Oklahoma, Porter Moser to bring back Clayton Custer as assistant coach

Oklahoma head coach Porter Moser just added a familiar face to the team. Former Loyola Chicago assistant Clayton Custer will reportedly join the Sooners this season, per Sooner Scoop’s Bob Przybylo.

Source says Clayton Custer is coming back to #OU as assistant coach.

Custer had been hired by Loyola after last yr. Will reunite w/ Porter Moser.

Custer, of course, played for Moser at Loyola.

Easy dots to connect. Strong continuity, with Custer being so familiar w/ #Sooners.

— Bob Przybylo (@BPrzybylo) August 7, 2023

The hire might seem like Déjà vu to some fans. Custer spent the last two seasons with Oklahoma as the program’s director of video operations and player development. However, in April, Custer opted to return to his alma mater to serve as Loyola Chicago’s assistant coach.

Custer had previously served as the team’s director of player development during the 2020-21 season before joining the Sooners. Evidently, Custer can’t get enough of Oklahoma. In fairness, Custer has had no shortage of success with Moser in the past.

Custer played under Moser at Loyola Chicago for three seasons. The 5-foot-11 guard was named MVC Player of the Year as a redshirt junior in 2017-18, the same season Loyola went 32-6 and advanced to the program’s first Final Four since 1963.

Although Custer didn’t boost the Ramblers to the same level of postseasn success in the 2018-19 season, he was still a standout, earning third-team Academic All-American and third-team All-MVC honors.

In total, Custer started 99 games in his three-year career with the Ramblers and helped the program to a 70-34 (.673) record. The Kansas native averaged 12.0 points, 2.2 rebounds and 3.3 assists per game while with Loyola.

Despite his fantastic collegiate career, Custer went undrafted in the 2019 NBA Draft. Followng the disappointment, he signed a professional contract with Śląsk Wroclaw of the Polish Basketball League. Nonetheless, the team bought out Custer’s contract shortly after.

Context to Custer’s sudden switch

While Custer has close ties to Moser, it still seems to odd to leave Loyola just months after joining the program as an assistant coach. Nevertheless, with a little digging, the seemingly odd change makes complete sense.

An assistant coaching position opened up for the Sooners after Duke swiped assistant coach Emanuel Dildy this offseason. Missing a pivotal staff member in August, Moser was under immense pressure to fill the position.

“There’s a lot that’s gonna go into (it),” Moser said in early June. “People that I know. People knows me. I’ve had a lot of guys leave. Someone that I really feel is gonna stay here for some time. Somebody that I know and trust that knows me, knows my system, is a factor. That’s part of that. Not to say that’s the end all. But when you lose somebody and they got to start right up — our workouts are over for the summer. So it’s really is someone that knows what we’re doing, knows my system. I’ve got some guys targeted.

“It’s tough to lose, especially your associate coach who all summer you were doing the workouts with, to lose him at this time of year,” Moser said. “But that just shows you a lot about Emanuel. I knew when I hired him. I had him at Loyola. Very good on the court, and I thought his next step was going to be a head coach, but this was an opportunity he felt he couldn’t pass up. Getting an assistant coach this late, our workouts are done, our roster is set, so some of the biggest things (that are) important is someone that really I believe is going to build this thing with me.”