Ray Lopes in Eighth Season at Sampson's Side

Feb. 1, 2001

NORMAN, Okla. - As an assistant college basketball coach, one's duties are numerous and cover a wide variety of areas. Now in his seventh season at Oklahoma and his eighth year with Kelvin Sampson, assistant coach Ray Lopes has his hands on many key facets to the Sooner Basketball Program.

Among the areas of most importance to the operation of the program, Coach Lopes is in charge of scheduling Oklahoma's non-conference games, including exempt tournaments and made-for-television home-and-home series.

"Scheduling has gotten harder over the years because not only is it a bidding war in many ways, but now, more than ever, you have to keep in mind things such as R.P.I (a team's Rating Percentage Index)," said Lopes, who makes scheduling deals up to three or even four years in advance. "We want to play a non-conference schedule that is competitive, prepares us for the Big 12, and gives us the opportunity to be successful."

While scheduling is an important task for Lopes, his day-to-day priority revolves around recruiting both high school players and junior college talent to Oklahoma. Having developed a reputation as a top recruiter in the business, Lopes has never deviated from his philosophies on going after a player.

"First you have to work hard at evaluating and finding the right players that fit the University of Oklahoma and fit into Coach Sampson's program," said Lopes, the former assistant at both UC Santa Barbara and Weber State. "Then it is a matter of developing relationships and outworking people in the recruiting process."

Lopes has consistently helped put together top recruiting classes at Oklahoma. His best coup may have been beating out the likes of Duke, Indiana and New Mexico in signing Eduardo Najera.

"Coach Lopes works extremely hard at all phases of his job," said Sampson. "He is a perfectionist, has a good understanding of the game of basketball, and has an extraordinary attention to detail."

Coach Lopes is also in charge of developing the post players within Coach Sampson's offensive and defensive systems. He works daily with the big men in honing their skills. Lopes also is responsible for scouting opponents and preparing scout teams to go against the Sooners' "red" squad in practice.

Lopes served as an assistant coach for Sampson for one season at Washington State before coming with the Sooner boss to Norman in April 1994. He joined the Washington State staff after a four-year stint as an assistant at UC Santa Barbara from 1989-1993. While there, the Gauchos posted a 73-44 record and advanced to three postseason tournaments. In 1990, UCSB advanced to the second round of the NCAA Tournament in a year that they also knocked off a UNLV team that had won 34 straight contests.

Prior to his stint at UCSB, Lopes was an assistant coach at Weber State for one season. He began his coaching career at West Valley Community College as an assistant during the 1987-88 season. A native of New Haven, Conn., Lopes played two seasons at West Valley before transferring to Albertson College of Idaho, where he earned a bachelor of arts degree in business administration.

Lopes and his wife, Pierrette, have two daughters, Alaina and Teylor, and a son, Trey, who was born two days before OU's first-round NCAA Tournament victory against Arizona in March 1999. Lopes and his wife decided that if the Sooners hit 10 or more three-pointers against Arizona, their son would be given the name Trey. Oklahoma connected 12 times from downtown and the rest was history.

University of Oklahoma Athletics

Ray Lopes in Eighth Season at Sampson's Side

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