Joe Castiglione explains salary increase for Porter Moser

More than one coach at Oklahoma recently got a raise with Porter Moser getting a bump on his contract too. That, according to AD Joe Castiglione, was nothing more than a show of good faith from them to the head men’s basketball coach of the Sooners.

Castiglione discussed the additional pay while speaking with the media last week. In his explanation, he said an increase in Moser’s deal wasn’t on the schedule like in other years. However, with what they did this season at OU, their leadership felt as though that he had earned it.

“Yeah, there was a part of the contract that is in place? Just the way that it was set up because of several things that we arranged during his hire. He has an automatic increase and, this year, it didn’t occur,” Castiglione explained. “Last year, it did. Next year, it does. But, this year, there wasn’t one in there. It just was a rhythm in how we made the comp schedule come together when his contract was put in place the first time.”

“We thought, given what our team accomplished this year, that it was definitely important to show Coach Moser that we appreciate him and what he’s providing in leadership,” Castiglione said.

Oklahoma posted a 20-12 record this year in what was Moser’s third season in Norman. It was their most wins since ’18-’19 at their best percentage since ’15-’16.

That led to the raise of $100,000 for this upcoming season. That will bring this year’s compensation for him up to $3.2 million

However, the Sooners did not accomplish their next goal of making it into March Madness. They ended up as the first team out of the final field on Selection Sunday. Still, while that’s not the finish that they wanted, Castiglione knows that it wasn’t necessarily their fault considering how conference tournaments went across the country.

“Of course, we were disappointed not getting into the NCAA Tournament. But it took many anomalies that have not been seen in the days leading up to the NCAA Tournament to keep us out. We’ve been either the First Team Out or amongst the first teams out in two of the last three years,” Castiglione said. “I mean we are not shying away from the expectation or our goal of being in the tournament and, once getting in the tournament, being successful. He wants that, he embraces that. Nobody was more disappointed than the team. You look at the tough schedule that they played? And you look at the number of wins they had against a tough schedule? It was a tournament-level team and a tournament profile. But the so-called bid-stealers were (more) numerous than anyone can ever remember.”

“Look, we’re not excuse makers. It happens. I’m just explaining,” said Castiglione. “We’re not going to change our goals. We’re not going to change our expectation of being in the tournament.”

In the end, Castiglione and others felt like the raise was appropriate for Moser. Now, with the rest of his deal still set through 2028, it’s about continuing to develop them on and off the court to build even more success in his tenure at Oklahoma.

“It just felt like it was the right thing to do to show him and his assistants that we really appreciate the hard work that they’re putting into the program, the way they’re growing the program itself. How hard he works externally – nobody goes around and tries to build interest like he does,” said Castiglione.

“Just wanted to show him appreciation for all that he has done to contribute to the progress in our program.”