Tulsa Golden Hurricane Men's Basketball
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The Tulsa Golden Hurricane men's basketball team represents the
University of Tulsa The University of Tulsa (TU) is a Private university, private research university in Tulsa, Oklahoma. It has a historic affiliation with the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.), Presbyterian Church, although it is now nondenominational, and the campus ...
in
Tulsa Tulsa ( ) is the second-most-populous city in the state of Oklahoma, after Oklahoma City, and the 48th-most-populous city in the United States. The population was 413,066 as of the 2020 census. It is the principal municipality of the Tul ...
, in the U.S. state of
Oklahoma Oklahoma ( ; Choctaw language, Choctaw: , ) is a landlocked U.S. state, state in the South Central United States, South Central region of the United States. It borders Texas to the south and west, Kansas to the north, Missouri to the northea ...
. The team participates in the
American Athletic Conference The American Athletic Conference (AAC), also known as The American, is a collegiate List of NCAA conferences, athletic conference in the United States, featuring 13 full member universities and 6 affiliate member universities that compete in t ...
. The Golden Hurricane are led by head coach
Eric Konkol Eric Konkol (born November 24, 1976) is an American college basketball coach and former player. He is the current head coach of the Tulsa Golden Hurricane men's basketball program. Coaching career On May 18, 2015, Konkol was named by Louisiana ...
, hired from Louisiana Tech on March 21, 2022, to replace Frank Haith who had resigned. The team has long been successful, especially since the hiring of
Nolan Richardson Nolan Richardson Jr. (born December 27, 1941) is an American former basketball head coach best known for his tenure at the Arkansas Razorbacks men's basketball, University of Arkansas, where he won the 1994 NCAA Division I men's basketball tourn ...
in 1980. Many big-name coaches previously worked at Tulsa, like
University of Kansas The University of Kansas (KU) is a public research university with its main campus in Lawrence, Kansas, United States. Two branch campuses are in the Kansas City metropolitan area on the Kansas side: the university's medical school and hospital ...
coach
Bill Self Billy Eugene Self Jr. (born December 27, 1962) is an American basketball coach who is the head coach of the Kansas Jayhawks men's basketball, Kansas Jayhawks men's basketball team. Self has held various coaching roles at the collegiate level an ...
and
Minnesota Minnesota ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Upper Midwestern region of the United States. It is bordered by the Canadian provinces of Manitoba and Ontario to the north and east and by the U.S. states of Wisconsin to the east, Iowa to the so ...
coach Tubby Smith. The Hurricane have been to the NCAA tournament 14 times in their history. In addition, they have won two
National Invitation Tournament The National Invitation Tournament (NIT) is an annual men's college basketball tournament operated by the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA). Since 2023, all rounds of the tournament are played at various sites across the country whi ...
s, in
1981 Events January * January 1 ** Greece enters the European Economic Community, predecessor of the European Union. ** Palau becomes a self-governing territory. * January 6 – A funeral service is held in West Germany for Nazi Grand Admiral ...
and
2001 The year's most prominent event was the September 11 attacks against the United States by al-Qaeda, which Casualties of the September 11 attacks, killed 2,977 people and instigated the global war on terror. The United States led a Participan ...
, and one CBI tournament. In 2005,
Street & Smith's
' named the University of Tulsa as the 59th best college basketball program of all time.


