Burl Plunkett (May 26, 1933 – June 6, 2008) is a former

basketball Basketball is a team sport in which two teams, most commonly of five players each, opposing one another on a rectangular Basketball court, court, compete with the primary objective of #Shooting, shooting a basketball (ball), basketball (appr ...

coach. Prior to being a head coach, Plunkett played two seasons at Centenary College, averaging 17.9 and 14.4 points per game, respectively. He served as the head coach for numerous high schools, including his hometown school of Valliant from 1962 to 1965, Tuloso-Midway High School from 1966 to 1971, Byng High School from 1971 to 1979 and Idabel High School from 1980 to 1990, winning three state titles with Byng. Plunkett served as the seventh head coach of the

University of Oklahoma The University of Oklahoma (OU) is a Public university, public research university in Norman, Oklahoma. Founded in 1890, it had existed in Oklahoma Territory near Indian Territory for 17 years before the two Territories became the state of Oklahom ...

women's basketball Women's basketball is the team sport of basketball played by women. It began being played in 1892, one year after men's basketball, at Smith College in Massachusetts. It spread across the United States, in large part via women's college compet ...

program from 1993 to 1996. He had served as assistant coach for three years prior to being hired to replace Gary Hudson. In his first year, he led them to an 18–12 record, good enough for an invitation to the

National Women's Invitational Tournament The National Women's Invitational Tournament (NWIT) was a post-season tournament for women's intercollegiate basketball programs that was contested from 1969 to 1996. The original sponsorship information appears to have been lost over the ensuin ...

that year as one of the eight teams. The Sooners won the tournament by beating Arkansas State 69–65. The following year, he led them to a 21–8 record and an invite to the

1995 NCAA Division I women's basketball tournament The 1995 NCAA Division I women's basketball tournament featured 64 teams. The Final Four consisted of Connecticut, Tennessee, Stanford, and Georgia. Connecticut defeated Tennessee 70-64 to win its first NCAA title and complete a 35-0 undefeated s ...

, where they made it to the Second Round before losing to Louisiana Tech 48–36. After a dismal 12–15 season the following year, he retired from the Sooners.

Head coaching record

References

1933 births 2008 deaths American women's basketball coaches Basketball coaches from Oklahoma Centenary Gentlemen basketball players Oklahoma Sooners women's basketball coaches {{Oklahoma-sport-stub