Wheeler: Jayhawks know how to treat coaches

Self knows Perkins has his back

After the Oklahoma State coach's resignation, KU is reminded that it treats all coaches with respect, not just its own.

By Bryan Wheeler (Contact)

Friday, April 11th, 2008

It started with rumors. T. Boone Pickens, a wealthy oil tycoon and Oklahoma State alumnus was to offer coach Bill Self a huge chunk of money to come to Stillwater and coach after this season.

Then reality hit. On April 1, Oklahoma State’s coach Sean Sutton resigned under pressure two years and 39 wins into his five-year coaching contract with the Cowboys. When Bill Self was told of Sutton’s resignation, it seemed like a cruel April Fool’s Day joke. Self, then in the midst of a press conference for the Final Four was taken by surprise.

“I haven’t heard that it’s happened,” he said.

A reporter then notified him that it had happened.

“It has happened?” Self questioned. “Well, I hadn’t heard that when I came down here. If it has been done, I feel bad for Sean, because I feel his team got better over the course of the year.”

There was no press conference in which Sutton announced his resignation. After 17 years and 387 combined victories as a player, assistant coach and head coach, all Oklahoma State did was issue a press release saying that athletic director Mike Holder and Sutton agreed that it was in the best interests for the university that he step down. The press release ended saying that Holder would begin a search for a new coach right away.

Sean Sutton’s father, Eddie, who led Oklahoma State to two Final Fours and 351 victories, was disappointed. While in San Antonio for the National Championship on Monday, Sutton told the Austin American-Statesman that he was considering having his signature removed from Gallagher-Iba Arena court as a result of his son being ousted from the coaching job at Oklahoma State.

There you have it folks. Oklahoma State was so desperate to get Bill Self that it risked ruining ties to a legendary coach that brought national recognition to its basketball program.

To make matters worse, Oklahoma State reached a settlement with Sutton that would pay him $2.7 million over the next 10 years. Another stipulation of the settlement noted in an Associated Press article on Monday was that Sutton agreed not to make any “disparaging remarks” about the “university’s board of regents, the university or any officers, employees or agents of the regents or university.”

Does that sound like a bad breakup, or what?

At this point in time, the Sutton family may look more fondly upon the Jayhawks. It was just last season when Eddie Sutton was honored during a halftime ceremony at Allen Fieldhouse. It was also on Senior Night in 2003 that Sutton congratulated and embraced Kirk Hinrich and Nick Collison. Though Eddie Sutton never coached for Kansas, the Jayhawks have shown him class and respect, while Oklahoma State kicked his son to the curb.

After the events this past week, Self knows Lou Perkins has his back. There were the tough times after losing to Bucknell and Bradley in the tournament when things looked bleak. Perkins had Self’s back. Now Self has won a National Championship and has the highest winning percentage of any coach in Kansas Basketball history. Perkins delivered.

79-year-old billionaire Pickens and Oklahoma State cannot give Self what Kansas and Perkins did today. Given the outcome of Sean Sutton at Oklahoma State, money was the last of Self’s concerns. He deserved a contract, but also a chance to go down as one of the all-time greatest college basketball coaches.

—Edited by Jared Duncan

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