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OU Gets Coach, Now Looking for Fans
Published: 4/5/2011 10:11 AM
Last Modified: 4/5/2011 10:11 AM

Oklahoma athletic director Joe Castiglione mentioned how much the Sooners need basketball fans at Monday’s press conference introducing Lon Kruger as coach.
Not once. Several times.
Kruger repeated several times how much the Sooners need fans, the band, cheerleaders, everything to make the program good again.
OU President David Boren repeated that fans, students and everyone associated with basketball has to help.
The reason? It isn’t easy in today’s world to attract fans to college basketball games.
If you win, that fixes much of it.
But, it takes more than winning.
Oklahoma and Oklahoma State both face a new and difficult challenge with the Oklahoma City Thunder.
Unless the Sooners and Cowboys are very good, competing with the Thunder and the NBA is a no-win situation for the college teams.
In addition, there is the cost of tickets. OSU has already addressed it by reducing prices. Surely, OU will follow.
And, OU and OSU will have to do whatever it can to make games an attractive event. Money is tight and college basketball needs to be a family-friendly event in both the entertainment provided and the cost.
OU officials said more than once that everything from marketing to finding fan-friendly ideas will be examined in an effort to make Sooner basketball important again.
Yes, winning is important. But, in today’s world with so many alternatives for the entertainment dollar, OU and OSU basketball have to become more competitive for fans.



Reader Comments 3 Total
Dr. Strangelove (last year)
Start selling beer at the games....
DomoArrigato (last year)
Build a quality "product" on the court for the fans, and they will come....
lovethemsooners (last year)
There's no shame in being a "football school".
3 comments displayed


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Klein's Korner

Tulsa World senior sports columnist John Klein is in his fourth decade of covering sports. He started his newspaper career at The Daily Ardmoreite in 1977 and moved to the Tulsa World in 1978. He served 10 years as sports editor for the Tulsa World before being named to his current position in 2005. He also spent five years as the Southwest Conference beat writer for the Houston Post. He has won many writing awards and is a former Oklahoma Sports Writer of the Year.

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