Eddie Sutton

College coach infobox
Name = Eddie Sutton


Caption =
DateOfBirth = birth date and age|1936|03|12
Birthplace = Bucklin, Kansas
DateOfDeath =
Sport = Basketball
College = San Francisco
Title = Head coach
CurrentRecord = 6-13
OverallRecord = 804-327
Awards = AP National Coach of the Year (1978, 1986)
SWC Coach of the Year (1975, 1977, 1979, 1981)
SEC Coach of the Year (1986)
Big Eight Coach of the Year (1993)
Big 12 Coach of the Year (1998, 2004)
Championships = SWC Regular Season Championship (1977, 1978, 1979, 1981, 1982)
SWC Tournament Championship (1977, 1979, 1982)
SEC Regular Season Championship (1986)
SEC Tournament Championship (1986)
Big Eight Regular Season Championship (1992, 1995)
Big Eight Regular Season Championship (1995)
Big 12 Regular Season Championship (2004)
Big 12 Tournament Championship (2004, 2005)
Player =
Years = 1959-present
Team =
Position =
Coach = *
CoachYears = 1958-1959
1959-1966
1966-1969
1969-1974
1974-1985
1985-1989
1990-2006
2007-present
CoachTeams = Oklahoma State (asst.)
Central High School
Southern Idaho JC
Creighton
Arkansas
Kentucky
Oklahoma State
San Francisco

Eddie Sutton (born March 12, 1936 in Bucklin, Kansas. Sutton is the former college head coach with 36-year of Division I coaching experience with stints at Creighton, Arkansas, Kentucky and Oklahoma State, his alma mater and The University of San Francisco. Sutton became the first coach to take four schools to the NCAA tournament, and he reached the Final Four with Arkansas in 1978 and Oklahoma State in 1995 and 2004. He is only one of six major college men's basketball coaches to have over 800 career wins.

Career

Early years

Eddie Sutton played for OSU (known as Oklahoma A&M until his senior year of 1957-58) under legendary coach Henry Iba. While at Oklahoma A&M Sutton became a member of Sigma Chi Fraternity.

In his college coaching career, Sutton was the head coach of Creighton, Arkansas, Kentucky, Oklahoma State,and University of San Francisco. 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 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.

University of Arkansas

In 1974, Sutton took over an underperforming Arkansas program from Lanny Van Eman. Over the next 11 seasons, Sutton compiled a record of 260-75, including five Southwest Conference championships, nine NCAA tournament appearances, and a Final Four appearance in 1978. Sutton left Arkansas in 1985 to succeed Joe B. Hall at the University of Kentucky. Arkansas replaced Eddie Sutton with Nolan Richardson.

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. He coached the Wildcats for four years, leading them to the Elite Eight of the 1986 NCAA Tournament.

Sutton's tenure at Kentucky ended with a scandal that badly damaged the school's basketball program and his reputation. It broke out when an Emery Worldwide package sent to high school prospect Chris Mills from Kentucky assistant coach Dwane Casey popped open and $1000 in fifties jumped out. Another player, Eric Manuel, was believed to have received improper assistance on his college entrance exams and was ultimately banned from NCAA competition for life. The scandal roiled the Wildcats to the point that they suffered their first losing season in 63 years.

The NCAA seriously considered hitting the Wildcats with the "death penalty", which would have shut down the entire basketball program (as opposed to simply being banned from postseason play) for up to two years. However, school president David Roselle forced Sutton and athletic director Cliff Hagan to resign. Sutton later admitted he didn't have enough control over the Wildcat program, but to this day claims he personally did nothing wrong.

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. The Cowboys had only made postseason play three times since joining the Big Eight Conference in 1957.

Given a 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 his first two seasons as head coach. 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 Conference championship and won a bid to the 1995 NCAA Final Four in Seattle. Under his tutelage, the Cowboys reached the postseason 14 times in his 17 years in Stillwater (having declined an NIT bid in Sutton's sixth season as head coach), including 13 NCAA Tournament bids and two Final Four appearances. They also captured three regular-season conference titles and three conference tournament championships. He is the second-winningest coach in school history, behind only his mentor, Iba.

