Athletes - Eddie Sutton

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	Athletes - Eddie Sutton

Eddie Sutton (born March 12, 1936 in Bucklin, Kansas) is currently the head coach of the Oklahoma State University men's basketball program. Coach Sutton is currently on a leave of absence as he enters rehab to battle alcoholism. OSU has designated his son Sean, currently his top assistant, as interim head coach and his successor, but has not yet set a date for his retirement. His son, Scott, coached Oral Roberts University to the first round of the 2006 NCAA tournament.

Early career

In Sutton's college career, he played for OSU under Henry Iba. In his college coaching career, he was the head coach of Creighton, Arkansas, Kentucky, and Oklahoma State. He has the rare distinction of having taken two schools (Arkansas and Oklahoma State) to the Final Four, and was the first coach to lead four schools to the NCAA tournament.

Sutton's college coaching career began in 1967 in Twin Falls, Idaho, where he founded the men's basketball program at the College of Southern Idaho, a community college then in only its third year of existence. The 1967-68 Golden Eagles posted a 33-4 record and quickly became a consistent national contender at the community college level. Sutton left CSI in 1969 to coach at Creighton. It was with the Bluejays that he made his first coaching appearance in the NCAA tournament in 1974.

Later in 1974 Sutton began an even more successful tenure at the University of Arkansas. During his 11 seasons as the Razorbacks coach Sutton's teams won five SWC titles and made nine NCAA tournament appearances, highlighted by a Final Four appearance in 1978.

University of Kentucky

In 1985 Sutton took the helm of one of the nation's most prestigious college basketball programs at the University of Kentucky succeeding Joe B. Hall. The main blemishes on his coaching resume are related to his tenure at Kentucky. He is the only Kentucky coach since the inception of the NCAA tournament in 1939 who never led the Wildcats to the Final Four. Also, his only losing season as a coach was in his last season at Kentucky in 1988-89. Finally, his tenure at Kentucky ended with a scandal that nearly destroyed the school's basketball program (and also led to the resignation of ex-Kentucky Wildcat star Cliff Hagan as the school's athletic director), although he was fully cleared of any wrongdoing by the NCAA. One player was found to have received improper assistance on his college entrance exams, and a second was found to have received cash payments from a booster.

Oklahoma State University

Sutton returned to Oklahoma State in 1990, appointed with the task of restoring the honor and tradition of Cowboy basketball that had laid dormant in the years leading up to his hiring. Being given this second chance, Sutton soon went to work on reviving the Cowboys, and his coaching career. The Pokes began to turn around almost immediately with Sutton’s presence, and in 1991, Oklahoma State returned to the NCAA Tournament, ending their NCAA Tournament drought that had lasted since losing 56-53 to Princeton in 1983. Sutton’s Cowboys advanced all the way to the Sweet Sixteen, downing New Mexico and North Carolina State, before losing in overtime to the Temple Owls. The next season, the Cowboys again reached the Sweet Sixteen, this time losing to the Michigan Wolverines. Under his tutelage, the Cowboys have reached the postseason in 14 of his 15 years in Stillwater, including 13 NCAA Tournament bids and 2 Final Four appearances.

Sutton cemented the Cowboys’ return to the ranks of college basketball’s major powers in 1995 as the Pokes, with the leadership of ‘Big Country’ Bryant Reeves and Randy Rutherford, captured a share of the Big 8 championship and won a bid to the 1995 NCAA Final Four in Seattle. OSU entered the 1995 Tournament as the #4 seed in the East Region and easily disposed of Drexel, 73-49, and Alabama, 66-52, in the first two rounds in Baltimore. Reeves recorded 26 points and seven rebounds in the second-round game with the Crimson Tide, adding to his 21 points and 11 rebounds against Drexel in the first round. A much tougher test awaited Oklahoma State in the third round, with #1 seeded (East region), ACC champion Wake Forest, led by Tim Duncan. Duncan limited Reeves to 15 points, but it was Rutherford that led OSU that day, amassing 23 points and 11 rebounds in the 71-66 victory. A 68-54 victory over Massachusetts propelled OSU to the Final Four to take on top-ranked UCLA. The game was much closer than the final score would suggest, with a Randy Rutherford three-pointer bringing the Pokes within 62-61 with 2:44 left. The Bruins ran off the game’s final 12 points and advanced to the championship game, which they would go on to win. However, the loss to UCLA could not erase the fact that Eddie Sutton had restored Oklahoma State to its place among the nation’s elite.

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Athletes - Eddie Sutton

Early career

University of Kentucky

Oklahoma State University

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