History

Clarence Iba, brother of
Henry Iba Henry Payne “Hank” Iba (; August 6, 1904 – January 15, 1993) was an American basketball coach and college athletics administrator. He served as the head basketball coach at Northwest Missouri State Teacher's College, now known as Northwes ...
, helped to springboard Tulsa to success when named the head coach in 1949. He coached at the school for 11 years, the longest tenure of any Tulsa coach, and is the second all-time winningest coach at the school with 137 wins in his 11 seasons. Nolan Richardson is credited with bringing the Tulsa program to national prominence when hired in 1980, and he led the school to the 1981 NIT Championship and had a .763 winning percentage at the school. He became the first coach in NCAA history to win 50 games in his first two seasons. In the 1990s and 2000s, a succession of Tulsa coaches went on to big-name programs across the country, including Tubby Smith,
Buzz Peterson Robert Bower "Buzz" Peterson Jr. (born May 17, 1963) is an American basketball executive who is the assistant general manager for the Charlotte Hornets of the National Basketball Association (NBA). He has also coached college basketball, most re ...
, and Bill Self. The team remained successful throughout the string of coaches.
Doug Wojcik Frederick Douglas Wojcik (pronounced WO-jick) (born April 12, 1964) is an American college basketball coach, former player, and former Naval officer. Currently, he is the Associate Head Coach for Tom Izzo at Michigan State University. An NCAA D ...
, coach from 2005 to 2012, is the all-time winningest coach at the school with 140 wins. Notable assistants in the program's history have included
Billy Gillispie Billy Clyde Gillispie ( ; born November 7, 1959), also known by his initials BCG and Billy Clyde, is an American college basketball and current men's basketball coach at Tarleton State. Gillispie had previously been head coach at UTEP, Texas ...
,
Flip Saunders Philip Daniel "Flip" Saunders (February 23, 1955 – October 25, 2015) was an American basketball player and coach. During his career, he coached the La Crosse Catbirds, Minnesota Timberwolves, Detroit Pistons, and Washington Wizards. High schoo ...
, Kevin O’Neill, Mike Anderson, Ron Jirsa and Jerry Wainwright.


Notable players

Tulsa has had a series of great players at the program, many of whom have gone on to play in the NBA. Successful players to never make it to the NBA include Gary Collier, the 1994 MVC player of the year, Michael Scott, the 1989 and 1991 MVC defensive player of the year, and Willie Biles who led the MVC in scoring in both the 1972–73 and 1973–1974 seasons. Among those who did make it to the NBA, James King, who came back to coach the program after his NBA career, and Bingo Smith had the greatest success. King was selected to the 1968
NBA All-Star Game The National Basketball Association All-Star Game is the annual all-star game hosted each February by the National Basketball Association (NBA) and showcases 24 of the league's All-star, star players. Since 2022, it was held on the third Sunday of ...
, and Smith scored more than 10,000 points in his career, having his number retired by the
Cleveland Cavaliers The Cleveland Cavaliers, often referred to as the Cavs, are an American professional basketball team based in Cleveland. The Cavaliers compete in the National Basketball Association (NBA) as a member of the Central Division (NBA), Central Divis ...
. Steve Bracey (1970–72) was a member of the 1974–75 Golden State Warriors NBA Championship team.


