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Published April 05, 2006 01:42 am - Premier job? John Shinn The Norman Transcript In 98 years of basketball, Oklahoma has been to the NCAA Tournament 24 times, advanced to the Final Four on four occasions and won 14 conference championships.
But there’s a perception Oklahoma athletics director Joe Castiglione will have to fight as he begins the search to replace Kelvin Sampson — A-list coaches don’t want to come to a place where football has always been the main attraction. Castiglione met the question head-on while Sampson was over 700 miles away being introduced as Indiana’s new coach. When Sampson was introduced at Indiana, he said he wanted to coach the Hoosiers because he believed Bloomington was a place where championships could be won. “I think back to being an outsider looking in and when you think about Indiana, you think about a place that has not just won championships, but has a championship tradition,” Sampson said. “Tradition is important. You can’t create it. It just can’t happen.” The Hoosiers have won five national championships and numerous Big Ten titles. Few programs can match their success. Only UCLA (11) and Kentucky (seven) have hung more national championship banners. But Castiglione believes Sampson just left a program where that could be done. “A place like Oklahoma, with the resources we have right now, I absolutely believe it’s possible,” he said. “And I wouldn’t want to hire any coach that didn’t share the same passion, the same belief that we share.” But getting a coach at a traditional basketball power to believe that could be difficult. OU’s facilities take a backseat to few programs. Following the 2002 trip to the Final Four, the Bruce Drake practice court was built along with state-of-the-art weight and training rooms. Sampson said one of his goals at Indiana will be getting its facilities up to OU’s standard. “The facilities at OU are as good as there are in the country,” Sampson said. Facilities are important and money will certainly be an issue, too. But money can’t buy interest. OU’s fanbase has always treated basketball like a vacation home, where attendance is voluntary rather than mandatory. 
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