Norman, Okla. — The Oklahoma women's basketball team is moving on in the NCAA tournament, its players pleased and confident but not content.
Just like their coach.
In only five years, Sherri Coale has taken a program that was floundering and has made it a force in the Big 12 and nationally. The formula an unwavering belief in her system and talented players whose faith in her is just as strong.
"Every year, our program seems to evolve a little bit more," All-American Stacey Dales said. "Coach Coale is never satisfied. We've sort of taken that role, also."
The Sooners (28-5) spent all year in the Associated Press Top 25, won the regular-season conference title, had their first All-American and are the No. 2 seed in the NCAA West regional.
A school-record crowd of 10,923 watched Oklahoma's first-round game Saturday night against Oral Roberts. The record fell Monday night when 11,050 showed up for a second-round victory over Stanford.
Stanford coach Tara VanDerveer recalled the 1990 season, when she and other coaches wore a ribbon during the week of the Final Four because Oklahoma had announced it was dropping its women's basketball program due to lack of support.
The national backlash over Oklahoma's announcement prompted the school to reinstate the program within a week. There were some good years in the mid-1990s, but mostly lean times before Coale was hired after seven outstanding years as coach at Norman High School.
Desperate for players, Coale called "every player I had ever heard of or seen" who was not already committed to a Division I school.
The Sooners struggled in her first two seasons, going 5-22 in 1996-97 and 8-19 the next year. But she and her staff continued to recruit and shape the program, looking for players who truly believed in what Coale was trying to accomplish.
"If there's a doubt in your mind, if you won't look me in the eye when I'm telling you about this vision, if you want to know who's going to be there to help make this happen, I need to go to the next house."
Last season, the Sooners broke through with a 25-8 record and tied for the conference regular-season title.
In the NCAA tournament, they stunned Purdue in the second round, rallying from a 17-point deficit to win on Purdue's home floor.
Coale said that game may have shocked others, but not Oklahoma because from the first day of practice, the team had set out to reach the Sweet 16.
"They had already been there every day in their minds," Coale said.
The players aimed even higher this year the Final Four and now Oklahoma is two victories away. The Sooners play sixth-seeded Washington in the West regional semifinals Saturday night in Spokane, Wash., and if they win would play either top-seeded Duke or Southwest Missouri State.
Regardless of the outcome this weekend, Coale will keep building.
"I hope that every year, it's 'Of course you're going to win 25 games and compete for the conference championship,'" she said. "I hope it becomes an expected thing."
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