Eddie Sutton
From Hoopedia
Eddie Sutton (born March 12, 1936 in Bucklin, Kansas) is the former head coach of several NCAA Division I men's basketball programs, most recently at Oklahoma State University. Sutton retired as head coach of Oklahoma State University men's basketball following the 2005-2006 season.
Contents |
Coaching Career
Early Years
In Sutton's college career, he played for OSU (then known as Oklahoma A&M) under legendary coach Henry Iba. While at OSU he was inducted into the Sigma Chi fraternity.
In his college coaching career, Sutton was the head coach of Creighton, Arkansas, Kentucky, and Oklahoma State. He has the rare distinction of having taken two schools (Arkansas and Oklahoma State) to the Final Four, and was the first coach to lead four schools to the NCAA tournament.
Sutton's college coaching career began in 1967 in Twin Falls, Idaho, where he founded the men's basketball program at the College of Southern Idaho, a community college then in only its third year of existence. The 1967-68 Golden Eagles posted a 33-4 record and quickly became a consistent national contender at the community college level. Sutton left CSI in 1969 to coach at Creighton. It was with the Bluejays that he made his first coaching appearance in the NCAA tournament in 1974.
University of Arkansas
In 1974, Sutton took over an underperforming Arkansas program from Lanny Van Eman. Over the next 12 seasons, Sutton compiled a record of 270-75, including five Southwest Conference championships, nine NCAA tournament appearances, and a Final Four appearance in 1978. Sutton left Arkansas in 1985 to succeed Joe B. Hall at the University of Kentucky. Arkansas replaced Eddie Sutton with Nolan Richardson.
University of Kentucky
In 1985 Sutton took the helm of one of the nation's most prestigious college basketball programs at the University of Kentucky succeeding Joe B. Hall. He coached the Wildcats for four years, leading them to the Elite Eight of the 1986 NCAA Tournament.
Sutton's tenure at Kentucky ended with a scandal that badly damaged the school's basketball program. It broke out when an Emery Worldwide package sent to high school prospect Chris Mills from a Kentucky booster popped open and several large-denomination bills popped out. Another player, Eric Manuel, was found to have received improper assistance on his college entrance exams and was ultimately banned from NCAA competition. The scandal roiled the Wildcats to the point that they suffered their first losing season in 63 years.
Kentucky was already on probation stemming from an extensive scheme of payments to recruits, and the NCAA seriously considered hitting the Wildcats with the "death penalty", which would have shut down the entire basketball program (as opposed to simply being banned from postseason play) for up to two years. However, school president David Roselle forced Sutton and athletic director Cliff Hagan to resign. Sutton later admitted that he didn't have enough control over the program, although he personally committed no wrongdoing.
Oklahoma State University
Sutton returned to Oklahoma State in 1990, appointed with the task of restoring the honor and tradition of Cowboy basketball that had laid dormant in the years leading up to his hiring. The Cowboys had only made postseason play three times since joining the Big Eight Conference in 1957.
Given a second chance, Sutton soon went to work on reviving the Cowboys, and his coaching career. The Pokes began to turn around almost immediately with Sutton’s presence, and in 1991, Oklahoma State returned to the NCAA Tournament, ending their NCAA Tournament drought that had lasted since losing 56-53 to Princeton in 1983. Sutton’s Cowboys advanced all the way to the Sweet Sixteen his first two seasons as head coach. Sutton cemented the Cowboys’ return to the ranks of college basketball’s major powers in 1995 as the Pokes, with the leadership of ‘Big Country’ Bryant Reeves and Randy Rutherford, captured a share of the Big 8 Conference championship and won a bid to the 1995 NCAA Final Four in Seattle.
Under his tutelage, the Cowboys reached the postseason 14 times in his 17 years in Stillwater (having declined an NIT invitation in Sutton's sixth season as head coach), including 13 NCAA Tournament bids and two Final Four appearances. They also captured three regular-season conference titles and three conference tournament championships. He is the second-winningest coach in school history, behind only his mentor, Iba.
On January 15, 2005, the court at Gallagher-Iba Arena at Oklahoma State University was officially renamed Eddie Sutton Court. He was later honored for his contributions to the game of basketball and Oklahoma State University, on February 21, 2007.
Alcoholism
In 1987 Eddie Sutton underwent alcohol abuse treatment at the Betty Ford Center while coaching at the University of Kentucky.
On February 10, 2006, Sutton was cited with driving under the influence after being involved in a two-car traffic accident. Sutton was on his way to Stillwater Regional Airport and then to College Station, Texas for a game against Texas A&M. Days later during a press conference, Sutton said that pain relieving pills were not helping his chronic back pain and had "bought a bottle". In the same conference he also admitted to having a "drinking problem".
On February 17, a week following the accident, a blood sample taken from the accident revealed Sutton had a blood alcohol content of 0.22 (nearly three times the legal limit of 0.08). Sutton was charged with aggravated drunk driving, a misdemeanor. He was also charged with minor traffic violations of speeding and driving left of center.
Sutton then took a medical leave of absence, checked into a rehabilitation facility, and underwent surgery to treat his chronic back and hip pain. OSU designated one of his sons, Sean, then his top assistant, as interim head coach and his successor. Eddie retired on June 30, 2006 after his 16th season at OSU, thereby leaving the Oklahoma State men's basketball program in Sean's hands.
Family Legacy
Eddie Sutton has two sons, Sean Sutton, the current coach of Oklahoma State University, and Scott Sutton, the current coach of Oral Roberts University.
