‘That’s everyday Porter’: OU basketball coach Porter Moser brings new energy to Sooners

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‘That’s everyday Porter’: OU basketball coach Porter Moser brings new energy to Sooners

Fri, 04/09/2021 - 13:21
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Apr. 8—NORMAN — The lectern in front of Porter Moser was solid wood. Large enough to sport a two-foot wide OU seal on the front. Heavy enough to need multiple folks to move it.

Or so you’d think.

On the morning Moser was formally introduced as the next OU men’s basketball coach during a socially distanced event at the Lloyd Noble Center, we got our first glimpse at the Sooners’ new top dog. We got to see how he looks; sharp black suit with a crimson tie and pocket square, though now it’s become weird to see coaches in something other than polos and khakis. We got to hear how he sounds; more like he grew up in Kansas City instead of Chicago.

But more than anything, we got to see how he acts.

Which brings us to the lectern.

There were several times Moser got to talking Wednesday morning, using his hands and waving his arms and shifting his weight, and that big piece of furniture got to moving, too. Side to side it swayed.

I never thought it would topple over, but I didn’t think it was completely out of the question either.

“I’m a young, young 52,” Moser said at one point. “I’m a young, highly energetic 52.”

He didn’t have to tell us.

He showed us.

Thing is, ask those who know him better than those of us who just met him Wednesday morning, and you’ll learn what we saw wasn’t a one off. It wasn’t an act he put on for his new school. This is who he is. How he is.

“He’s like that all the time,” his wife, Megan, said.

Moser won the press conference, as they say, but he wasn’t trying to do so. Being engaging? Creating excitement? Sharing a vision?

“That’s not press conference Porter,” OU athletic director Joe Castiglione said. “That’s everyday Porter.”

No matter the topic, Moser was passionate.

About his style: “Our whole mantra (at Loyola Chicago) was that defense creates offense. You can run on misses. You can run off turnovers. ... I start every shootaround with, ‘We gotta run. We gotta get the tempo going. We gotta pass it ahead.’ You get that by guarding.”

About his philosophy: “What is culture? It’s habits. It’s the way you do things every day. It’s your standards. Your habits. But it’s gotta be every day. It can mean different things to different people, but it’s gotta be every day or it’s not real.”

About his new program: “I’m not coming in here and using the word rebuild. I want to use the word enhance. I want to enhance the brand. I want to enhance the traditions that have gone on here and add my energy and add my personal touch to what has been years and decades of excellence here.”

He used the word energy or some variation of it more than a dozen times during the 40 minutes he spoke. He recognizes how important it is, and frankly considering the situation he is stepping into, his personality should come in handy.

OU’s returning roster is thin. More than half of the players who were part of the rotation this past season have indicated they’re either going pro or entering the transfer portal. Now, some of those players could be back next season — Moser may well convince some of them to return — but the Sooners will need to add additional pieces.

Then there’s the challenge of playing in the Big 12. Baylor is the newly crowned national champion, Texas joined forces with Chris Beard, Kansas locked up Bill Self with a lifetime contract and Oklahoma State signed Mike Boynton to a hefty extension in hopes of continuing its momentum. Winning in the Big 12 will be a bit more difficult for Moser than it was in the Missouri Valley. And if his Sooners don’t

And if his Sooners don’t win, will fans come?

That has long been an issue at football-crazy OU. Fans come when the Sooners are really good — think about the Billy Tubbs or Buddy Hield eras of OU basketball — but if the team is so-so, the fan interest is similarly lukewarm.

Not that Moser seemed dazed by such a prospect.

When he took over Loyola Chicago in 2011, everything about the program was abysmal. The team. The atmosphere. The attendance.

“You could have gone to the first media timeout, I could have walked to halfcourt, pulled out my driver and hit a golf ball and it would have just bounced around and not hit anybody,” Moser said. “We weren’t getting anybody at the games.”

These past few seasons, Loyola games were sold out. They were events.

Moser wants the same at OU, and as you might imagine, he’s ready to do whatever it takes to make it happen.

He admitted it wasn’t his way to make promises about how long it might take to fill the Lloyd Noble Center every night or win a Big 12 title or go to a Final Four or maybe even contend for a national championship. But what he did promise was that he intends to build a program, not a team.

“The goal is sustainability,” he said. “You want to build a program like we just did (at Loyola) — we lost everybody and we were right there to do it again. That’s what you want.”

Could someone with a more low-key approach succeed in doing that?

Sure. Lon Kruger proved as much.

But having energy like Porter Moser sure doesn’t seem like a bad way to go either.

“Every day,” he said, “you’re gonna get 110% of me.”

There seems little doubt of that after what we saw Wednesday.