Eddie Sutton

Eddie Sutton (1936-2020)

Teams coached: Creighton Bluejays, Arkansas Razorbacks, Kentucky Wildcats, Oklahoma State Cowboys, San Francisco Dons
Creighton record: 82-50 (.621)
Arkansas record: 260-75 (.776)
Kentucky record: 88-39 (.693) **
Oklahoma State record: 368-151 (.709)
San Francisco record: 6-13 (.316)
Overall record^: 804-328 (.710) **

Career Accomplishments:

• NCAA National Championships:  0
• NCAA Tournament Appearances:  25  (1974, 1977, 1978, 1979, 1980, 1981, 1982, 1983, 1984, 1985, 1986, 1987, 1991, 1992, 1993, 1994, 1995, 1998, 1999, 2000, 2001, 2002, 2003, 2004, 2005) **
• NCAA Tournament Sweet Sixteen:  11  (1978, 1979, 1981, 1983, 1986, 1991, 1992, 1995, 2000, 2004, 2005) **
• NCAA Tournament Final Four:  3  (1978, 1995, 2004)
• NIT Championships:  0
• NIT Appearances:  2  (1997, 2006)
• Big 12 Regular Season Champion:  1  (2004)
• Big Eight Regular Season Champion:  1  (1991)
• SEC Regular Season Champion:  1  (1986)
• Southwest Regular Season Champion:  5  (1977, 1978, 1979, 1981, 1982)
• Big 12 Tournament Champion:  2  (2004, 2005)
• Big Eight Tournament Champion:  1  (1995)
• SEC Tournament Champion:  1  (1986)
• Southwest Tournament Champion:  3  (1977, 1979, 1982)

Awards:

• AP Coach of the Year:  2  (1978, 1986)
• NABC Coach of the Year:  1  (1986)
• Henry Iba Award:  1  (1977)
• UPI Coach of the Year:  1  (1978)
• Big 12 Coach of the Year:  2  (1998, 2004)
• Big Eight Coach of the Year:  1  (1993)
• SEC Coach of the Year:  1  (1986)
• Southwest Coach of the Year:  4  (1975, 1977, 1979, 1981)
• Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame (inducted 2020)
• National Collegiate Basketball Hall of Fame (inducted 2011)

Coaching Career (head coach, unless noted):

2007-2008	San Francisco (interim HC)
1990-2006	Oklahoma State
1985-1989	Kentucky
1974-1985	Arkansas
1969-1974	Creighton
1966-1969	Southern Idaho
1958-1959	Oklahoma State (asst)

Eddie Sutton Facts

• Edward Eugene Sutton
• Born March 12, 1936
• Died May 23, 2020
• Hometown: Bucklin, Kansas
• Alma Mater: Oklahoma State University (BS, 1958)
• Played for HOF head coach Henry Iba at Oklahoma A&M/State and then spent one year as one of his assistants
• Founded the basketball program at College of Southern Idaho in 1966 in the school’s third year in existence
  • Went 84-14 (.857) in three seasons there before moving up to the NCAA level
• Won 82 games in five seasons as the head coach at Creighton, reaching the 1974 NCAA Tournament
• Was the head coach at Arkansas for eleven seasons and had tremendous success in Fayetteville
  • Won 260 games and led the Razorbacks to the NCAA Tournament in nine-straight seasons, including the 1978 Final Four
  • Earned five Southwest Conference titles at Arkansas and won the SWC Tournament three times; named Southwest COY four times
• Had a short and eventful four-year tenure as the head coach at Kentucky, winning two SEC titles but ultimately leaving in 1989 amidst a recruiting scandal that occurred while the program was already on probation
  • Facing termination and a possible “death penalty” for the program, Sutton resigned as the Wildcats head coach and had his second SEC regular season and Tournament titles, as well as the 1988 Sweet Sixteen appearance – vacated by the NCAA
• Returned to his alma mater Oklahoma State in 1990, coaching the Cowboys for the next sixteen seasons
  • Went to the postseason nearly every year (13 NCAA, 2 NIT), including trips to the Final Four in 1995 and 2004
  • Won two conference titles (one Big Eight, one Big 12) and three conference tournaments (one Big Eight, two Big 12) at OSU
  • Resigned from his position in May 2006, following a February car accident in which he was charged with DUI
• Briefly came out of retirement in December 2007 to coach the San Francisco Dons for the last 19 games of the ’07-08 season
  • Won just 6 games, but reached his milestone 800th win on 2/2/2008, becoming the fifth D-I head coach to hit 800
• Sutton was the first collegiate head coach to lead four different schools to the NCAA Tournament and is on a short list of coaches to lead two different teams to the Final Four
• Along with his late wife, Patsy, had three sons; two of whom, Scott and Sean have also been collegiate head coaches
  • Sutton passed away in May 2020 at the age of 84 from natural causes, at home in Tulsa and surrounded by family

Eddie Sutton Coaching Tree

• Tom Apke (Appalachian State, Colorado, Creighton)
• Bill Brown (California PA, Kenyon, Sacramento State)
• Dwane Casey (Toronto Raptors, Minnesota Timberwolves)
• Glynn Cyprien (Memphis Hustle, Iowa Wolves)
• James Dickey (Houston, Texas Tech)
• Rob Evans (Arizona State, Ole Miss)
• Pat Foster (Nevada, Houston, Lamar)
• Bob Gottlieb (Milwaukee, Jacksonville)
• Paul Graham (Georgia State, Washington State)
• Tim Jankovich (SMU, Illinois State, North Texas)
• Gene Keady (Purdue, Western Kentucky)
• Kyle Keller (Stephen F. Austin, Tyler JC)
• Robert McCullum (Florida A&M)
• Sidney Moncrief (Fort Worth Flyers, Arkansas-Little Rock)
• John Pelphrey (Tennessee Tech, Arkansas, South Alabama)
• Russ Pennell (Central Arkansas, Grand Canyon, Arizona)
• Doc Sadler (Southern Miss, Nebraska, UTEP, Arkansas-Fort Smith)
• Bill Self (Kansas, Illinois, Tulsa, Oral Roberts)
• Scott Sutton (Oral Roberts)
• Sean Sutton (Oklahoma State)
• Brooks Thompson (UTSA)
• Darrell Walker (Little Rock, Clark Atlanta)
• Corey Williams (Stetson)
• Sean Woods (Southern, Morehead State, Mississippi Valley State)

 

^ overall record includes head coaching positions at the NCAA Division I level only

** Listed accomplishments for this coach do not include wins or appearances later vacated by the NCAA