Big Ben's little sis commits to OU

[#1-Erin-Higgins-Fan]

Carlee Roethlisberger orally committed to play basketball for the Sooners yesterday.

http://sports.espn.go.com/ncw/news/story?id=2494569

[Gandalf_The_Grey]

Sweet we are going to have to get a celebrity section for our girl's games...Hakeem can sit with Ben ;)

[#1-Erin-Higgins-Fan]

:D

[soonerdave79]

Now that Ben and Hakeem are going to be there, Toby Keith will probably start watching the ladies play, too. Take that Lakers!

[Jeopardude]

Hope big bro doesn't give her a ride to the games on the crotchrocket.

[stoopified]

Hope big bro doesn't give her a ride to the games on the crotchrocket. Word!!

[Sooner24]

http://www.post-gazette.com/images3/20050115TBlade_AM_family_450.jpg

Carlee Roethlisberger, left, with parents Ken and Brenda, and a photo of their son Ben, quarterback of the Pittsburgh Steelers, in their Findlay home.

[GrapevineSooner]

Any other women's high school basketball players with relatives who played in the NFL that we can recruit?

[#1-Erin-Higgins-Fan]

That pic is a little old. Here is what she looks like now.

[jccouger]

I'd beat.

[AllAboutThe'O']

Any other women's high school basketball players with relatives who played in the NFL that we can recruit?
Too bad Archie Manning doesn't have any daughters.
So when the Sooners make the Final Four two years from now, will we start pools on how many times the ESPN cameras point out Big Ben, Big Bubba and the Dream sitting in the stands?

[AllAboutThe'O']

Now that Ben and Hakeem are going to be there, Toby Keith will probably start watching the ladies play, too. Take that Lakers!
Toby Keith was there for the white-out game with Baylor.

[Gandalf_The_Grey]

I sense a new drinking game just for girl basketball games ;)

[Rock Hard Corn Frog]

I'll make sure she wears a helmet. :D

[oumartin]

I'll make sure I wear a helmet.

Dude, is she even legal age yet? :eek:

[IronSooner]

Hot enough to make our starting 5?

[AllAboutThe'O']

Hot enough to make our starting 5?
Well, the hotness quotient will be a bit lower after next year when Leah, Higgy, Chelsi, Krista, Kendra and Britney depart.

[badger]

at least everybody will not murder her last name ;)

[jkm, the stolen pifwafwi]

Well, the hotness quotient will be a bit lower after next year when Leah, Higgy, Chelsi, Krista, Kendra and Britney depart.

they are going to be short on guards it looks like...

[Frozen Sooner]

True. Jenna Plumley is only like 5'1". ;)

And this sucks, because I can no longer hate the brother for his ******* comments about Jason White and the Heisman.

[badger]

True. Jenna Plumley is only like 5'1". ;)

And this sucks, because I can no longer hate the brother for his ******* comments about Jason White and the Heisman.
there's plenty to hate about him -- the motorcycle thing without a helmet, the super bowl win if you're not a steelers fan, the jason white comments...

go ahead and hate -- it's not like grew blond hair and signed with the ou women's basketball team here, we are talking about his sister, not him.

I mean, you don't have to like Bubba Paris either (although from the hundred times he had to put up with a camera in his face, he seemed quite likable) or Hakeem Olajuwon (I probably spelled that wronk).However, you must admit that it is semi-kewl that we are signing players related to them.

If you're really upset, just start a "fire calvin simpson" thread. :D

[Rock Hard Corn Frog]

Just think how nervous the NHL would get if anyone in that family could play hockey. They could run out of room on the Stanley Cup.

[AllAboutThe'O']

there's plenty to hate about him -- the motorcycle thing without a helmet, the super bowl win if you're not a steelers fan, the jason white comments...

go ahead and hate -- it's not like grew blond hair and signed with the ou women's basketball team here, we are talking about his sister, not him.

I mean, you don't have to like Bubba Paris either (although from the hundred times he had to put up with a camera in his face, he seemed quite likable) or Hakeem Olajuwon (I probably spelled that wronk).However, you must admit that it is semi-kewl that we are signing players related to them.

If you're really upset, just start a "fire calvin simpson" thread. :D
Good point. I hated those 49er teams Bubba was on from the late '80s/early '90s and I despised Hakeem when he played at the University of Houston but it didn't stop me from rooting for their daughters (well, until Abi starts playing for the Sooners).
I hate the Steelers and I started to get some hate on for Big Ben well before the accident. Probably a bit of resentment that in just two years he won a Super Bowl while it's taken other great quarterbacks longer to win one (and in some quarterbacks' cases, never) and he's already achieved unbelievable success. Sort of the "too-much too-soon" thing that I hate with most pro athletes, because the media talks way too much about them after that and sometimes they start to believe their own hype.
But it won't stop me from cheering for his sister.