Golden Hurricane players in the NBA


History

Tulsa's basketball program was founded by W.R. Bergen in 1907, when the school still went by the name Kendall College. It went 1–1 in its first season. Following the 1908–09 season, the team went on hiatus for several years before restarting for the 1913–14 season under Harvey Allen.Bonham, Chad. ''Golden Hurricane Basketball at the University of Tulsa.'' Chicago: Arcadia, 2004, pg. 9 In 1917, the school played its first games outside the state of Oklahoma, but did not see great success until Francis Schmidt became head coach in 1918; Schmidt led the school to 16 consecutive victories in the 1919–20 season, the school record.Bonham, pg. 10 The team hit hard times and achieved occasional modest success until the arrival of Clarence Iba in 1949. Of special note is the 1942–1943 winless squad under Mike Milligan, whose team went 0–10. Under Iba, Tulsa reached the post-season for the first time in the 1953 NIT. (In March 1921, Tulsa had been invited to the National A.A.U. tournament after an 18–1 season which widely regarded them as Oklahoma champions). In 1955, Iba led the Golden Hurricane to their first
Missouri Valley Conference The Missouri Valley Conference (also called MVC or simply "The Valley") is the fourth-oldest collegiate List of NCAA conferences, athletic conference in the United States. The conference's members are primarily located in the Midwestern Unite ...
title and NCAA tournament appearance. Joe Swank succeeded Iba in 1960. It was under Swank that the color barrier was broken in the Tulsa basketball program. Swank had some winning seasons, but the program would be without real success until the arrival of Nolan Richardson. Nolan Richardson's hiring helped to usher in a new era of success at Tulsa that has remained fairly consistent since then. He led the team the NIT Championship in the 1980–1981 season, his first at the school. Richardson also won two MVC regular season and two MVC tournament championships in his five-season tenure. His flamboyant personality made him extremely popular; his teams adopted McFadden & Whitehead's "Ain't No Stoppin' Us Now" as their theme song during the Richardson years. Richardson was succeeded by J. D. Barnett, who continued the team's success, winning one tournament and one regular season championship and finishing lower than third in the conference only once. Barnett was fired, however, due to the significant increase in expectations at Tulsa following Richardson's success. Barnett was succeeded by Tubby Smith, who went on to coach at
Kentucky Kentucky (, ), officially the Commonwealth of Kentucky, is a landlocked U.S. state, state in the Southeastern United States, Southeastern region of the United States. It borders Illinois, Indiana, and Ohio to the north, West Virginia to the ...
,
Georgia Georgia most commonly refers to: * Georgia (country), a country in the South Caucasus * Georgia (U.S. state), a state in the southeastern United States Georgia may also refer to: People and fictional characters * Georgia (name), a list of pe ...
and Minnesota. Smith spent four seasons at Tulsa, winning two MVC championships and leading them past the first round of the NCAA tournament for the first time, to the Sweet Sixteen in both the 1993–1994 and 1994–1995 seasons. A succession of high-profile coaches came through following Smith's departure for Georgia. Steve Robinson led the team to consecutive NCAA appearances before departing for
Florida State Florida State University (FSU or Florida State) is a Public university, public research university in Tallahassee, Florida, United States. It is a senior member of the State University System of Florida and a preeminent university in the s ...
. Bill Self succeeded Robinson for three seasons, winning two WAC titles in the 1998–99 and 1999–00 seasons and leading Tulsa to its best record ever, a 32–5 record in the 1999–00 season. Tulsa advanced to the Elite Eight in the 2000 NCAA tournament as a #7 seed. Self departed for
Illinois Illinois ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Midwestern United States, Midwestern United States. It borders on Lake Michigan to its northeast, the Mississippi River to its west, and the Wabash River, Wabash and Ohio River, Ohio rivers to its ...
and was succeeded by Buzz Peterson. Peterson led the team to the 2001 NIT Championship and promptly took the head coaching position at the
University of Tennessee The University of Tennessee, Knoxville (or The University of Tennessee; UT; UT Knoxville; or colloquially UTK or Tennessee) is a Public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in Knoxville, Tennessee, United St ...
. Following Peterson's departure, John Phillips led the team to NCAA tournaments in his first two seasons and won a WAC title. However, he passed on local high school star Caleb Green, a decision that came back to haunt him when Green signed with ORU. Phillips resigned on Christmas Day, 2004. The team finished that season 9th in the WAC, TU's worst ever conference finish. Doug Wojcik was hired before the 2005–06 season to revive the program. He led the team to 20 wins in both his second, third, and fourth seasons and the 2008 College Basketball Invitational championship, led by tournament MVP Jerome Jordan. Wojcik's hiring also coincided with Tulsa's decision to join
Conference USA Conference USA (CUSA) is a collegiate athletic conference of member institutions in the Southern and Western United States. The conference participates in the NCAA's Division I in all sports. CUSA's offices are located in Dallas, Texas. Mem ...
. Much has been made of Tulsa's ability to hire good coaching candidates but their inability to retain them like Gonzaga has been able to. Since Barnett's firing after the 1990–1991 season, only one coach has stayed at the program more than four seasons and all but one have departed for larger programs. Barnett has speculated that finances may be a reason when larger programs come calling, but he also " oes't know what the real philosophical reasons are."


Awards

Coach of the Year *Clarence Iba – 1955 – MVC *Joe Swank – 1967 – MVC * Ken Hayes – 1969, 1973 – MVC *Nolan Richardson – 1981, 1985 – MVC *J. D. Barnett – 1987 – MVC *Tubby Smith – 1994, 1995 – MVC *Bill Self – 2000 – WAC *Danny Manning – 2014 – C-USA *Frank Haith – 2020 – AAC Player of the Year *Bingo Smith – 1969 – MVC *Paul Pressey – 1982 – MVC *Gary Collier – 1994 – MVC Defensive Player of the Year *Michael Scott – 1989, 1991 – MVC *Lou Dawkins – 1994 – MVC Freshman of the Year *Shea Seals – 1994 – MVC *Greg Harrington – 1999 – WAC


Retired numbers

Seven numbers have been retired by the University of Tulsa basketball program. The most recent was that of Bingo Smith on February 22, 2020.


