Glad Turgeon was NOT interested and we got STUCK with Capel

[stoopified]

With the rematch vs. aTm and Turgeon coming up tonight I thought this subject was fitting.I was not overly impressed with Turgeon as a point guard at KU or a coach at Wussy State.Since Turgeon arrived at aTm he has taken a team near the top of the Big 12 and lead them to the middle of the pack.

Capel on the other hand inherited a program short on talent and in turmoil following the departue of KS and the loss of the Trampoline Three-(Reynolds,James,Mayfield),I nicknamed them The Trampoline Three because they bounced out of here so fast.Since then Capel(jeff F"ING Capel?!) has lead OU to 60 wins in less than 3 seasons and currently has OU at #2 nationally.I admit I was caught off guard when he was hired but I recall thinking I had never heard of Billy Tubbs when HE was hired ,at least I'd heard of Capel.

I don't know how long Capel will be here But I intend to enjoy the ride.As for Turgeon,I think he may well get fired before Capel leaves for a big name basketball school.

[King Crimson]

i can't imagine Turgeon ever realistically being OU's coach. any donors who were in the Tip-In Club, Tubbs era wouldn't have ever signed off on that guy. I've heard that Turgeon wasn't interested in the OU job because he thought it would cost him a shot at the pre-NC, Self losing in the first round Kansas job. and we had interest and whatever....but, i don't see it.

and just for fun, the story is we get Billy after John Thompson decides to stay at G'Town. but Big John was fairly close to taking the OU job, they say.

but, i agree. Turg is a jerkoff then and now. glad to have Capel.

[badger]

Wasn't Tubby Smith thought to be a candidate at one point?

While there were some skeptics initially, I'd have to say that Joe C. should have earned our trust by now with his recent hires, not just Bob Stoops, but in the sports we don't think of a lot. Shall we recap?

Volleyball: Santiago Restrepo
Hired in: 2004 from Southern Miss
Record: Achieved a No. 12 ranking in the nation, had two All-Americans, broke a nine-year postseason slump to advance to the Sweet 16.

Santiago was nothing short of a first-class hire for OU. After years of enduring volleyball wrath (I was a volunteer for a little pep band, which often was the only student section in the crowd), Santiago brought excitement and fan interest to a sport that isn't that strong within the state. He's also started in-state volleyball camps to rectify this situation so that hopefully, the sport will one day be the powerhouse it is in Nebraska.

Track/Cross Country: Martin Smith
Hired in: 2005 from Oregon
Record: 2007 Big 12 Track & Field and Midwest region men's Coach of the Year; helped the men win the first Big 12 Outdoor Championship title since 1978

So Oregon megabooster Phil Knight (Mr. Nike) didn't like him. Oklahoma's not used to winning in track, so who cares if he's not up to Knighty standards? We'd be happy with some improvement! That's exactly what our track and CC sports saw in recent years under Smith.


Men's Gymnastics: Mark Williams
Hired: 2000, previously an assistant in the 80s for OU
Record: Um, where to start? Four-time National Coach of the Year, four NCAA titles and three runner-up finishes in the last seven seasons. If that's not enough, Mark accompanied a certain silver and bronze medal winner (Jon Horton) to Beijing this past summer to the Olympics.

Never stop giving standing ovations to a national championship winner in the fall at the designated "honor them at football halftime" game, no matter how often it happens. Gymnastics is such a cruel sport to athletes, because... well, have you seen what they do? I only wish I could have seen Horton before he was at the Olympics a few more times. Odds are, though, there will be more Olympians down the road that come through OU.

[Sooner04]

Other than the Gene Stephenson debacle, Ca$tiglione has been on a roll. I'm still not a fan of his money-grabbing tentacles, but he's been a very good AD overall.

Now if he'd just go to work improving the golf programs I'd be very happy.

