JimBob
02-13-2008, 07:49 AM
Scrutiny surrounds Sutton
By JIMMIE TRAMEL World Sports Writer
2/13/2008
With OSU's mounting losses, the coach faces many critics, including himself.
STILLWATER -- Defeats have always twisted Sean Sutton's guts into knots.
During an interview in 2004, when Sutton was an Oklahoma State assistant coach, he said sleep was sometimes interrupted by dreams about big games the Cowboys had lost.
Sutton usually went home immediately after defeats and exiled himself to a room that wife Trena referred to as "the cave" so he could subject himself to multiple viewings of games the Cowboys lost. "Kind of like rubbing salt in the wounds," she said at the time.
It's four years later. Sutton has changed jobs and changed houses, but guess what hasn't changed?
"I don't get over losses very well," he said.
Sutton, OSU's second-year head coach, now goes to a new cave (he prefers the word "office") in his new home following games. He estimated that he watches a recording of the most recent Cowboy game 90 percent of the time -- 100 percent of the time following de feats.
When Sutton tries to sleep, his mind wanders to a three-game stretch against Texas, Texas A&M and Oklahoma when the Cowboys lost close games because they missed free throws or made late-game turnovers or failed to secure a crunch-time rebound.
"Those are the things that bother me the most," he said.
And then his thoughts shift from reactive to proactive. What can you do to win the next game?
OSU, which has more defeats than victories this season, will play a Wednesday home game against Baylor, which is off to its best start in 60 years. The Cowboys are 11-12 and share last place in the Big 12 standings with Colorado.
Sutton, who helped restore luster to the program as a player and assistant coach, said nobody is more mad about "the type of season that we are having" than himself. "Every minute of every day bothers me," he said. "There is nobody more upset than me."
Last week, former coach Eddie Sutton defended his son, saying the team's chances for success took a hit because the summer defections of JamesOn Curry and Kenny Cooper left the program with four returning scholarship players who had Division I experience.
Nearly 40 percent (45 of 115) of the team's starts this season have been logged by freshmen.
Eddie Sutton asked for a show of support from OSU administration. Athletic director Mike Holder chose not to comment.
Sean Sutton, his fate apparently twisting in the wind, did not want to weigh in on the topic. But he's got experience when it comes to being near the eye of a storm. He was a player at Kentucky when his father endured a losing season and allegations of scandal. He took over the OSU basketball program on an interim basis for the final 10 games of the 2005-06 season after his father was involved in a drunken driving accident.
"Criticism doesn't bother me that much," he said. "I know how athletics works. I know how fans are. It's part of it. When you win, a lot of the time, coaches get too much credit. And when you lose, you catch too much blame. It just comes with the territory of being a coach."
Sean Sutton, whose career record is 33-25, said coaching is just like anything else. The more experience you get, the better you get. He said players get better as they get older and coaches get better as they get more experience.
"You have to keep believing you are doing the right things," he said. "You have to keep learning and keep wanting to improve. You have to be open to new ideas. That's where I am right now."
Sean Sutton said there have been a lot of coaches who experienced tough times early in their careers and managed to be successful, adding that former North Carolina coach Dean Smith was hung in effigy.
Sean Sutton feels a kinship with Michigan State's Tom Izzo because they inherited programs from popular coaches and were expected to live up to a standard.
"Look at what Tom Izzo had to go through his first two years and where he is now," Sean Sutton said.
Izzo went 16-16 and 17-12 his first two seasons, twice settling for NIT trips.
Sean Sutton realizes that scrutiny comes with major college coaching jobs. He said you just have to keep "grinding" as best as you can, even when backed into a corner.
"If you are a real competitor, you are going to fight extra hard in that situation and every time I've been in that spot, I always have, so that's what I'm going to try to do here," he said.
Sean Sutton said he is trying to stay positive with players and let them know coaches believe they can win. The Cowboys have lost seven of their last eight games.
"I'm still positive," junior guard Terrel Harris said. "That's the only thing I can do. I try to stay positive with my team mates, but some people operate differently, so it's hard for them to see us losing and not stay positive (if they are) younger players. But, me being an older player, I have to try to tell them to stay positive and not give up and still believe and have confidence in ourselves and our abilities."
Sean Sutton said his goal is to win every remaining game.
"We've got seven games left and we've got a chance to win all of them and that's what we talked about with them is getting better on the practice court and trying to win every one of these games, or at least as many as we can, and get to the Big 12 Tournament playing our best basketball of the year and see what happens up there," he said.
OSU hasn't appeared on anyone's NCAA Tournament mock bracket for a long time, but Sean Sutton still believes the Cowboys can build a resume "if we win the next seven."
"It's not going to be easy, but I would never say it couldn't happen," he said.
