Sutton Adds a Wrinkle to His Coaching Journey

They say the eyes are the windows to the soul, but, in the case of Oklahoma State basketball Coach Eddie Sutton, it may be the bags under his eyes.

His face reflects a topographical road map to 68 sometimes happy, sometimes hard-luck years.

Every crease, forehead to chin, tells a story you’d probably want to hear.

Sutton has not always been easy to like -- he can look downright mean on television in perpetual scowl.

There is also the matter of his “tainted” past.

Saturday night, though, after Oklahoma State held off Saint Joseph’s to win the East Rutherford Regional, you could almost see the hard tones melt.

Sutton, in victory, was a far cry from Jim Valvano in 1983. Sutton’s postgame joy was more of a slow, satisfied, reflective burn.

Maybe the only good thing about fun-loving and Philly-based Saint Joe’s not making it to the Final Four was that it allowed Oklahoma State to make it.

Saint Joe’s had a deserving, moment-in-the-sun run, while Sutton’s worthiness must be seen in terms of the long haul.

No coach has made more NCAA tournament appearances, 24 in Sutton’s case, without winning a championship.

Isn’t it about time?

Wasn’t it time for Syracuse Coach Jim Boeheim last year and Maryland’s Gary Williams the year before?

Why not Oklahoma State, why not Sutton, why not now?

For all he has put into it, the 34 years and 755 wins, college basketball does not owe Sutton a championship. Yet, you’d think the law of averages eventually would average out in his favor.

This is a different Sutton from the one who arrived in Stillwater in 1990.

The “before” Sutton all but fled Kentucky in the back of a flatbed pickup, one step ahead of the buckshot. He left a program on probation too, although the NCAA spared him the brunt of Chris Mills, Emery envelope, Wildcat wrongdoing.

Before Stillwater, Sutton was a functioning alcoholic while coaching at Creighton and Arkansas. He finally sobered up at the Betty Ford Clinic.

Oklahoma State provided Sutton a landing pad and a second chance.

He was raised in Kansas, but Stillwater was his basketball home, and Sutton came back with more than the notion of starting again clean.

He felt he owed Oklahoma State something.

Henry Iba, the legendary Oklahoma State coach, died in 1993 but lived long enough to see Sutton return luster to a program that previously lacked it.

Iba’s reaction to Sutton’s hire?

“Well, one of my boys is coming back,” Iba said.

Sutton played for Iba in the 1950s, and the old coach instilled in Eddie the basic templates.

There was never much doubt Sutton could get the most out of what he had -- he was the first coach to lead four schools to the NCAA tournament.

Oklahoma State has made the NCAA tournament 12 times in Sutton’s 14 seasons -- compared with one appearance in the previous 25 years.

Sutton has posted a 325-127 record and four times has taken the Cowboys to the Sweet 16.

Yet, more than numbers, coming back to Stillwater made such cyclical sense.

If you’re going to get your toes toasted in coaching, it might as well come from people you know.

“I felt more pressure at Oklahoma State the last 14 years because it’s my alma mater,” Sutton said. “And I just feel like I know the people and how important it is to win there.”

He came close in 1995, losing in the national semifinals to UCLA after winning the East Regional in ... East Rutherford.

Sutton returns to the Final Four this week a tempered man, hauling a squad he thought had no chance to reach San Antonio.

The prospect of 31 wins?

“I would say, ‘You’re crazy,’ ” Sutton said. “I mean, you’re nuts. You’ve been drinking or something, because there’s no way this team could do that.”

He returns to the Final Four much more contemplative, bouncing grandkids and life in general on his knees.

There are no off-season clinics to teach a coach how to become point man after a plane crash. In 2001, after eight members of the basketball program perished outside Denver, Sutton sat in his office and made the first phone calls to relatives.

Not that Sutton has gone soft and gooey. He commands, and receives, coaching respect. After John Lucas fired up an airball before halftime of Saturday night’s regional final, Lucas didn’t want to look his coach in the eye.

“I just knew that Coach was about to come get me,” Lucas said.

Instead, Lucas said Sutton told him, “Don’t worry about it.”

Lucas ended up making the game-winning shot to beat Saint Joe’s.

There is speculation that Sutton will retire if Oklahoma State wins it all this year. It is presumed that Cowboy assistant Sean Sutton, one of his three sons, will succeed his father as coach.

Eddie Sutton says he is definitely coming back next season if only because most of the players on this season’s team are returning.

“You know, coaching’s a great profession when you win,” he said. “It ain’t worth a damn when you lose. If I was losing this ballclub, I’d say I think I’ll retire. I don’t want to have any more seasons where you’re sweating your fanny off while they’re scratching a victory out every two or three games.”

Why, even if he won, would he stay?

“Why do teachers stay in teaching?” he said.

When Lucas heard Sutton held the record for most tournament appearances by a coach without a championship, it hit him hard.

“That really meant a lot to me,” Lucas said. “I really want to win this NCAA for him.”

Two more victories will do it.