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Home > Buyer's Resources > Sports Biographies > Basketball Biographies > College Basketball Biographies > Womens College Basketball Coaches Biographies > Sheri Coale Biography
Sheri Coale BiographyThe death and burial of the Oklahoma women's basketball program was not to be. The University faced with growing pressure from the Women's Basketball Coaches Association decided in short order to reinstate women's basketball at OU much to the relief of at least the 65 fans who regularly attended games. Over the next six seasons there were some ups in the program culminated by the Lady Sooners going to the postseason NCAA Tournament following the 1994-95 season and advancing to the second round. The ups unfortunately were outweighed by the downs. As losing seasons and the coaches merry-go-round continued it was obvious the need for a coach who could provide direction, stability to the program and a passion to win was essential. Marita Hynes associate AD was charged with the task of finding such a coach. To Hynes credit she took notice of what was right under her nose, not always an easy thing to do. Sheri Coale had been operating at Norman (OK) High School as the head coach of the girls' basketball team for the past six seasons. Coale and her teams had compiled a heady 147-40 (.786) record and won two Class 6A State Championships. Coale's final two high school teams produced an incredible 53-2 (.964) record. During her tenure at Norman High School Coale was named All-Region Coach of the Year, All-State Coach of the Year and All-City High School Coach of the Year. Coale had a stellar career as a standout player at NAIA Division I Oklahoma Christian University but she had no college coaching experience, Hynes however was certain she was the right coach for the OU situation. As Hynes put it at the time: "Really, there wasn't any doubt in my mind she was the right person for the job." Twelve seasons later, Coale has guided the Sooners to a 254-132 (.658) record, an average of 21 plus wins per season (24 plus wins a season over the last five), a 32-4 single season (.889) mark, best in OU and Big 12 history, in the 2001-02 season and made OU All-Time history setting an amazing never-to-be beaten 16-0 in-conference (Big 12) record in the 2005-06 season on their way to an overall 31-5 (.861) record. The Sooners defeated Texas A&M, 68-56, on Tuesday, Feb. 12, 2008 earning Coale her 250th victory in her 12th year as the head coach of the Oklahoma Sooners. She is the Sooner and the Big 12 all-time leader in coaching victories and winning percentage. Additionally Coale has been named Big 12 Coach of the Year three times, coached the Sooners to four Big 12 Conference titles, led her team to the postseason NCAA "Big Dance" nine times including playing for the national championship following the 2001-02 season and achieved a postseason number two national ranking by both the AP and USA Today/Coaches polls, the Sooners' highest in the history of the school. Despite the "gamble", hiring Coale, in retrospect and of course armed with the results its easy to say the decision back in 1996 was a "no brainer." Whatever the case may be any OU fan can take pleasure in Marita Hynes, the then assistant Athletic Director responsible for recommending Coale be hired, recent statement: "It makes my heart swell," she said of the Lady Sooners. Along with the continued improvement in the Lady Sooners' play and increasing win totals came a marked improvement in attendance. The early 90's fan base of 65 has swelled many many times over. The last several seasons the Sooners' have routinely ranked in the nation's top 20 in women's basketball home attendance while being a major drawing card on the road. Some of the latest attendance milestones the Lady Sooners established were in 2008 when 13,611 fans an (Oklahoma state record for women's basketball attendance) came out to see the Lady Sooners' "strutt their stuff". The women's 2007-2008 basketball team owned the No. 3 national attendance ranking with an average of (10,254) fans per game, somewhat north of the 65 Coale started with. In Coale's tenure over a million fans have come to the Lloyd Noble Center to see the Lady Sooners do what they do best, win basketball games. Coale knows she has not accomplished this staggering turnaround by herself, she acknowledges she had help, a great deal of help. Speaking of the program Coale says: "A lot of people helped establish this program, not just myself. "Many players and coaches have helped along the way. We took a hit the first couple of years, but with the play of Phylesha Whaley, Stacey Dales, LaNeishea Caufield, Desiree Taylor and many other players we have established Oklahoma women's basketball. Jan Ross (assistant coach) has been here with me every step of the way, helping bring this program to where it is." Coale continued: "The country's perception has changed about Oklahoma because of the people surrounding me. We want to hang banners and win championships. OU is now among the elite women's programs in the country. "Coale is about more than "just basketball." While in college she was an Academic All-American and graduated summa cum laude from Oklahoma Christian University. She believes strongly success in the classroom is vital for a well rounded education that will stand her student-athletes in good stead once school is completed. Coach Coale believes in the generally ignored notion