Oklahoma basketball: Porter Moser a leading candidate for Sooners job
As Oklahoma looks to replace Lon Kruger, Porter Moser has naturally surfaced as a leading candidate for the Sooners’ job.
If Porter Moser wants to leave Loyola-Chicago, he appears to have yet another option. According to Stadium’s Jeff Goodman, Moser and North Texas’ Grant McCasland have emerged among the candidates for the job opening at Oklahoma.
After 10 pretty successful seasons as Sooners’ coach (195-128, with one Final Four) and 35 seasons as a head college basketball coach, Lon Kruger announced his retirement last week. The search for his replacement appears to be moving quickly.
As Goodman noted, Oklahoma athletic director Joe Castiglione is also trying to hire a new women’s basketball coach.
Loyola Chicago’s Porter Moser and North Texas’ Grant McCasland are both among the candidates for the Oklahoma opening, sources told @Stadium.
— Jeff Goodman (@GoodmanHoops) April 1, 2021
Crazy thing is that OU athletic director Joe Castiglione is trying to hire both a men’s and women’s coach at the same time.
Would Porter Moser leave Loyola for Oklahoma?
After an improbable Final Four run in 2018, Moser led Loyola-Chicago to the Sweet 16 this year. He has a 188-141 record over 10 seasons as the Ramblers’ coach, with a 99-36 mark over the last four seasons.
Moser is an easy candidate for any job opening at a bigger school, from Indiana (when it was open) to Florida (if it were open) to now North Carolina with Roy Williams’ retirement. When those jobs were open, he was surely on the list of candidates for Marquette and Minnesota. Back in 2019, for whatever it’s worth in the current circumstance, Moser turned down an offer from St. John’s.
Moser between his stint as head coach at Illinois State and his current run at Loyola-Chicago, Moser was an assistant coach under Rick Majerus at St. Louis. His Midwest roots are deep, as an Illinois native as well, so he may still not be easily swayed by brighter lights.
If Moser wants to stay put and keep things going at Loyola-Chicago, no one would blame him. But bigger schools will keep trying to pry him away, with the promise of more resources for his program and everything else that comes with coaching in a bigger conference.
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