On January 15, 2005, the court at Gallagher-Iba Arena at Oklahoma State University was officially renamed Eddie Sutton Court. He was later honored for his contributions to the game of basketball and Oklahoma State University, on February 21, 2007.

University of San Francisco

On December 26, 2007, Sutton announced that he was coming out of retirement to replace Jessie Evans as head coach of the University of San Francisco's basketball team on an interim basis. On January 3, 2008, Sutton said he will most likely not coach after this season at San Francisco. [cite news | author=McCauley, Janie, Associated Press | publisher=Yahoo! Sports | title=Sutton: Dons need more effort and defense to win in tough WCC | date=2008-01-03 | url=http://sports.yahoo.com/ncaab/news?slug=ap-sanfrancisco-sutton | accessdate=2008-01-05] After joining the program with 798 career wins, Sutton garnered his 800th win on February 2, 2008, making him the fifth NCAA Division I men's basketball coach to reach the milestone. [http://sports.espn.go.com/ncb/recap?gameId=280332492]

Head coaching record

CBB Yearly Record Start
type=coach
conference=NCAA Division I
postseason=yes
poll=both
poll1=AP
poll2=CoachesCBB Yearly Record Subhead
name=Southern Idaho JC
startyear=1966
conference=
endyear=1969|CBB Yearly Record Entry
championship =
season = 1966-1967
name = Southern Idaho JC
overall = 33-4
conference =
confstanding =
postseason = National AAU Tournament
ranking =
ranking2 = CBB Yearly Record Entry
championship =
season = 1967-1968
name = Southern Idaho JC
overall = 24-6
conference =
confstanding =
postseason =
ranking =
ranking2 = CBB Yearly Record Entry
championship =
season = 1968-1969
name = Southern Idaho JC
overall = 27-4
conference =
confstanding =
postseason =
ranking =
ranking2 = CBB Yearly Record Subtotal
name = Southern Idaho JC
overall = 84-14
confrecord = CBB Yearly Record Subhead
name=Creighton
startyear=1969
conference=Independent
endyear=1974|CBB Yearly Record Entry
championship =
season = 1969-1970
name = Creighton
overall = 15-10
conference =
confstanding =
postseason =
ranking =
ranking2 = CBB Yearly Record Entry
championship =
season = 1970-1971
name = Creighton
overall = 14-11
conference =
confstanding =
postseason =
ranking =
ranking2 = CBB Yearly Record Entry
championship =
season = 1971-1972
name = Creighton
overall = 15-11
conference =
confstanding =
postseason =
ranking =
ranking2 = CBB Yearly Record Entry
championship =
season = 1972-1973
name = Creighton
overall = 15-11
conference =
confstanding =
postseason =
ranking =
ranking2 = CBB Yearly Record Entry
championship =
season = 1973-1974
name = Creighton
overall = 23-7
conference =
confstanding =
postseason = NCAA Regional Third Place
ranking =
ranking2 = CBB Yearly Record Subtotal
name = Creighton
overall = 82-50
confrecord = CBB Yearly Record Subhead
name=Arkansas
startyear=1974
conference=Southwestern Conference
endyear=1985|CBB Yearly Record Entry
championship =
season = 1974-1975
name = Arkansas
overall = 17-9
conference = 11-3
confstanding = 2nd
postseason =
ranking =
ranking2 = CBB Yearly Record Entry
championship =
season = 1975-1976
name = Arkansas
overall = 19-9
conference = 9-7
confstanding = 4th
postseason =
ranking =
ranking2 = noCBB Yearly Record Entry
championship = confboth
season = 1976-1977
name = Arkansas
overall = 26-2
conference = 16-0
confstanding = 1st
postseason = NCAA First Round
ranking = 18
ranking2 = CBB Yearly Record Entry