Post-season

The Golden Hurricane have made 16 NCAA tournament appearances (12–16 combined record), 10 NIT appearances (12–8 combined record), and two CBI appearances (5–2 combined record). They are twice NIT champions, in 1981 and 2001, and were champions of the CBI in 2008.


NCAA tournament results


NCAA tournament seeding history

The
NCAA The National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) is a nonprofit organization that regulates College athletics in the United States, student athletics among about 1,100 schools in the United States, and Simon Fraser University, 1 in Canada. ...
began seeding the
NCAA Division I men's basketball tournament The NCAA Division I men's basketball tournament, branded as March Madness, or The Big Dance, is a single-elimination tournament played in the United States to determine the men's college basketball national champion of the NCAA Division I, Di ...
with the 1979 edition. The 64-team field started in
1985 The year 1985 was designated as the International Youth Year by the United Nations. Events January * January 1 ** The Internet's Domain Name System is created. ** Greenland withdraws from the European Economic Community as a result of a n ...
, which guaranteed that a championship team had to win six games.


NIT Results

The Golden Hurricane have two NIT championships, in 1981 and 2001.


CBI results

The Golden Hurricane were champions of the 2008 College Basketball Invitational, which was the inaugural tournament.


Conferences

Tulsa has been a member of a variety of conferences over its history. With
Oklahoma Oklahoma ( ; Choctaw language, Choctaw: , ) is a landlocked U.S. state, state in the South Central United States, South Central region of the United States. It borders Texas to the south and west, Kansas to the north, Missouri to the northea ...
and
Oklahoma State Oklahoma State University (informally Oklahoma State or OSU) is a public land-grant research university in Stillwater, Oklahoma, United States. The university was established in 1890 under the legislation of the Morrill Act. Originally known ...
, the
Oklahoma Collegiate Conference The Oklahoma Collegiate Conference (OCC), also known as the Oklahoma Collegiate Athletic Conference (OCAC), was an College athletics, intercollegiate athletic conference that existed from 1929 to 1974. The conference's members were located in the st ...
was formed for the 1914–1915 season. Tulsa would participate in this conference for fifteen years, with occasional breaks. In 1929, the program co-founded the
Big Four Conference The term Big Four Conference may refer to one of several conferences between heads of state or foreign ministers of the victorious nations after World War I (1914–18) or during and after World War II (1939–45). Post-World War I After World Wa ...
, which lasted five seasons. The University of Tulsa joined the
Missouri Valley Conference The Missouri Valley Conference (also called MVC or simply "The Valley") is the fourth-oldest collegiate List of NCAA conferences, athletic conference in the United States. The conference's members are primarily located in the Midwestern Unite ...
in 1934. Tulsa remained a member of the MVC until 1996, when it joined the
Western Athletic Conference The Western Athletic Conference (WAC) is an NCAA Division I conference. The WAC covers a broad expanse of the Western United States with member institutions located in Arizona, California, Texas, Utah and Washington (state), Washington. Due to ...
for the 1996–1997 season. While a member of the WAC, it was at various times in both the Mountain and Pacific Division. Tulsa joined
Conference USA Conference USA (CUSA) is a collegiate athletic conference of member institutions in the Southern and Western United States. The conference participates in the NCAA's Division I in all sports. CUSA's offices are located in Dallas, Texas. Mem ...
with the 2005–2006 season.”Six Schools Join Conference USA”.
''NCAASports.com'', July 5, 2005.
For the 2014–2015 season, the Golden Hurricane joined the
American Athletic Conference The American Athletic Conference (AAC), also known as The American, is a collegiate List of NCAA conferences, athletic conference in the United States, featuring 13 full member universities and 6 affiliate member universities that compete in t ...
.