[picasso]

he's a punk. I hated him when he played at KU and I wanted to drop-kick him (which I was and still am physically capable of) when he taunted our bench as an assistant after the '07 championship.
errrr, '87 championship.

[Partial Qualifier]

before Capel leaves fo a big name basketball school.

if Capel and Coale aren't careful, they just may turn OU into a 'big name basketball school'. :eek:


;)

[Ardmore_Sooner]

Other than the Gene Stephenson debacle, Ca$tiglione has been on a roll. I'm still not a fan of his money-grabbing tentacles, but he's been a very good AD overall.

Now if he'd just go to work improving the golf programs I'd be very happy.

You forgot bring back Top Dawg.

[badger]

Ca$tiglione has been on a roll. I'm still not a fan of his money-grabbing tentacles, but he's been a very good AD overall.

Still not as bad as Poke State's Holder... as for "Ca$tiglione," I will have Mr. Period take over from here:
http://i44.tinypic.com/2w2ljrc.jpg

[cheezyq]

i can't imagine Turgeon ever realistically being OU's coach. any donors who were in the Tip-In Club, Tubbs era wouldn't have ever signed off on that guy. I've heard that Turgeon wasn't interested in the OU job because he thought it would cost him a shot at the pre-NC, Self losing in the first round Kansas job. and we had interest and whatever....but, i don't see it.

and just for fun, the story is we get Billy after John Thompson decides to stay at G'Town. but Big John was fairly close to taking the OU job, they say.

but, i agree. Turg is a jerkoff then and now. glad to have Capel.

I'm just curious how much of this is true. I haven't done the research, but Turgeon, as far as I know, was/is a pretty decent guy. As far as coaching goes, if you can get a team from a crap town like Wichita, with an angry-looking stalk of wheat as its mascot, to the NCAA, you've got to be pretty good.

My guess for the reason he didn't choose OU was probably because we were still waiting for the NCAA to rule on Sampson's infractions. Turgeon probably knew that, after leading WSU to the NCAA tourney that year, he was a pretty hot ticket and figured he should ride his momentum to a job with a more certain future ahead of it. It sucks that the school ended up being Texas A&M, but I think he'll be a darn good coach after some years.

That off-season when Sampson left, we HAD to get an "under the radar" coach. No high-profile coach would have taken the OU job, knowing we were about to face NCAA issues. The fact that Capel is here is probably more a product of coincidence than genius on Joe C's part. It's great that Joe C was able to identify him and everything, but if not for Sampson's screw up, we probably WOULD have Turgeon....or someone else. That's the semi-hilarious irony, though....Sampson left us with a bad taste in the mouth, but him putting us under NCAA scrutiny might be what forced OU to "settle" for Capel.

But, more to the point, I don't think Turgeon's a jerkoff. Maybe he is, but if he is, I don't think we should regard him that way just because he turned down OU. At the time, Texas A&M was regarded as a MUCH better opportunity than OU.

[King Crimson]

But, more to the point, I don't think Turgeon's a jerkoff. Maybe he is, but if he is, I don't think we should regard him that way just because he turned down OU.

my dislike of Turgeon is not based on him possibly turning us down--that's unimportant to me (though i would not have wanted him at the time, really). i do think he's got a chance to be a pretty good basketball coach...but that doesn't mean i like him.

[cheezyq]

my dislike of Turgeon is not based on him possibly turning us down--that's unimportant to me (though i would not have wanted him at the time, really). i do think he's got a chance to be a pretty good basketball coach...but that doesn't mean i like him.

Honestly, I didn't want him either at the time...or now. I think he'll be a pretty good coach eventually. But living in Wichita at the time, I didn't like the way his teams played. There was just something about the team that I didn't like. Besides, even if he DID turn out to be a good coach, he's been very clear that he is hoping to get the KU job at some point in his career, even after admitting he wasn't ready for the position the last time around.

