Oklahoma State is only thought of as an inferior job by OU fans.

OSU does have a better tradition (OU has been good, but doesn't have the tradition, arena, facilities, etc.) and the fans live for OSU basketball. That is why when the new coach comes in, fans will be selling out GIA like they did 2 years ago. Remember, the waiting list for GIA tickets was over 2,000 strong during Eddie's years. It was nearly impossible to get season tickets.

So, yes Picker, OSU is a better overall job. OU does have a dang good young coach, though. Anyone that can recruit a kid there when they only fill 7000 seats for games is a great coach. Capel will be gone shortly.

I disagree on one of Mike's comments "it is still Oklahoma State--not Sutton State."
I think most educated fans across the state know that it is now "T Boone Pickens U".
As long as Holder is AD every decision made, every chess piece moved will be done by "Texas T" through Holder.

What? Free food at Okie State games? Which bus do I take to get down there?

OU leads the all-time series with in basketball with OSU, 123-89. This inclueds 3 out of the last 4, and 6 out of the last 8. Since 1988, OU is 23-21 versus OSU. Since 1968, OU leads 57-32. OSU has 2 national titles, and leads in final fours 6-4 overall.

By my estimation, they seem pretty equal. If you want to talk facilities, choosing GIA over LNC is probably more personal preference than anything. OU's practice facility is really nice. Don't know anything about OSU's, so I cannot comment on how those two items fare.

If you want to talk tradition, head-to-head, OU has done better. Winning championships, obviously OSU has the edge there. But I can't can't say their "edge" is all that significant, considering both teams had more national success long ago. From a more recent sampling, the teams are very even. Case in point: since 1988 (20 year sample) both teams have 2 final four apperances, and only one game separates OU from OSU head-to-head.

Location is also in the eye of the beholder. Stillwater is a little more rural setting, Norman being more suburban. I think any "edge" would have to be personal preference.

Fan-base support is no contest. But that can't be the only criteria, with the above mentioned items being so similar.

Furthermore, I think more consideration than "the program" should be given when attracting a "major coach from a major school." Becasue of how this whole Sutton family shenanigan went down, OSU will likely have to pony up some big-time cash to lure a huge name to Stillwater. In essence, they'd be overpaying an established coach of national merit to come there. There are guys who'd jump at the chance to go there who are tremendous coaches that don't already have ridiculous salaries. Name recognition should be the furthest thing from consideration. Anyone will go anywhere to coach if the price is right. I honestly feel there is more integrity in OSU hiring an up-and-comer that most of us barely recognize at a reasonable price than either a retread with camera face or a three-piece suiter like Petino, both of whom would request more pay than they'd ever be worth.

Sean Sutton was fired in part because there was little return on investment in the eyes of the AD (or Pickens, whichever stance you take). The higher the price goes, the more that becomes an issue. Getting someone of the same ilk as Jeff Capel is by no means an indication that OSU has fallen off the basketball map. It would simply mean they've done their homework, made a smart and reasonable choice, and care about restoring Cowboy basketball to its rightful place. Belive it or not, that CAN be done with a coach from Pewter State in Pennsylvania. The trick is to get the right man.

Money is a strong motivator and good recruiter. But that doesn't mean the end result will be the desired result. The mess Holder, Pickens, and to a lesser extent the Suttons have made will not be fixed with a gihuginormous contract to an overpaid big fish. Be modest and watch a hard worker pay off.

Picker, you are ALWAYS fun to read, your humor and wit is surpassed by no one. In this case, I think you have a serious moment and you right on. OSU is a great program and will land a great coach. thanks for not jumping on the OSU and Holder is stupid bandwagon!!

You guys forget OSU CREATED two of the ten greatest coaches to ever coach the game and the coach that completely changed the way coaching is done and still has influences in every great coach in the country. The two coaches that will likely be the two winningest coaches for the next twenty years both have Iba influences and are both in the Iba tree(Coach K and his mentor Bob Knight).

By the way Matthew we won our two championships immediately AFTER WWII. If you were to take out the dead spot between the two coaches the head to head would be much closer.

We were the first school to win back to back national championships. We were the first school to beat the NIT champion(it was seen as the better tournament until evidence of teams being paid-off surfaced)

The edge of history and tradition does give a slight edge to OSU. The arena and fan base are not slight edge. More national championship teams have come from that arena than any other in the country. Twice named the best arena in college sports. OSU is a great job but not better than Kansas.

