Joe Castiglione credits continuity at Oklahoma between coaches, administration

The Oklahoma Sooners made their official debut as members of the SEC conference on Monday. The Paul Finebaum Show was front and center for the festivities and celebration, and welcomed Oklahoma athletic director Joe Castiglione on the show to talk about the move.

As the interview proceeded, Finebaum revealed that he has had an affinity for Oklahoma from afar, recognizing the stability the university has had throughout its athletic administration and coaches. That is something that Castiglione sees as a thing of the past in college sports but not so much for Oklahoma.

“It’s not gonna happen in college athletics anymore, I’m afraid,” Castiglione said. “Yeah, President Boren hired me 26 years ago… worked with President Boren for 20 years, 18 with Bob. And you don’t get that without being totally aligned in what’s best for the program and being comfortable with the uncomfortable decisions. We had great trust [and] great alignment.”

Former university president David Boren held the position for over two decades, from 1994 to 2018. During his tenure, he brought on Castiglione as the Sooners athletic director in 1998. And almost immediately, Castiglione brought in now legendary Oklahoma head football coach Bob Stoops.

Stoops helped the Sooners return to prominence in college football. The trio would lead the Sooners to one of their more prominent runs in the program’s history, including a national championship victory in 2000 to go along with 10 Big 12 titles.

Castiglione on recreating that alignment

Castiglione looks back on his days with Boren and Stoops favorably. However, despite believing extensive runs similar to the one they all share are a thing of the past, that is not stopping him from attempting to recreate another one right now. As he continued, the Oklahoma athletic director revealed what could help him recreate a similar structure with current university president Joseph Harroz and head football coach Brent Venables.

“It’s something that I’ll always cherish, but it’s something that we try to recreate,” Castiglione said. “I feel, right now, we’ve got that going with our president, Joe Harroz, our board, Brent Venables, [and] any of our coaches. It’s so important we all want to do the same thing and do it at the highest level. To have the alignment and understanding; everybody feels like they’re locked together. That’s a hallmark of our program— not that we don’t have areas of improvement. We embrace that, but we really put a high level of importance on alignment.”

Castiglione and softball head coach Patty Gasso have shared the alignment Castiglione is working to recreate for the Sooners football program and some of their other collegiate programs. Should the Sooners athletic director need to lean on an example of how to create alignment, he has two great examples, past and present, with Stoops and Gasso. And if Venables works out as planned, he has one for the future.