Naismith Hall of Fame Finally Gets It Right With Official Induction of Eddie Sutton

STILLWATER – After far too many years of waiting, legendary Oklahoma State coach Eddie Sutton was finally inducted into the Naismith Hall of Fame Saturday evening.

His son, former Oklahoma State head coach and player, Sean Sutton, accepted the award on the behalf of the Eddie Sutton family.

“Today is a special day for the Sutton family, my brothers and I are honored to be here and share this moment with our family,” said Sean Sutton. “We’d hoped and prayed this day would come and our dad would finally get inducted into the coveted basketball hall of fame. We’re so grateful he was alive to get the call, grateful we were there to see the excitement on his face, but sad he’s not alive to give this speech. He would’ve done an amazing job.”

Three legends of the game were on hand as presenters to send Eddie into the hall, fellow hall of fame coaches Bill Self and John Calipari and former Arkansas point guard Sidney Moncrief. There was also a large Oklahoma State contingent which included current head coach Mike Boynton, soon-to-be athletic director Chad Weiberg, Larry Reece and several boosters and alumni.

Eddie makes the fifth Oklahoma State representative in the Naismith Hall of Fame as he joins Bob Kurland (1961), his coach and mentor, Mr. Henry Iba (1969), Don Haskins (1997) and Bill Self (2017).

Let’s start off with the fact there are only 10 coaches throughout the history of Division I college basketball to have at least 800 wins, with Eddie making the list with 806 wins. He was also the first coach to ever take four teams to the NCAA tournament, Arkansas, Creighton, Kentucky and Oklahoma State, as well as one of a just a few coaches to take teams from two different schools to the Final Four, Arkansas and Oklahoma State.

Eddie was a two-time AP College Coach of the Year, in 1978 and 1986, as well as the NABC Coach of the Year in 1986. He was also a four-time Southwest Conference Coach of the Year, 1975, ’77, ’79 and ’81, the SEC Coach of the Year in 1986, the Big Eight Coach of the Year in 1993 and the Big 12 Coach of the Year in 1998.

Sutton spent 11 very successful seasons at Arkansas where he amassed a 260-75 record, which included five Southwest Conference titles, nine appearances in the NCAA tournament and a trip to the Final Four in 1978.

After a brief stint at Kentucky, Sutton came back home to Stillwater where he ended a near 10-year NCAA tournament drought after just one season at the helm.

He’d lead the Pokes to the Final Four in the 1994-95 season, which many consider to be one of the best teams in program history, then back during the 2004-05 season, another one of the best teams in program history.