[badger]

woot for new sooner celebrities!
http://img48.imageshack.us/img48/4497/sooncelebs4ti.jpg
okay, so bad fark job on my part. rock the fock anyways. :)

[GDC]

Could Coale be in line for big pay raise?
By DAVE SITTLER World Sports Writer
6/28/2006

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The potential for an intriguing local twist was created a few weeks ago when Tennessee made Pat Summitt the first person in this country to earn $1 million a season to coach a women's college sport.

Summitt's new deal ($1.125 million) to coach basketball makes her the second-highest paid employee in the Volunteers' athletic department. While she trails football coach Phil Fulmer ($2.05 million), Summitt now makes more than men's basketball coach Bruce Pearl ($1.1 million).

A similar situation could soon develop at Oklahoma. And it will be extremely interesting to see how the Sooners handle it.

Like Tennessee (and several other universities), the OU football coach will always make the most money -- especially if that coach is Bob Stoops, who already makes more than $2 million a year and will collect a $3 million bonus just for hanging around through the 2008 season.

If Stoops continues to win big (and he will), the day isn't far off that OU will need to pay him $3 million a season to keep him. And the administration will do it because it knows Stoops is worth every penny of the millions he generates to pay for football and several other Sooner athletic teams.

But will OU's board of regents ever follow Tennessee's lead and

agree to pay women's basketball coach Sherri Coale more than whoever is coaching the men's hoops team?

If you base Coale's salary on accomplishments, she should already be making more than new men's coach Jeff Capel. But she doesn't.

Hired in May to replace Kelvin Sampson, Capel's five-year deal calls for him to make a guaranteed $650,000. He could make another $200,000 in bonus money if he reaches certain goals.

OU athletic director Joe Castiglione confirmed Coale is paid $500,000 per season. Her contract also has incentives, but her potential earning power isn't the same as Capel's.

Castiglione also confirmed football and men's basketball remain the only two OU teams that turn a profit. So that's one justification for paying the men's basketball coach more than the women's, even though Capel has yet to win a game at OU and Coale has taken her Sooners to one Final Four and could make it two next March.

If Coale's 2006-07 team is as good as everyone believes it will be, the day might not be far off that OU women's basketball is also a moneymaker.

By the end of last season, Coale's team was drawing larger home crowds than Sampson's. The same thing could happen next season, when Capel could struggle because of the mess Sampson left him, while budding superstar Courtney Paris could alone be enough to sell out the Lloyd Nobel Center for many women's games.

The OU women sold a record 4,131 season tickets last season. Much of that interest was based on the excitement surrounding Paris, who was an incoming freshman. With Paris and the other four starters returning from a team that went 31-5 last season, Coale expects tickets sales for next season to go well past 5,000.

"I get stopped at all kinds of places by people asking me if they can still get tickets," Coale said. "Those half-court (seats) four rows up have been gone for quite a while. And the others are going fast. It's been a frenzy."

The ticket-buying frenzy is understandable. OU became the first women's basketball team in Big 12 history to go through the league season undefeated. The Sooners also swept three games to win the Big 12 Tournament title as part of a 19-game winning streak.

The Sooners have five high-profile freshmen recruits coming in to add depth to those five returning starters. One of returning nonstarters is Paris' twin sister, Ashley, who Coale said has made the most off-season improvement.

OU's run last season ended with a Sweet Sixteen loss to Stanford. After finishing No. 7 in the final Associated Press poll, the Sooners are expected to be a preseason favorite to return to the Final Four for the first time since they advanced to the 2002 national championship game.

Coale is the unquestioned linchpin behind all this success. Since her arrival in 1996, she has turned the OU program into a national power that runs in the same circles with such schools as Tennessee and Connecticut.

She is also a popular and terrific ambassador for the school. Coale received the loudest ovation when the coaches (Stoops included) were introduced to 800 OU fans during the Sooner Caravan's recent stop in Tulsa.

UConn coach Geno Auriemma will become the second million-dollar women's coach when the five-year, $4.85 million deal he signed in 2005 is scheduled to pay him $1.05 million for the 2007-08 season.

Summitt and Auriemma have been at it longer than Coale. Summitt has 913 wins and six national titles in 32 seasons, while Auriemma has 589 wins and five national championships in 22 seasons.

"You're talking about extraordinary achievement over a long, long period of time," Castiglione said of Summitt and Auriemma entering the million-dollar club.

Asked if he could see the day he'd recommend Coale be paid $1 million, Castiglione said, "I hope so. A lot of people would say 'Gosh, I hope not.' That's OK, if you want a program that has 200 people coming to the games.

"But it ($1 million salary) would mean that our program has consistently been competing for and winning national championships, that our arena is full and the demand for tickets is high."

Coale has already met two of those three requirements. And she'll have a shot next season at reaching the third, a national championship.

If she does, will OU pay her more than Capel if he has a mediocre season? That's an intriguing question, which could become a lot more interesting by the end of 2007's March Madness..

[badger]

as someone who keeps track of OU affairs for some odd reason that I probably should not say, Coach Coale will be receiving a raise and you should definitely check around the web tomorrow to find out what the raise is. :D

hint: she wasn't the only one with a successful season. I would say that there were at least five other teams that saw a lot of success this past year.

