Hoyt Talks Cowgirls Hoops, Expectations are Theirs Not Outside

STILLWATER – You’ll have to excuse Jacie Hoyt for being excited. The veteran basketball junkie that has made the transition from little girl hoopster to high school star playing for her legendary coach and mother to collegiate player to assistant coach and eventually head coach at UMKC is now guiding her own Power Five program in the Big 12 at Oklahoma State.

Oklahoma State Athletics

Cowgirls break after a drill in practice.

Every step of the way this has been a fun but challenging ride for Hoyt. Now, it’s no longer a long process it is a sprint. Hoyt will coach her first game in Gllagher-Iba Arena 18 days when Northeastern State will be in Stillwater on Nov. 1 for an exhibition. Next week Hoyt and several of her players will fly up to Kansas City for Big 12 Basketball Media Days. She was eagerly inviting media members to go up there and join her for some classic KC barbeque. Hoyt is over the top enthusiastic. Fortunately, for her and Oklahoma State and the future of the Cowgirls program she is just as realistic.

“We were looking to build a roster and we had a lot of reloading to do,” Hoyt told the media the other day of her spring and early summer mining of the transfer portal bringing in two of her former players from Kansas City and six other transfers coming from Arizona, Villanova, Arkansas State, and Southwestern Oklahoma State.

Oklahoma State Athletics

Anna Gret Asi (playing defense in black) is a talented sophomore transfer from Arizona.

Her two players from KC in guards Naomie Alnatas and Landry Williams helped a lot in teaching teammates what was expected in practicing and playing the “Hoyt way.” 

“We have a very mature group with five fifth-years, who just have a tremendous amount of experience, so it has been fun for me to coach that experience,” Hoyt said of a roster that does have five fifth-year seniors and one other senior. “They pick up on things quickly, they’re smart, and they know what it takes to win at this level. We haven’t had to coach effort or anything like that that some coaches may be battling early in the preseason.”

Asked about predictions and expectations, Hoyt is not naive, she knows that she was hired to get the program competing for top honors in the conference and NCAA Tournament runs. Here is where he realism comes in. You need a miracle for those things to happen overnight. Long-term success is built with a foundation and then continue to build up.

Oklahoma State Athletics

Terryn Milton (21 in black) is one of those fifth-year transfers coming in from UT-Arlington.

“We needed players that wanted to win and were willing to make sacrifices in order to win,” Hoyt said. “We were looking for players that wanted a rebuild and not everybody wants that. There are players that want to win a conference championship and we’re not that yet. We needed players that wanted to start that and I think we got them.”

That doesn’t mean this can’t be fun and this team can’t dream and hope for that miracle. The sport is supposed to be fun and exciting. Hoyt aims for that experience to happen and from the start.

“More excitement than nerves and they are a group that wants to preform well all of the time,” the new head coach said of the experience she and her players are having so far in practice. 

Expect her to mark each step on the way.  She already is doing that with plans for barbecue next week in Kansas City.