Otherwise he seemed like a decent guy. He might not be, I've heard some things to the contrary. Mainly, though, I didn't see anything wrong with him turning us down, given the circumstances at the time. I always figured the NCAA issues were behind his decision, so I was just curious how much of what you mentioned was true. That's all.

[soonerfan28]

At the time, Texas A&M was regarded as a MUCH better opportunity than OU.

I don't know if that's exactly true we had 1 of the best classes coming in and even though we had the Kelvin can't put his phone down hanging over our heads I think we were further ahead then A&M.

[cheezyq]

I don't know if that's exactly true we had 1 of the best classes coming in and even though we had the Kelvin can't put his phone down hanging over our heads I think we were further ahead then A&M.

True, but from a coaching candidacy perspective, the future was much more certain with A&M than it was with OU. No coach wants to start their tenure at a new school with sanctions looming.

[stoopified]

Yeah KC I recal that story about Thompson.OU was even going to change its floor from a Taertan surface to wood for him(for the record I have no idea what type of flooer we have now).The other thing I remember about Tubbs being hired after Thompson turned OU down was Tubbs saying;I DON"T MIND BEING OU'S SECOND CHOICE,I WAS MY WIFE'S SECOND CHOICE AND WE'VE BEEN TOGETHER 20 YEARS.

cheezyg I agree with KC completelas Turgeeon has always come across as arrogant,this includes since he has been a headcoach.The arrogance he showed in publicly denying any intrest in OU was mindblowing since OU(accordint to JoeC., had no intrest in him).Joe C. says Capel was #1 on his list and there was no one else efen contacted.Personally I'm hoping for a beatdown of aTm and Turgeon the sturgeon...I mean surgeon.

[AllAboutThe'O']

Other than the Gene Stephenson debacle, Ca$tiglione has been on a roll. I'm still not a fan of his money-grabbing tentacles, but he's been a very good AD overall.

Now if he'd just go to work improving the golf programs I'd be very happy.

And Sunny has struggled with the baseball team since being given the full-time job. Agreed, the baseball situation has been the Achilles heel to what has been a near-sterling track record for Joe C. in his tenure at OU.

[stoopified]

I wanted a butt-whipping of Turgeon and The Sons of Lassie but I will settle for tearing Turgeon's heart out in a game where his team had a NINE point lead IN Norman.Boomer Sooner.

[cheezyq]

cheezyg I agree with KC completelas Turgeeon has always come across as arrogant,this includes since he has been a headcoach.The arrogance he showed in publicly denying any intrest in OU was mindblowing since OU(accordint to JoeC., had no intrest in him).Joe C. says Capel was #1 on his list and there was no one else efen contacted.Personally I'm hoping for a beatdown of aTm and Turgeon the sturgeon...I mean surgeon.

Yeah, I never cared for his team while living in Wichita, but that's partially because I hate Wichita. His teams were just boring...worse than people complained about Sampson.

I thought we had actually offered Turgeon. I don't remember. When he "turned it down", I assumed that's because he was offered. I didn't blame him, either, considering the situation. If he wasn't offered, that's a different story.

As for him being a <fill in blank here>, after tonight I'll have to say that I agree. Up until now I never viewed him as arrogant, just a goober. The whole BS with the no call on Brian Davis at the end was just stupid. If there's one thing the officials were tonight, it was blind. That was on both ends. The first one started with OU's first possession when Crocker beats a guy for the rebound and gets a foul called on him. Blake was fouled in the open court when he tried to catch an AJ pass for the breakaway. No call. Turgeon just needs to come to grips with the fact that Big 12 officiating is one of the worst in the country, rather than flail like a child when things don't go his way.

[OU1988]

We used to give Turgeon a LOT of crap from Billy's Baseline Brigade.

[stoopified]

We used to give Turgeon a LOT of crap from Billy's Baseline Brigade.Billy's Baseline Brigade?Knowing Billy I am surprised it wasn't Billy's Battling Baseline Bastids. :D