Arenas

Tulsa currently plays in the
Reynolds Center Donald W. Reynolds Center is an 8,355-seat multi-purpose arena in Tulsa, Oklahoma. Designed by HOK Sport (now known as Populous Co.), the arena opened in 1998 and is named for Donald W. Reynolds. Located on the University of Tulsa campus, it is ...
, an 8,355-capacity on-campus arena adjacent to Skelly Field at H. A. Chapman Stadium. The Reynolds Center was completed in 1998. The
student section A student section or student cheering section is a group of students, student fans that supports its school's student athlete, athletic teams at spectator sport, sporting events; they are known for being one of the most visible and vocal sections o ...
is known as the Storm Front, and is known in the current year for members of the TU Chapter of Beta Upsilon Chi, who carry shields and wear various animal masks during opponent free throws. Efforts are made by the coaching staff through frequent e-mails to encourage attendance and creativity from the student body. Previously, the Golden Hurricane had played off-campus, using the
Tulsa Convention Center The Arvest Convention Center (formerly the Tulsa Assembly Center, Tulsa Convention Center, Maxwell Convention Center, and Cox Business Convention Center) is a 275,000 square foot convention center located in downtown Tulsa, Oklahoma. The Arvest ...
from the mid 1976–77 season on. Before the Convention Center, the team played at the
Expo Square Pavilion The Expo Square Pavilion, sometimes called simply The Pavilion, and formerly known as the Tulsa Fairgrounds Pavilion, is a 6,311-seat multi-purpose arena, in the Tulsa State Fairgrounds in Tulsa, Oklahoma. It was built in 1932; the architect was ...
from the 1947–48 season. In the early years of the program, the team played at various area high schools and in smaller on-campus gymnasiums.


Rivals

Tulsa's primary basketball rival is Wichita State University, but that rivalry had faded somewhat between the time Tulsa left the Missouri Valley Conference after the 1995 season and both teams having joined the American Athletic Conference by 2017, when it was renewed indefinitely by both schools. Tulsa also has a mild rivalry with Oral Roberts University, which is located in southern Tulsa. The teams began play in 1974 and has largely been one sided, however Oral Roberts has tightened the gap quite a bit in recent years, the two teams currently play annually. A traveling trophy, the Mayor's Cup, is exchanged between the winner of the game. Tulsa hired Bill Self away from Oral Roberts in 1997. While in the Missouri Valley Conference, the Golden Hurricane had an extensive rivalry with
Wichita State Wichita State University (WSU) is a public university, public research university in Wichita, Kansas, United States. It is governed by the Kansas Board of Regents. The university offers more than 60 undergraduate degree programs in more than 200 ...
Creighton, Southern Illinois and Bradley. The team has also had longstanding competitions against Oklahoma, Oklahoma State and
Arkansas Arkansas ( ) is a landlocked state in the West South Central region of the Southern United States. It borders Missouri to the north, Tennessee and Mississippi to the east, Louisiana to the south, Texas to the southwest, and Oklahoma ...
. The rivalry with Arkansas was enhanced with their hiring of Nolan Richardson away from Tulsa in 1985. Tulsa had an intense rivalry with
Fresno State California State University, Fresno (Fresno State) is a public university in Fresno, California, United States. It is part of the California State University system. The university had a fall 2020 enrollment of 25,341 students. It offers 60 ba ...
and
Hawaii Hawaii ( ; ) is an island U.S. state, state of the United States, in the Pacific Ocean about southwest of the U.S. mainland. One of the two Non-contiguous United States, non-contiguous U.S. states (along with Alaska), it is the only sta ...
while a member of the Western Athletic Conference. Southern Methodist remains a fairly interesting rivalry, given that the two schools sometimes recruit similar players and that former Southern Methodist coach Matt Doherty was considered a front-runner for the Tulsa job prior to Doug Wojcik taking the helm; likewise, Doug Wojcik once interviewed for the Southern Methodist job. The current SMU coach, Larry Brown, was the college coach of former Tulsa coach Danny Manning who left to become the head coach at Wake Forest in 2014. Tulsa moved into the American Athletic Conference in July 2014, restoring natural rivalries with AAC members Memphis, Cincinnati, SMU and Houston.


References


External links

* {{American Athletic Conference men's basketball navbox