Carlson: Why Oklahoma State's Jacie Hoyt belongs in NCAA coach-of-the-year discussion
Late last week, the Naismith Women’s College Coach of the Year Award announced its finalists.
Lots of familiar names and outstanding coaches on the list.
But there was a significant omission ― Jacie Hoyt.
If you’re paying attention you know no coach-of-the-year list is complete this season without the Oklahoma State leader. What Hoyt has done with the Cowgirls during her first season in Stillwater is worthy of praise and honor.
Heading into Wednesday night’s home game against Iowa State, OSU is tied for third place in the Big 12. Beat the Cyclones, and the Cowgirls will have their 20th win of the season.
“That's something for y'all to talk about,” Hoyt said Monday, “but we'll definitely take it.”
Last season, OSU won nine games.
Finished ninth in the league, too.
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The Cowgirls have already more than doubled their win total from a year ago, and they have an outside shot at tripling it.
Near as I can tell, only one other power-conference team has a chance to do that this season. Illinois won seven games a year ago, and right now, it is just one win shy of its 21st victory of the season. No doubt that amazing turnaround is a big reason why Illinois coach Shauna Green is among the Naismith finalists.
But if Green, also in her first season at Illinois, is a finalist, why wouldn’t Hoyt be?
She and the Cowgirls are playing in the third-toughest conference in the country, according to the NCAA Evaluation Tool (NET) rankings. The Pac-12 and ACC are in the top two spots, but the Big 12 is better than the SEC and the Big Ten.
Now, those last two have some great teams. South Carolina and LSU from the SEC might both make the Final Four. Ditto for Indiana and Iowa from the Big Ten. But those two leagues are extremely top-heavy.
Lots of cupcakes in the bottom half.
That isn’t the case in the Big 12.
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In the latest Bracketology by ESPN’s Charlie Creme, six of the Big 12’s 10 teams are in the NCAA Tournament. Add the teams in Creme's first-four-out and next-four-out categories, the Big 12 has eight teams. That's 80% of the conference.
No other league is within 10 percentage points of that.
All that to say, the Big 12 is as tough top to bottom as any league in the country ― and the Cowgirls have still muscled their way toward the top.
They’ve beaten good teams, including co-league leader Texas and Baylor (twice). They’ve defended home court, winning six of seven home conference games. And they’ve gutted out three conference wins on the road, including a three-overtime thriller on Saturday at Texas Tech.
Frankly, that win against the Red Raiders might be as good an indication of Hoyt’s influence on the Cowgirls as any game this season.
OSU led by six points with less than four minutes remaining in regulation. Hardly an insurmountable lead, but Texas Tech had managed only one field goal in the first six-plus minutes of the quarter, so the Cowgirls had to feel good about their chances.
Then in less than two minutes, the Red Raiders erased the deficit and took a lead with 1:44 left.
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It would’ve been easy for the Cowgirls to fold.
But they hung tough, holding the Red Raiders scoreless for the remainder of regulation and forcing overtime.
The first two overtimes were more of the same. OSU built a big lead. Texas Tech erased it. But each time, the Cowgirls found a way to extend the game.
Finally, in the third overtime, they built a lead they didn’t relinquish, winning 92-80.
“Tech gave us everything they had,” Hoyt told reporters in Lubbock after the game. “I thought that they responded a lot. We responded a lot. I just have so much respect for all the players in today’s game because that was exhausting for everyone in the gym.”
On Monday, Cowgirl guard Terryn Milton said, “She prepared us for moments like that. We didn't know it would come in three overtimes, but she's prepared us for moments like that all year.”
Road games like that aren’t easily won, even by a seasoned team that knows how to win. Finding a way to persevere is a credit to the Cowgirls, but it's also a testament to Hoyt, who retained only four players from last year’s squad and brought in 10 new players, including nine from the transfer portal. Almost inexplicably, Hoyt molded them into a formidable force.
She credits the players.
She credits the players.
“We’ve got a lot of fifth years,” Hoyt said a few weeks back of her super-senior transfers, “and I think with that just comes a group of girls that really want to go out on a high note in their careers. We’ve got a lot of kids that are really hungry to play in the NCAA Tournament.
“So I think what we’re seeing now is just a group of kids that love each other, and they’re on the same mission to play in March.”
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But Hoyt has pushed all the right buttons, even though the job she's done may not be recognized with a national coach of the year award. Just as the Heisman Trophy often goes to the quarterback of one of the best college football teams, the coach awards most often go to a coach of one of the best teams. Dawn Staley at South Carolina. Geno Auriemma at UConn. Tara VanDerveer at Stanford.
No doubt those are great coaches.
Ditto for Kim Mulkey at LSU, Lisa Bluder at Iowa and Teri Moren at Indiana, who likely have the best chances of knocking off Staley, Auriemma and VanDerveer this season.
Still, none of them have done a better job coaching this season than Hoyt.
“I’m having the time of my life,” she said, then quickly turned the talk back to her players. “It’s amazing to me how well they’ve connected, not knowing anyone, coming into it not playing any basketball together, not knowing who each other is.
“It’s just a special group that way.”
Led by a special coach who’s been as good as any this season, no matter what those awards lists say.
Jenni Carlson: Jenni can be reached at 405-475-4125 or jcarlson@oklahoman.com. Like her at facebook.com/JenniCarlsonOK, follow her at twitter.com/jennicarlson_ok, and support her work and that of other Oklahoman journalists by purchasing a digital subscription today.
This article originally appeared on Oklahoman: Oklahoma State's Jacie Hoyt deserves NCAA coach of year consideration
