Porter Moser returning as OU basketball coach for next season. Sooners AD explains why
NASHVILLE — Porter Moser will return for a sixth season as head coach at Oklahoma .
Sooners athletic director Roger Denny made the decision on Wednesday before the SEC Tournament began, he told The Oklahoman . Denny informed Moser of the news Saturday morning.
“(This decision) is really the culmination of a process that started literally on Day 1 of my tenure as our athletics director to understand and evaluate everything around how we do men's basketball here,” Denny told The Oklahoman . “From the structure of the organization, to how we resource it, to how we staff the program.
“What I found was a real need to realign our program to match the expectations that I have for men's basketball at Oklahoma and the expectations our fans have for men's basketball at Oklahoma.”
More: John Calipari praises Porter Moser for his 'best job ever' amid OU basketball turnaround
Sooners AD had been 'leaning towards' bringing back Porter Moser for 'several weeks'
The decision, Denny said, came down to Moser’s level of success with the resources he’s been given.
“Candidly, we're not resourced at the level that we need to be resourced,” Denny said. “We as an athletics department, have a long history of outperforming our resources, and in almost every sport that we have, but that only gets you so far, right?
“We're not holding up our end of the bargain. And so, Priority 1 has to be to fix that and get our resources and expectations and performance all aligned. And from that point, we can then decide what the right path for our program is, but we're not at that point. We're not at that point because of what we're doing administratively, not because of what Coach Moser is doing on the court.”
Following a nine-game losing streak, OU led an incredible turnaround, winning eight of its last 11 games and six straight before falling to Arkansas in the SEC Tournament quarterfinals.
However, Denny said he made this decision Wednesday before the conference tournament began.
“It’s incredibly reaffirming,” Denny said of the Sooners ’ performance this week. “This is a decision we had really been leaning towards for several weeks.”
More: OU basketball falls to Arkansas in SEC Tournament, now awaits March Madness fate
What is Porter Moser's record, contract as OU basketball coach?
Moser is 93-74 in five seasons as head coach at Oklahoma with just one NCAA Tournament appearance, which came last season. He is 386-316 as a coach all-time with stops at Little Rock, Illinois State and Loyola Chicago.
Moser is under contract through the 2027-28 season. Had the Sooners opted to move on from Moser this month, his buyout would’ve been approximately $5.8 million.
Denny said since he’s taken the job there have been zero conversations between him and Moser about his job being in jeopardy.
Following Friday night’s game, Razorbacks coach John Calipari praised the job Moser did this season, calling it his “best job ever of coaching.”
Moser had seen it all this season. From a nine-game losing streak, which included “fire Moser” chants inside his home arena, to a stunning turnaround catapulting the Sooners into the NCAA Tournament conversation .
Fan apathy was legit during the skid. Things seemed to be trending in the direction of Moser not being around next season.
And then the past few weeks happened.
OU basketball hopeful it can make March Madness
OU now awaits its NCAA Tournament fate on Selection Sunday. The selection show begins at 5 p.m.
Denny believes the Sooners should be in.
“No one wants to play us,” Denny said. “That should tell you enough, right?
“I don't think anyone else out there has 10-plus Quad 1 and 2 wins. You see a lot of the teams on the bubble that have a Quad 3 or 4 loss, we don't have that. What you've seen over the last two months is a team that really dug itself out of that hole and has turned itself into one of the best teams in the country.”
Colton Sulley covers the Oklahoma Sooners for The Oklahoman. Have a story idea for Colton? He can be reached at csulley@oklahoman.com or on X/Twitter at @colton_sulley. Support Colton's work and that of other Oklahoman journalists by purchasing a digital subscription today at subscribe.oklahoman.com.
NCAA Tournament selection show
Men's show:5 p.m. CT (CBS)
Women's show:7 p.m. CT (ESPN)
This article originally appeared on Oklahoman: Porter Moser set to return as OU basketball coach for sixth season