World Picker:

You are a homer, you are in-state media heaping junk on local sports teams, you are part of the print media doing a hack job on some coaches, you treat schools other than OSU as second rate community colleges, and you are the master of the bastion of nonsensical blabber.
You are a fan bigot, and not in any way a neutral observer.
You are a whinning, no talent, coward who refuses to identify himself.
But, it is a blog, and not real journalism, so you are able to maintain your position.
It is likely that more folks listen to sports talk radio than read your blog. Hence your criticism of it.

OSU will certainly hire a fine basketball coach. OU will have nothing to do with it. Hopefully he will make OSU competitive again in the Big 12 as well as nationally.

You, however, will never be competitive, if at all, with anyone but us amateurs.

You should be fired, Sutton (any Sutton) should replace you.

Matthew,

How wrong your post is! If you go to the Big 12 website, OSU has finished ahead of OU twice and been tied with them 4 times. OU has placed higher 4 years. There is not alot of difference there.

Second, OU may own leads over every team but one. But how many players are NBA players? How many finals fours and national championships have they won?

Do you consdier Kelvin's cheating years towards your OU finishing ahead? I do, and they don't count to me.

Say what you want, but NO ONE outside of Norman thinks that OU has more basketball tradition then OSU.

They don't have the fans. They don't have the tradition. They don't have the arena. They don't have the history. They don't have the successful NBA players.

Nothing.

OU is a good program, but head-to-head series doesnt matter. The most tradition rich programs in the Big 12 are KU and OSU. Anyone on ESPN could tell you that.

What do you mean head-to-head doesn't matter? That's the method most often used to decide which team is better than the other. It's the ultimate tie breaker.

Is it ALL that goes into defining tradition? Certainly not. But one should not ignore it, or they do so while wearing seriously tinted glasses.

Arenas: OSU fan will never, ever believe LNC is in the same ballpark with GIA. OU fan looks at GIA and says, "Yeah, so?" It depends upon who you ask which one is better. GIA is louder - more fans in a relatively small place, stacked on top of each other. LNC is more comfortable to watch a game. GIA has students behind the goals, making shooting difficult. LNC has a poor shooting background if you're not used to it, as there aren't many arenas with mezzanine levels in direct line of the goal from a free throw shooter's point of view. Again, arena preference is all about which team you like. i've been to both, and both have their pros and cons.

Championships: OSU fan tells OU fan all the time that football championships in the 50s are not of much use now. Wouldn't the same argument be true for OSU's basketball championships? Or are we having cake and eating it too?

Bottom line: there's no writing on any wall that says Oklahoma State basketball is in the upper echelon of college basketball. Could it be? Sure. Is it right now? Nope, and hasn't been for a while. Random final fours in the last twenty years (two by both) don't mean you're a basketball powerhouse. To say the two programs have been equals in the last twenty years is more than fair, no matter which you root for.

BTW, number of NBA players has nothing to do with school tradition. This is evidenced by all the high schoolers in the NBA right now. Before the rule was made for age limits on NBA rookies, college basketball was for those not good enough to make the jump straight to the Association. Kind of like the minor leagues in baseball. And since you want to talk about the players in the NBA and compare the two schools' success in that area, why don't you start by listing Cowboys currently or in the past who play/played in the NBA? The condition to this is that only players in the NBA AFTER the NBA/ABA merger count, as before that, records for ABA players may be hard to validate. So, go ahead.

It's a safe bet OSU hires a bigger name than Capel was.

The NBA team in OKC is a big deal concerning the future.....let's see, who do you want to see tonight, Kobe or Iowa State?

Doesn't Oklahoma State have a history of out-drawning OU for hoops?

And I jsut used the ESPN sentence to say that I could bet you that college basketball writers from ANY sports network would say GIA is a better venue then LNC.

And that OSU has more tradition then OU.

But, I will tell you that OU is a good, solid program. Just doesnt have the overall rep that OSU has. Probably because of football, that has maybe hurt OU's basketball rep.

Looks like it slipped passed the great Tulsa World "journalists" that Adarius Bowman was arrested on Tuesday.
Great job of covering the news.