"I think it could if things fell right and we played really well. I still think that we can win all of these games."
By JIMMIE TRAMEL World Sports Writer
2/13/2008
With OSU's mounting losses, the coach faces many critics, including himself.
STILLWATER -- Defeats have always twisted Sean Sutton's guts into knots.
During an interview in 2004, when Sutton was an Oklahoma State assistant coach, he said sleep was sometimes interrupted by dreams about big games the Cowboys had lost.
Sutton usually went home immediately after defeats and exiled himself to a room that wife Trena referred to as "the cave" so he could subject himself to multiple viewings of games the Cowboys lost. "Kind of like rubbing salt in the wounds," she said at the time.
It's four years later. Sutton has changed jobs and changed houses, but guess what hasn't changed?
"I don't get over losses very well," he said.
Sutton, OSU's second-year head coach, now goes to a new cave (he prefers the word "office") in his new home following games. He estimated that he watches a recording of the most recent Cowboy game 90 percent of the time -- 100 percent of the time following de feats.
When Sutton tries to sleep, his mind wanders to a three-game stretch against Texas, Texas A&M and Oklahoma when the Cowboys lost close games because they missed free throws or made late-game turnovers or failed to secure a crunch-time rebound.
"Those are the things that bother me the most," he said.
And then his thoughts shift from reactive to proactive. What can you do to win the next game?
OSU, which has more defeats than victories this season, will play a Wednesday home game against Baylor, which is off to its best start in 60 years. The Cowboys are 11-12 and share last place in the Big 12 standings with Colorado.
Sutton, who helped restore luster to the program as a player and assistant coach, said nobody is more mad about "the type of season that we are having" than himself. "Every minute of every day bothers me," he said. "There is nobody more upset than me."
Last week, former coach Eddie Sutton defended his son, saying the team's chances for success took a hit because the summer defections of JamesOn Curry and Kenny Cooper left the program with four returning scholarship players who had Division I experience.
Nearly 40 percent (45 of 115) of the team's starts this season have been logged by freshmen.
Eddie Sutton asked for a show of support from OSU administration. Athletic director Mike Holder chose not to comment.
Sean Sutton, his fate apparently twisting in the wind, did not want to weigh in on the topic. But he's got experience when it comes to being near the eye of a storm. He was a player at Kentucky when his father endured a losing season and allegations of scandal. He took over the OSU basketball program on an interim basis for the final 10 games of the 2005-06 season after his father was involved in a drunken driving accident.
"Criticism doesn't bother me that much," he said. "I know how athletics works. I know how fans are. It's part of it. When you win, a lot of the time, coaches get too much credit. And when you lose, you catch too much blame. It just comes with the territory of being a coach."
Sean Sutton, whose career record is 33-25, said coaching is just like anything else. The more experience you get, the better you get. He said players get better as they get older and coaches get better as they get more experience.
"You have to keep believing you are doing the right things," he said. "You have to keep learning and keep wanting to improve. You have to be open to new ideas. That's where I am right now."
Sean Sutton said there have been a lot of coaches who experienced tough times early in their careers and managed to be successful, adding that former North Carolina coach Dean Smith was hung in effigy.
Sean Sutton feels a kinship with Michigan State's Tom Izzo because they inherited programs from popular coaches and were expected to live up to a standard.
"Look at what Tom Izzo had to go through his first two years and where he is now," Sean Sutton said.
Izzo went 16-16 and 17-12 his first two seasons, twice settling for NIT trips.
Sean Sutton realizes that scrutiny comes with major college coaching jobs. He said you just have to keep "grinding" as best as you can, even when backed into a corner.
"If you are a real competitor, you are going to fight extra hard in that situation and every time I've been in that spot, I always have, so that's what I'm going to try to do here," he said.
Sean Sutton said he is trying to stay positive with players and let them know coaches believe they can win. The Cowboys have lost seven of their last eight games.
"I'm still positive," junior guard Terrel Harris said. "That's the only thing I can do. I try to stay positive with my team mates, but some people operate differently, so it's hard for them to see us losing and not stay positive (if they are) younger players. But, me being an older player, I have to try to tell them to stay positive and not give up and still believe and have confidence in ourselves and our abilities."
Sean Sutton said his goal is to win every remaining game.
"We've got seven games left and we've got a chance to win all of them and that's what we talked about with them is getting better on the practice court and trying to win every one of these games, or at least as many as we can, and get to the Big 12 Tournament playing our best basketball of the year and see what happens up there," he said.
OSU hasn't appeared on anyone's NCAA Tournament mock bracket for a long time, but Sean Sutton still believes the Cowboys can build a resume "if we win the next seven."
"It's not going to be easy, but I would never say it couldn't happen," he said.
"I think it could if things fell right and we played really well. I still think that we can win all of these games."