Women's Hoops Nets Big 12 Coach And Player Of The Year

March 6, 2001

Oklahoma head coach Sherri Coale
Opening comments:
"It's been a terrific Big 12 Conference season. Our kids have performed extremely well. This particular honor means an awful lot to me because of the respect I have for the other coaches in this league. So many of them are mentors and icons to me, people I have really looked up to as a young coach. So to win this means an awful lot to me. But I must say that this award is a reflection of what our staff does. It should be a staff award instead of a Coach of the Year award. I don't know how you would separate what we do to get those kids prepared to play every time the lights are on. And ultimately coaches get this award because they have amazing players, and I have amazing young people who play on my team. And they have performed incredibly well this year. I am very proud of them."

On the team's success level this year:
"Maybe the way we have done it this year has surprised me, maybe the emergence of Jamie Talbert and Rosalind Ross being such immediate contributors to our success, the impact of losing Jane Cunningham and still going ahead and winning the Big 12 outright. Maybe those things I wouldn't have been able to guess were going to happen, but the success level, no. This is exactly what we have talked about when we lost to Connecticut last year in Richmond, Va. This is what we wanted to do this year."

Oklahoma's Stacey Dales
Opening comments:
"Like Coach Coale said, it's a great honor to receive such an award. It's an honor because I fall into a category with such great players and talented players throughout the Big 12. It's a great conference full of talent and this award is really a reflection of what this team represents. Team work, chemistry and unity. I couldn't have received this award if it hadn't been for every single person on our team and on our staff. I am thankful to them and the Big 12 for this award."

On season expectations:
"I anticipated a season full of success for our team. I don't think it is over yet. I think there is a lot of promise still with the NCAA tournament coming up. I came into this season extremely confident and I don't think that confidence has really wavered. I think it has been a shared confidence throughout our team and that is indicative of the success we have had.

On her experience this summer:
"I have had a few really key points in my basketball career, but this one is what has probably catapulted me to where I am at. So many intangibles have come from this summer - the experience, the games just the physical nature of basketball. Being a clutch player in clutch situations has prepared me to come into this season and lead this team and really assume the responsibility necessary as a floor general under Coach Coale."

On her Olympic experience:
"You're playing with women. You're playing with women 15 years beyond you. I played on a team where I was 21 and the oldest player on our team was 36. You're playing with experienced and knowledgeable players who know how to throw those blows when necessary, who know how to beat you even though you may be 10 steps quicker than them. It's just another level. It's just a much more physical game and you have to adapt to that."

University of Oklahoma Athletics

Women's Hoops Nets Big 12 Coach And Player Of The Year

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