Yahoo Finance Reports: Loyola Chicago coach Porter Moser heading to Oklahoma
Oklahoma has reportedly found its next basketball coach.
According to multiple reports including Rivals' Sooner Scoop, Loyola Chicago coach Porter Moser will be the new men's basketball coach at Oklahoma. He succeeds Lon Kruger after the longtime college coach announced his retirement in March.
Can confirm @joehoopsreport initial report. Loyola's Porter Moser will become the next head coach for #Sooners, multiple sources tell @SoonerScoop
— Bob Przybylo (@BPrzybylo) April 2, 2021
Moser has been one of the most successful coaches in college basketball in the last few seasons. He led Loyola to the Final Four in 2018 as a No. 11 seed and the Ramblers made it to the Sweet 16 in 2021 after upsetting No. 1-seeded Illinois in the second round of the Midwest region. The No. 8 Ramblers lost to No. 12 Oregon State in the Sweet 16 last week.
Loyola was one of the best defensive teams in the country in 2020-21 and gave up the fewest points of any team at 56.1 points per game.
Moser came to Loyola in 2011
Moser has been at Loyola for 10 seasons and the school’s 2018 Final Four run was its first NCAA tournament appearance since 1984. Loyola had won 20 games in a season just once between that tournament berth and Moser’s arrival in 2012. The Ramblers have won 20 or more games in five of Moser’s 10 seasons and he has a career record of 188-141 with the school.
Moser has coached throughout the middle of the country in his college basketball head coaching career. Before coming to Illinois he was at Illinois State for four seasons and Little Rock for three and has also been an assistant at Texas A&M. Teams coached by Moser have posted winning seasons 10 different times.
At Oklahoma, Moser joins a crowded Big 12 that's one of the best basketball conferences in the country. Baylor and Kansas have established themselves as the marquee programs in the country and both Texas and Oklahoma State earned top-four seeds in the 2021 NCAA tournament. Oklahoma was a No. 9 seed in 2020-21 and beat Missouri in the first round before losing to Gonzaga in the second round.
Oklahoma finished the season at 16-11 and is set to lose Austin Reaves and Brady Manek. Reaves led the team with 18 points per game and Manek averaged 11 points a contest. OU does return second-leading scorer De’Vion Harmon — he missed the NCAA tournament due to COVID-19 — and currently has four-star guard CJ Noland signed in its 2021 recruiting class.
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