{"id":7745,"date":"2020-02-16T14:35:38","date_gmt":"2020-02-16T20:35:38","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/fredsportsextra.com\/?p=7745"},"modified":"2021-03-17T12:35:41","modified_gmt":"2021-03-17T17:35:41","slug":"cole-and-kruger-make-big-bucks-for-not-so-great-basketball-programs","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/fredsportsextra.com\/?p=7745","title":{"rendered":"Coale and Kruger make big bucks for “not so great” basketball programs….."},"content":{"rendered":"
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Sooner women\u2019s basketball coach Sherry Cole (Dallas Morning News)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

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LACK OF BUTTS IN THE SEATS AND FAN INTEREST\u00a0<\/span><\/h3>\n

LACKING IN NORMAN<\/span><\/h3>\n

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HOUSTON, TEXAS \u2013 APRIL 01: Head coach Lon Kruger of the Oklahoma Sooners looks on during a practice session for the 2016 NCAA Men\u2019s Final Four at NRG Stadium on April 1, 2016 in Houston, Texas. (Photo by Ronald Martinez\/Getty Images)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
As of the 2019-20 college basketball season, Oklahoma men\u2019s head coach Lon Kruger\u2019s annual salary is $3.25 million dollars. On the women\u2019s side, head coach Sherri Coale\u2019s annual salary is $1.33 million dollars.\u00a0 Kruger is the 3rd highest salaried employee in the Higher Education system in the state and Coale is number seven.\u00a0 With such generous salaries, we have two basketball programs that Sooner fans should take a serious look at to determine in the OU Athletic Department is getting what they are paying for with regard to these two coaches and the sport they sit atop.\u00a0 Sure, Kruger has taken the Sooners to a Final Four, but no conference titles, and Coale was successful in her early years, putting the program on the map.\u00a0 But lately for both, it seems that OU is stuck in the mud.<\/span><\/h6>\n

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On the sidelines of an OU game is Sherry Coale (Photo source: Norman Transcript)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

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In a game last week, the OU men played a home game with fellow Big Twelve member Iowa State and one top newspaper reporter mentioned that the crowd in the Lloyd Noble was the smallest he could remember in many years.\u00a0 This is for a team that is not bad, but in reality, a little better than just average.\u00a0 As for the women\u2019s games at home, routine crowds of two to three thousand in the arena on any given night is typical for a struggling program that won only eight games in 2018-2019 and currently playing with a losing conference record. \u00a0\u00a0 These are just the facts.\u00a0 OU has not even approached the success of Kansas on the men\u2019s side and Baylor continues to dominate the Big Twelve in women\u2019s play and today the programs in Waco and Norman do not compare in success. \u00a0<\/span><\/h6>\n
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Lon Kruger (photo: Crimson and Cream Machine)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

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The basketball programs, men and women, are not making waves nationally, conference wise, and in fact, are losing money for the sports department.\u00a0 We must remember that both coaches are paid within the athletic department and receive no state funding for the salaries.\u00a0 But when will the power person in charge, Athletic Director Joe Castiglione, realize that the status-quo might not be good enough for this University? By the way, Joe C makes over $1.5 million himself.<\/span><\/h6>\n
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Sherry Cole (Photo: News6)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

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Attendance, site facility, quality of play, quality of athlete, and the importance of fan interest are all issues with the two OU hoops programs.\u00a0 This is also issues with most universities that put a ball on the hardwood for consumption.\u00a0 Yes, OU is not Kansas basketball, but can not it be better than it is now?\u00a0 HOME CROWDS AND INTEREST DRIVE COLLEGE BASKETBALL AND IN 2020 OKLAHOMA IS FAILING IN BOTH.<\/span><\/h6>\n

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OU needs to take a strong look at both basketball programs, and the continual $$$$ increases for the fans to attend games in Norman continue to rise while the stagnant programs continue to sink into mediocracy. \u00a0 Joe C, are you happy with what is taking place right now?<\/span><\/h6>\n

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That is the way I see it sports fans.<\/span><\/h6>\n
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LACK OF BUTTS IN THE SEATS AND FAN INTEREST\u00a0 LACKING IN NORMAN \u00a0 As of…<\/p>\n

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<\/div>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":7749,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[267,11,10,4,7],"tags":[127,1583,1451,577,1582,775],"class_list":["post-7745","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-college-basketball","category-college-sports","category-featured","category-home","category-latest","tag-baylor-bears","tag-joe-castiglione","tag-kansas-jaywawks","tag-lon-kruger","tag-ou-basketball","tag-sherri-coale"],"a3_pvc":{"activated":true,"total_views":2400,"today_views":0},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/fredsportsextra.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7745","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/fredsportsextra.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/fredsportsextra.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/fredsportsextra.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/fredsportsextra.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=7745"}],"version-history":[{"count":7,"href":"https:\/\/fredsportsextra.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7745\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":8615,"href":"https:\/\/fredsportsextra.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7745\/revisions\/8615"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/fredsportsextra.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/7749"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/fredsportsextra.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=7745"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/fredsportsextra.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=7745"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/fredsportsextra.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=7745"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}