championship = confboth
season = 1977-1978
name = Arkansas
overall = 32-4
conference = 14-2
confstanding = T-1st
postseason = NCAA Final Four
ranking = 5
ranking2 = CBB Yearly Record Entry
championship =
season = 1978-1979
name = Arkansas
overall = 25-5
conference = 13-3
confstanding = 2nd
postseason = NCAA Elite Eight
ranking = 5
ranking2 = CBB Yearly Record Entry
championship =
season = 1979-1980
name = Arkansas
overall = 21-8
conference = 13-3
confstanding = 2nd
postseason = NCAA First Round
ranking =
ranking2 = CBB Yearly Record Entry
championship = conference
season = 1980-1981
name = Arkansas
overall = 24-8
conference = 13-3
confstanding = 1st
postseason = NCAA Sweet Sixteen
ranking = 20
ranking2 = CBB Yearly Record Entry
championship = confboth
season = 1981-1982
name = Arkansas
overall = 23-6
conference = 12-4
confstanding = 1st
postseason = NCAA First Round
ranking = 12
ranking2 = CBB Yearly Record Entry
championship =
season = 1982-1983
name = Arkansas
overall = 26-4
conference = 14-2
confstanding = 2nd
postseason = NCAA Sweet Sixteen
ranking = 9
ranking2 = CBB Yearly Record Entry
championship =
season = 1983-1984
name = Arkansas
overall = 25-7
conference = 14-2
confstanding = 2nd
postseason = NCAA First Round
ranking = 8
ranking2 = CBB Yearly Record Entry
championship =
season = 1984-1985
name = Arkansas
overall = 22-13
conference = 10-6
confstanding = 2nd
postseason = NCAA Second Round
ranking =
ranking2 = CBB Yearly Record Subtotal
name = Arkansas
overall = 260-75
confrecord = 139-35CBB Yearly Record Subhead
name=Kentucky
startyear=1985
conference=Southeastern Conference
endyear=1989|CBB Yearly Record Entry
championship = confboth
season = 1985-1986
name = Kentucky
overall = 32-4
conference = 17-1
confstanding = 1st
postseason = NCAA Elite Eight
ranking = 3
ranking2 = noCBB Yearly Record Entry
championship =
season = 1986-1987
name = Kentucky
overall = 18-11
conference = 10-8
confstanding =
postseason = NCAA First Round
ranking =
ranking2 = CBB Yearly Record Entry
championship =
season = 1987-1988*
name = Kentucky
overall = 25-5
conference = 13-5
confstanding =
postseason = NCAA First Round
ranking = 6
ranking2 = noCBB Yearly Record Entry
championship =
season = 1988-1989
name = Kentucky
overall = 13-19
conference = 8-10
confstanding =
postseason =
ranking =
ranking2 = CBB Yearly Record Subtotal
name = Kentucky
overall = 88-39
confrecord = 48-24*SEC Tournament championship vacated, NCAA tournament wins erased due to an eligible playerCBB Yearly Record Subhead
name=Oklahoma State
startyear=1990
conference=Big 8 Conference/Big 12 Conference
endyear=2006|CBB Yearly Record Entry
championship = conference
season = 1990-1991*
name = Oklahoma State
overall = 24-8
conference = 9-4
confstanding = 1st
postseason = NCAA Sweet Sixteen
ranking = 14
ranking2 = CBB Yearly Record Entry
championship =
season = 1991-1992
name = Oklahoma State
overall = 28-8
conference = 8-6
confstanding =
postseason = NCAA Sweet Sixteen
ranking = 11
ranking2 = CBB Yearly Record Entry
championship =
season = 1992-1993
name = Oklahoma State
overall = 20-9
conference = 8-6
confstanding =
postseason = NCAA Second Round
ranking = 23
ranking2 = CBB Yearly Record Entry
championship =
season = 1993-1994
name = Oklahoma State
overall = 24-10
conference = 10-4
confstanding =
postseason = NCAA Second Round
ranking = 19
ranking2 = CBB Yearly Record Entry
championship = conference tournament
season = 1994-1995
name = Oklahoma State