[GDC]

as someone who keeps track of OU affairs for some odd reason that I probably should not say, Coach Coale will be receiving a raise and you should definitely check around the web tomorrow to find out what the raise is. :D

hint: she wasn't the only one with a successful season. I would say that there were at least five other teams that saw a lot of success this past year..



Six OU coaches may receive raise
By APRIL MARCISZEWSKI World Staff Writer
6/29/2006

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ARDMORE -- University of Oklahoma women's basketball coach Sherri Coale would receive an extra $50,000 a year in private money for "personal services" under contract changes approved Wednesday by OU's board of regents.

The board approved raises and extensions for Coale and five other coaches. The changes are pending final negotiations.

Athletic director Joe Castiglione said the raises and other changes "reflect the appreciation, the respect, the high performance and the marketplace conditions" for the coaches.

"We're very fortunate to have them all," he said.

OU's athletic department supports itself financially and even subsidizes academic programs, unlike at other universities, President David Boren said.

He said he thinks Castiglione keeps coaches' salaries reasonable but also competitive in the market. The university would not want to lose its coaches, Boren said.


Regents voted to extend Coale's contract by one year to July 1, 2011. If she stays that long, she will receive an extra $200,000 in private money. Also among the contract changes, her personal services compensation would rise to $340,000.


Women's softball coach Patty Gasso's contract would lengthen three years

to July 1, 2010, and her base pay would increase $4,000 to $110,100 a year. She also would receive an extra $2,000, for a total of $12,000, for personal services and $40,000 if she remains as head coach through June 30, 2010.


The board approved extending baseball coach Sunny Golloway's contract by one year to July 1, 2010, increasing his base pay by $4,000 to $110,000 a year and increasing his pay for personal services by $10,000 to $70,000.


Men's golf coach James Ragan's contact would last four more years, through July 1, 2010, he would be paid $5,000 more a year for a total of $90,300, and he would earn $18,000, which is $5,000 more, for personal services.


Wrestling coach John R. Spates would have three years added to his contract, extending it to July 1, 2009. He would be paid $7,200 more for a salary of $92,500 and be paid an extra $30,000 if he remains as head coach through his contract term.


Regents voted to extend men's gymnastics coach Mark Williams' contract by two years to July 1, 2008, and to increase his annual salary by $7,000 to $85,000.

[badger]

hmm... I was thinking more along the lines of this:

The Norman Transcript

ARDMORE — When University of Oklahoma sports have successful seasons, fans and even the Regents tend to notice.

The Oklahoma Regents approved extensions, deferred compensation, base salary and/or compensation increases for six head coaches Wednesday. These coaches include Sherri Coale (women’s basketball), Jack Spates (wrestling), Mark Williams (men’s gymnastics), Sunny Golloway (baseball), Patty Gasso (softball) and James Ragan (men’s golf).

Joe Castiglione, OU director of athletics, said the coaches’ performances merited the pay increases and extensions.

“These are contracts that are multi-year that reflect the appreciation, respect and high performance of these coaches,” Castiglione said. “Each of these coaches had outstanding years and we are very fortunate to have all of them in our Sooner family.”

Achievements during the past year for these sports include a third straight national championship for gymnastics, a third-place NCAA tournament finish for the wrestling team, a Big 12 regular-season and tournament championship, as well as a Sweet Sixteen appearance for the women’s basketball team, postseason appearances for both the baseball and softball teams and a first-ever Big 12 championship for the men’s golf team.

OU president David Boren said OU has a unique situation with its athletic department, where athletics contributes close to $1 million to academics. He said based on the support athletics gives the university, OU must stay competitive with coaching.

“We cannot control the market of sports,” Boren said. “We want to be sure we keep with the market and keep the best. We want to keep our programs very strong.”

Boren said the salary increases reflect both the market and team performances. The following is a list of the approved changes to coaching contracts by the Regents:

• Sherri Coale, women’s basketball: $50,000 personal service income increase ($290,000 to $340,000); $200,000 additional deferred compensation if she stays through the end of her contract; One-year contract extension (through July 1, 2011)

• Patty Gasso, softball: $4,000 base salary increase ($106,100 to $110,100); $2,000 personal service income increase ($10,000 to $12,000); $40,000 additional deferred compensation if she stays through the end of her contract; three-year contract extension (through July 1, 2010)

• Sunny Golloway, baseball: $4,000 base salary increase ($106,000 to $110,000); $10,000 personal service income increase ($60,000 to $70,000); one-year contract extension (through July 1, 2010)

• James Ragan, men’s golf: $5,000 base salary increase ($85,300 to $90,300); $5,000 personal service income increase ($13,000 to $18,000); four-year contract extension (through July 1, 2010)

• Jack Spates, wrestling: $7,200 base salary increase ($85,300 to $92,500); $30,000 additional deferred compensation if Spates stays through the end of his contract; three-year contract extension (through July 1, 2009)

• Mark Williams, men’s gymnastics: $7,000 base salary increase ($78,000 to $85,000); two-year contract extension (through July 1, 2008)
Heh. :D