons haven’t exactly been what they had come to know, as they were in the NCAA tournament every year from 1999-2018. This included three Final Four appearances and one year finishing as the runner-up.
While Oklahoma is looking to replace their coaches, their biggest rivals could be looking to replace their men’s head coach. Texas Longhorns’ Shaka Smart has come under fire recently with yet another one and done in the annual tournament. Despite the fact that he won the Big 12 Conference tournament. However, they aren’t going to hire a new coach for the reason that many think. Smart is close to leaving Austin according to CBS Sports’ Jon Rothstein.
Sources: Marquette will hire Texas' Shaka Smart as its next head basketball coach.https://t.co/ldBUWWHK90
— Jon Rothstein (@JonRothstein) March 26, 2021
The Red River Rivalry will have new coaches on both benches in 2021.