Big 12 Basketball: Ranking all 14 head coaches in 2023 after realignment
By Joey Loose
5. Porter Moser – Oklahoma
After growing up in suburban Chicago and playing at Creighton, Moser slowly worked his way up the coaching rankings. He was an assistant at Texas A&M for a while and began his head coaching career with stints at Little Rock and Illinois State. What really put Moser on the map was his recent work at Loyola-Chicago, leading the Ramblers to the Final Four in 2018 and later the Sweet Sixteen in 2021, a few weeks before he left for Oklahoma.
He inherited a doormat in the Horizon League and turned them into the very best program in the MVC; it’s no wonder Oklahoma was intrigued and brought him aboard two years ago. The Sooners haven’t been in great shape these last two seasons, sitting barely above .500 with two misses of the Big Dance. However, Moser got off to a slow start with the Ramblers and should have some intriguing pieces in place for the future.
He was decent at Little Rock, rough at Illinois State, and monumental for Loyola, but the story of Oklahoma is not yet written. It’s fair to be disappointed with the early returns for the Sooners, just 34-33 these last two seasons. Oklahoma departs for the SEC very soon and we’ll have to see what kind of performance Moser gets out of these Sooners this season. It took a brilliant coach to do what he did for the Ramblers.