overall = 27-10
conference = 10-4
confstanding = 1st
postseason = NCAA Final Four
ranking = 14
ranking2 = CBB Yearly Record Entry
championship =
season = 1995-1996
name = Oklahoma State
overall = 17-10
conference = 7-7
confstanding =
postseason = turned down invite to NIT
ranking =
ranking2 = CBB Yearly Record Entry
championship =
season = 1996-1997
name = Oklahoma State
overall = 22-7
conference = 11-5
confstanding = T-5th
postseason = NIT Second Round
ranking =
ranking2 = CBB Yearly Record Entry
championship =
season = 1997-1998
name = Oklahoma State
overall = 22-7
conference = 11-5
confstanding = T-2nd
postseason = NCAA Second Round
ranking =
ranking2 = CBB Yearly Record Entry
championship =
season = 1998-1999
name = Oklahoma State
overall = 22-10
conference = 10-6
confstanding = T-3rd
postseason = NCAA Second Round
ranking =
ranking2 = CBB Yearly Record Entry
championship =
season = 1999-2000
name = Oklahoma State
overall = 27-7
conference = 12-4
confstanding = T-3rd
postseason = NCAA Elite Eight
ranking = 14
ranking2 = CBB Yearly Record Entry
championship =
season = 2000-2001
name = Oklahoma State
overall = 20-10
conference = 10-6
confstanding = 3rd
postseason = NCAA First Round
ranking =
ranking2 = CBB Yearly Record Entry
championship =
season = 2001–2002
name = Oklahoma State
overall = 23-9
conference = 10-6
confstanding = T-3rd
postseason = NCAA First Round
ranking =
ranking2 = CBB Yearly Record Entry
championship =
season = 2002–2003
name = Oklahoma State
overall = 22-10
conference = 10-6
confstanding = T-9th
postseason = NCAA Second Round
ranking =
ranking2 = CBB Yearly Record Entry
championship = confboth
season = 2003–2004
name = Oklahoma State
overall = 31-4
conference = 14-2
confstanding = 1st
postseason = NCAA Final Four
ranking =
ranking2 = CBB Yearly Record Entry
championship =
season = 2004–2005
name = Oklahoma State
overall = 26-7
conference = 11-5
confstanding = 3rd
postseason = NCAA Sweet Sixteen
ranking =
ranking2 = CBB Yearly Record Entry
championship =
season = 2005–2006
name = Oklahoma State
overall = 17-15
conference = 6-10
confstanding = 7th
ranking =
ranking2 =
postseason = NIT First RoundCBB Yearly Record Subtotal
name = Oklahoma State
overall = 362-149
confrecord = 153-90*Big 8 Championship shared with KansasCBB Yearly Record Subhead
name=San Francisco
startyear=2007
conference=West Coast Conference
endyear=2008|CBB Yearly Record Entry
championship =
season = 2007–2008
name = San Francisco
overall = 6-13
conference = 5-9
confstanding =
ranking =
ranking2 =
postseason = CBB Yearly Record Subtotal
name = San Francisco
overall = 6-13
confrecord = 5-9CBB Yearly Record End
overall=888-341

Family legacy

Eddie Sutton has three sons: Sean Sutton, the former head coach of Oklahoma State University, Scott Sutton, the current head coach of Oral Roberts University, and Steve Sutton, who is a successful banker (Spirit Bank) in Tulsa, Ok. Scott Sutton and Steve Sutton are also members of Sigma Chi Fraternity, along with their Father.

Notes

External links

* [http://usfdons.cstv.com/sports/m-baskbl/mtt/sutton_eddie00.html Eddie Sutton San Francisco Profile]
* [http://www.okstate.com/ViewArticle.dbml?SPSID=1464&SPID=145&DB_OEM_ID=200&ATCLID=6634&Q_SEASON=2004 Eddie Sutton Oklahoma State Profile]

Persondata
NAME=Sutton, Eddie
ALTERNATIVE NAMES=
SHORT DESCRIPTION=Basketball player and coach
DATE OF BIRTH=March 12, 1936
PLACE OF BIRTH=Bucklin, Kansas
DATE OF DEATH=
PLACE OF DEATH=