of suceeding in the classroom as well as on the court. She has worked incredibly hard to challenge OU players to be the absolute best they can be both on and off the court and has taken the time to translate their experiences into life lessons that will stand them in good stead in the real world. Coale puts her money where her mouth is. With her tutelage Oklahoma's women's basketball teams accomplished a combined team GPA of 3.0 or better a program record 21 semesters between 1996 and 2007. Five teams (1999, 2001, 2002, 2003, 2005) have been named to the Top 25 WBCA (Women's Basketball Coaches Association) Academic Team Honor Roll, while 34 players have earned Academic All-Big 12 honors 70 times. Coale has coached three players to Big 12 Player of the Year honors four times, 13 players to all-conference honors 30 times and three players to first team All-America status. She has also developed seven players into WNBA draft selections. Coale has coached an Academic/Athletic All-American who received both honors in the same season and was voted the Verizon Academic Student-Athlete of the Year for all NCAA Division I athletics. In addition Coale has coached two other Academic All-American student/athletes. Coale saw one of her players earn Olympic status and become OU's first two-time Kodak first team All-American. She has coached three All-American players, two Big 12 Players' of the Year accorded this honor on three separate occasions, eight players who earned all-conference honors on 20 different occasions, three players chosen for the 2002 NCAA Regional All-Tournament team, two players who earned NCAA Final Four All-Tournament honors and five players who were WNBA draft choices. Coale currently serves as President of the Women's Basketball Coaches Association, is a member of the USA Basketball Women's Collegiate Committee and was recently inducted into the Oklahoma Women's Hall of Fame. Four of Coale's teams have been named to the Top 25 WBCA Academic Team Honor Roll. Twenty two of her players have achieved Academic All-Big 12 honors on 47 separate occasions. Motivated? Sheri Coale is as motivated a person or coach as you could ever hope to find. Sharing her passionate and infectious attitude begins at an early age, witness her putting the following framed quote in her children's nursery room: "Come to the edge," He said. They said, "We are afraid. Come to the edge," He said. "They came. He pushed them … and they flew." ~ Guillaume Apollinaire. "I put it there to remind me of my charge. I think of it now because I believe that the very marrow of Title IX (of the Education Amendments Act of 1972) is opportunity. Opportunity to participate, opportunity to compete, opportunity to excel. I don't think the legislation was created to monitor who pushes us. I think it was created so that we could get a chance to fly." The University of Oklahoma women's basketball program made another kind of history this week trumpted the The University of Oklahoma Public Affairs Office June 27, 2007 achieving a feat accomplished by only a few such programs in the nation - successful completion of a fund-raising campaign providing full endowment of all 15 scholarship positions. "We began the endowment program in 2005 with a goal of creating a perpetual source of funding for our women's basketball program," said OU head coach Sherri Coale. "The full endowment of all 15 scholarships puts us in a position to achieve self-sufficiency, an accomplishment achieved by very few programs across the country," Coale continued. In the span of only 30 months, Coale and company have completed the campaign, which endows each position with a $200,000 gift from OU alumni and friends. Added OU Director of Athletics Joe Castiglione, "I can't thank Sherri Coale enough for her emphasis on the endowment program. She became very interested in this concept, and her energy was essential in making it a success. Sherri's focus on the goal was infectious." On or off the court Sherri's drive, determination, commitment and focus are simply part of who she is, why she is so successful and illustrates how she goes about doing what she does regardless of the arena she is competing in. Coale was tapped as an assistant coach for the 2001 USA Basketball Women's Junior World Championship Team which won a bronze medal in Czechoslovakia. Two of Coale's players played international basketball. One player helped the US to a gold medal at the World University Games held at Beijing, China in 2001. The second player represented USA Basketball at the 2003 World University Games held at Daegu, South Korea. Another attribute in Coale's arsenal of being a well-rounded person is community service. Her philosophy is quite simple yet speaks volumes about Coale as a person. She believes the community whose support for the team is critical deserves support in return from the student-athletes. Coale's players participate in the Sooner's Big Sis Program which is designed to allow the players to volunteer as mentors and teacher's aides to local elementary schools surrounding Norman. Additionally, each season the team selects and volunteers to help a nonprofit organization such as "Meals on Wheels", the Norman Women's Resource Center or the Battered Women's Shelter. As an additional service to the community for Coale's eight year tenure her players have helped host the area Special Olympics. Some of her accomplishments are:
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