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Friday, April 04, 2008

Sean Sutton and Oklahoma State

Sean Sutton, the basketball coach at Oklahoma State, has been asked to leave after two years of a five year contract. Mike Holder, the athletic director who is essentially controlled by Boone Pickens, apparently had differences with Sean and wanted him replaced. Someone has suggested that Bill Self, the basketball coach at Kansas and an Oklahoma State alumnus, would return to his alma mater for the right amount of money, but that idea won’t go anywhere. Bill Self says he is happy at Kansas and will probably get a substantial pay increase after the NCAA tournament ends.

At $750,000 a year, it seems as though Sean will be leaving Oklahoma State with $2,250,000, the amount of money remaining on his contract. He wouldn’t have to work at all with that kind of money, but he probably will find a more responsive program to his kind of coaching. If Sean had been given a chance, he would have done good things with his team next year. Oklahoma State was one of the few schools to beat Kansas during this past season. Things were looking up for the program.

I wish Sean all the best. It would be great if his players were to go elsewhere next year and let Oklahoma State flounder, just to prove to Mike Holder the folly of his ways. The players have said they will stay, however. It's possible that the Oklahoma State team will encounter Sean Sutton again at some point next year; that pair off would be as enjoyable as seeing Bill Self face Roy Williams on Saturday.

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