Baranczyk on Final Watch List for National COTY

NORMAN – Oklahoma head women's basketball coach Jennie Baranczyk was named to the late-season watch list for the Werner Ladder Naismith Women's Coach of the Year, the Atlanta Tipoff Club announced Tuesday.

In her first year at the helm of the Oklahoma program, Baranczyk has led one of the best turnarounds in women's college basketball. The Sooners currently own a 20-4 record, including a 9-3 mark in Big 12 play, good for second in the league and one game back of Iowa State. The 10th-year head coach that spent nine seasons at Drake before coming to Norman is one of three coaches on the watch list in their first season at their respective program.

Under Baranczyk's watch, now-No. 15 Oklahoma has broken into the national conversation after starting the season unranked. The Des Moines, Iowa, product has led OU to four top-25 wins this season, the most of any first-year head coach in OU history, and the first regular-season sweep of Baylor in over a decade. In the most recent NCAA Selection Committee top-16 seed reveal, the committee tabbed OU as the nation's No. 9 overall seed.

Named the ESPNW National Coach of the Week earlier in the year, Baranczyk has guided Oklahoma to its best start in 13 seasons. The 2022 Sooners reached 20 wins faster than all but two teams in program history, trailing only the 2002 and 2009 Final Four teams.

Among first-year head coaches in 2021-22, Baranczyk is the only one with five NET top-25 wins, and OU is one of six teams to notch 15-plus wins over top-100 NET opponents, joining the top-four teams in the AP Poll and No. 12 Tennessee.

Known for fostering high-powered offensive attacks, Baranczyk has orchestrated one of the nation's best offenses this season. The Sooners score 85.2 points per game, good for second nationally and the most all-time for an Oklahoma team. In addition, Baranczyk has helped develop Madi Williams and Taylor Robertson, both finalists for national awards. The two make Oklahoma one of four teams nationally to boast two players that score 17.8 points per game.

Baranczyk and the Sooners square off with Texas Tech (9-14, 2-10) Wednesday night in Norman before heading to Ames for a battle with No. 6 Iowa State Cyclones (21-3, 10-2) as the Big 12's top-two teams will meet at 6 p.m. on ESPN+.

Full Watch List

Jennie Baranczyk	Oklahoma
Adia Barnes	Arizona
Kim Barnes-Arico	Michigan
Bill Fennelly	Iowa State
Kelly Rae Finley	Florida
Nell Fortner	Georgia Tech
Kellie Harper	Tennessee
Jeff Judkins	BYU
Wes Moore	NC State
Teri Moren	Indiana
Kim Mulkey	LSU
Karl Smesko	FGCU
Dawn Staley	South Carolina
Tara VanDerveer	Stanford
Jeff Walz	Louisville