OU head coach Porter Moser’s resilience to carry the day for Sooners

It’s very easy to look at the first two years of Porter Moser at OU and view them as underwhelming or unsuccessful.

Years of success at Loyola (Chicago) made Moser a popular name on the head coaching scene, but he never budged in looking for other jobs. A trip to the Final Four, a berth in the Sweet Sixteen, but it never felt like Moser would leave the Ramblers. Never budged until Lon Kruger retired, and Moser saw the alignment necessary to make the jump to Oklahoma.

The Sooners are 34-33 with Moser leading the charge, a .507 winning percentage. There is no doubt it has been a perfect storm of everything that has led to very uneven results.

The Big 12 has never been more competitive. Every single game is either a Quad 1 or Quad 2 opportunity. That’s great, obviously, if you can cash in on them. But it’s one heck of a mental and physical toll for every single contest.

Fourteen of OU’s 32 games last season were against ranked opponents. The Sooners went 4-10 in those games. Five losses by three points or less or overtime. Four double-digit victories against ranked opponents, including a 93-69 blitzing of No. 2 Alabama. There have been some highs to go with the lows. But it’s an everyday roller coaster.

You add in the changes to the transfer portal. Then how Name, Image and Likeness has altered the game completely, it’s different.

You can’t make excuses. Moser won’t make excuses. But as classes begin Monday, it’s full-speed ahead in Year No. 3. It’s time to get it right.

It’s not all doom-and-gloom. When asked by SoonerScoop last month about how the first two years have actually been a success, Moser didn’t have to hesitate. He knows, remains confident in what he is attempting to build with the Sooners.

One word to sum it all up – resilient.

“Just resilient on your culture and where you want to go,” Moser said. “That’s where I feel we’ve lost some—lost a lot of assistants and lost some guys. But every year I think we’ve added two back-to-back classes of two really good freshmen that have been the core, but I think there’s a lot of things that you’ve got to be.

“Resilient, that I as the head coach have to be focused on about keeping this main thing the main thing. But I know where I want to go. I want to get banners like all of us, and we’ve talked about this. The coaches have talked about this. This area of NIL, transfer portal, we’re going to get through this. And I’m going to be resilient on getting through this.”

Moser is not fighting the NIL or transfer portal game. Hey, we get it, this is how college athletics are at this moment. But with every year, you hope he’s turning the corner. Learning a little bit more about how to navigate the portal and what works best.

This year’s team needed to be longer, more athletic, tougher and score the ball better. We’ll see if the portal guys can check off those boxes more consistently going forward.

Where it hits home the most in the positive direction, though, is in recruiting. Despite all the transfer portal defections after last season’s 15-17 record, the two who never flinched were the two that mattered the most. OU could not afford for either Milos Uzan or Otega Oweh to even think about dipping their toes into the transfer waters.

They didn’t. Oweh and Uzan were adamant all they were worried about was how to make OU better in 2023-24.

Oweh (No. 76) and Uzan (No. 86) both showed immediately how well Moser can recruit.

Look at this year’s group, and Jacolb Cole and Kaden Cooper were both huge wins. Cole suffered a fractured foot in the summer, so it might take some time. But Cooper? The freshman, originally from Ada, Okla., is expected to be a big piece of this year’s puzzle.

Cole earned a No. 123 ranking in the country. Cooper a consensus top-100 guy, No. 65 overall.

“Kaden Cooper noticeably has gained weight,” Moser said. “Fifteen pounds he’s added. He’s gained a lot of weight coming in. As a freshman you’re trying to learn and take everything in. And he’s had a great attitude, learning. But he’s also another one who’s a 6-foot-6, athletic wing. We’re just more athletic.”

Recruiting is the foundation, and the last two years have shown prospects are still all-in with believing and trusting what he is trying to do.

It starts with Moser, and it always will.

Said Moser: “As far as being a leader here and just the vision, you got to be relentless. It’s got to be every day. And because we’ve got new guys, it’s not going to just all of a sudden happen unless you achieve what you emphasize.”

Moser has already been back at it, trying to reach out to the freshmen students to pack the Lloyd Noble Center. The debate will continue about what a new arena should look like, but all Moser can do right now is focus on making the LNC a tough environment.

He’s fighting for every inch and not slowing down anytime soon for OU. Every single inch.

“I know where we want to go with this thing,” Moser said. “And there’s no one who’s fighting harder and believes in it more than me every single day.”