Does anybody remember when Kelvin Sampson first arrived?
I do, and he was all about drumming up interest, creating atmosphere and becoming the cheerful everybody’s-invited face of the program.
After Sampson dropped anchor in Norman, they found ways to put students on the floor, turn up the volume and create a new excitement. My memory tells me they pulled it off until Oklahoma lost one-too-many first-round tourney games and the split was born — the Sampson bashers over here and the swear-by-Sampson-ites over there … and never the two shall meet.
It’s been a long time since there was much buzz for the men’s tenant at Lloyd Noble Center. There’s been buzz for this game (Bedlam) or that game (Texas), but the last time it was season-long there was Hollis Price to thank, and the last time folks really got pumped because basketball was around the corner Sampson was still playing ambassador every bit as much as he was the coach.
A very long time ago.
I have no idea who’s next, though I get a kick out of the odd television poll that has viewers voting for Sherri Coale, because I think she could pull it off and, wow, what a story it would be.
But why would she want to kill herself to win 20 games next season when she’s bound to win another 30 with the team she’s got? And the there’s the problem of the job being offered in the first place.
But Coale remains a fair blueprint for what needs to happen across the hall of Lloyd Noble’s Center’s recent and swanky men-on-this-side, women-on-this-side expansion.
The men need a charisma transplant.
The face of their program needs to be out front, driving the bus and asking everybody to hop on. He doesn’t need to be down there in the bunker cursing all the fabricated SOB’s that never gave his program a chance in the first place.
After his honeymoon, even when he was winning big, Sampson always looked like he was trying to get even. With who is anybody’s guess, but he was always defending himself and his team for slights real and, more frequently, imagined.
It was not the face of a program you’d drive through a blizzard to cheer home to victory. And the Sooners need to find that guy, and that guy needs to know how to win and run a half-court offense — two things, it turns out, that don’t always go together.
And that’s just the start.
David Boren, Joe Castiglione, the ticket manager, whoever runs things down there, should start over with the fan base.
What fan base? Exactly.
Just kick the donors who show up a couple of times a month out of the building. Just do it, already. You’ll inspire more where they came from with your new exciting product and you’ll make room for the real fans in the process.
Heck, even when they’re there, they’re telling everybody to sit down.
And quit screwing the students. Two sections that go all the way to the top? Ridiculous. Give them an entire side of the arena and give them as many rows as they need. After a while, they’ll start shuffling Top Dog from the arena floor up to the concourse like they did in the good old days.
Oh, yeah. Bring back Top Dog.
Just go find the right guy, blow it up and start over.
Make it exciting again.
It’s not that hard.
Clay Horning366-3526cfhorning@normantranscript.com
OU Sports
Related Photos
Discussion
Put some buzz back in the building
Commentary
- OU Sports
-
-
Schedule easing up for Sooners
For some time, the Oklahoma women have been done no favors by their schedule. That may still be the case, but not for much longer....
-
Sooners using roller-coaster season as motivation
Oklahoma’s women’s gymnastics team has been anything but consistent. After dominating its season opener, the Sooners fell to No. 7 Oregon State and No. 9 Nebraska before trouncing then-No. 2 Arkansas....
-
Sooners open season with World Series aspirations
The Sooners haven’t even taken the field yet, but there is already talk of a national championship floating around the Oklahoma locker room. The Sooners will take the first step toward that goal when they open the season at 1:15 p.m. ...
-
Sooners have to eliminate mistakes that are costing them wins
It was a typical practice for Oklahoma on Thursday. The long workout had a lot of energy and precision. It mirrored many it has had over the last three months....
-
Move to Big 12 is chance at stability
Maybe this Internet thing’s really going to make it after all. Maybe even as a news source....
-
Sooners struggling to make climb
Oklahoma left the Lloyd Noble Center floor feeling an emotion that has become far too common on Monday. The 71-68 loss to Missouri was another tough loss in a season that’s getting tougher every day....
-
Sooners quartet needs help from teammates
How well did Oklahoma play Monday night? So well, even after missing 14 of 23 free throws, Steven Pledger, one of the nation’s best sharpshooters, had an open 3 to send the Sooners into overtime against No. 4 Missouri....
-
Sooners good enough everywhere but the free throw line
Steven Pledger sank to the floor with his face in his hands as the buzzer sounded. He couldn’t believe the 3-pointer he took with about 1 second remaining didn’t go through the net. It wasn’t the only thing running through his mind after ...
-
Last season ended in first trip to College Word Series since 2004
Hunger. Passion. Those were the two words most often repeated at the Oklahoma softball squad’s Media Day on Monday. And it’s those two traits that the Sooners are bringing to the 2012 season, which kicks off on Friday....
-
Campbell has another big night when Sooners needed her to step up
Scoring Oklahoma’s last nine points in a narrow victory over Texas Tech, freshman Sharane Campbell had been instrumental in front of the home crowd in one victory already this season....
- More OU Sports Headlines
-
Schedule easing up for Sooners
