NORMAN, Okla. (March 17, 2021) – Oklahoma Christian alumna Sherri Coale announced her retirement on Wednesday after a remarkable 25 seasons as the head women's basketball coach at the University of Oklahoma.

OU's announcement about Coale's decision called her "one of the most accomplished and impactful head coaches … in any sport" in the university's history. Coale was a four-time Big 12 Conference coach of the year and directed the Sooners to 10 Big 12 championships (six regular season, four tournament) and 20 postseason appearances, including 19 consecutive NCAA Tournaments.

She finished her collegiate coaching career with a 512-293 (.636) overall record and a 253-168 (.601) mark in Big 12 play. Among women's coaches in Oklahoma, she ranks second only to her former coach at OC, Stephanie Findley, in career wins at a four-year Oklahoma university.

Coale, who played for OC from 1983 to 1987, is a member of both the Women's Basketball Hall of Fame (inducted in 2016), the Oklahoma Christian Athletic Hall of Fame (inducted in 2002) and the Norman High School Ring of Honor (inducted in 2002). She'll be inducted later this year into the Oklahoma Sports Hall of Fame.

"Through much prayer and the gifts of a year that provided pockets of stillness most years never produce, I have amazing clarity," Coale said. "Basketball was my first and deepest love and coaching has been this wonderfully amazing life that I can't believe they pay me for. But there have always been other things I want to do. I'm ready to explore those things and I'm ready to run toward unfettered days with my brand-new beautiful granddaughter.

"In April of 1996, I accepted this, my dream job. As a native Oklahoman, I was pretty sure I had died and gone to Heaven. Though the task would not be for the faint of heart, I just wanted to build a program that this great state and this storied institution could be proud of. Twenty-five years later, I still cannot believe the ride Oklahoma women's basketball has taken me on."

While enjoying her successful run at a high-profile program, Coale never forgot her roots. Her longtime assistant with the Sooners was her former OC teammate, Jan Ross, and other OC alums including Bill Pink and Scott Raines spent time working in the OU program. Coale's daughter, Chandler Coale, became the first daughter of one of Findley's former players to also play for Findley, who just finished her 36th season at OC.

For many years, OU hosted the Lady Eagles in an annual exhibition game, providing OC players with the opportunity to compete in a major-college venue. When OC applied for NCAA Division II membership in the early 2010s, Coale visited the campus and narrated a video that the university presented as part of its application.

In 2013, after hearing OC students cheer on the Eagles' men's team during an exhibition game at OU, Coale bussed more than 100 of them – at her own expense – to OU's Lloyd Noble Center to cheer for her team during a big nonconference game against Duke. After the game – a tough loss for the Sooners – she walked over to the OC group to personally thank them and join them in singing the OC alma mater.

"I'm so proud to call Sherri a former player but even more so to call her my friend," Findley said. "I am very sad today but also so very happy for her to be able to step away when she wants to. She does have so much more to do and at the Division I level it's 24/7/365-plus, which doesn't leave room for anything else.

"She and Jan will always be heroes to me and now I hope to get to spend more time with them. Being a grandma is the most rewarding thing in the world and gives clarity to a lot of things. I want to thank Sherri and Jan for all the wonderful memories we have shared through coaching and life. I love them both and can't wait to see what is next for them. What a great legacy they leave! Well done team!"

Coale's OU teams enjoyed much postseason success, advancing nine times to the Sweet 16 and into the Final Four in 2002, 2009 and 2010. The 2001-02 team reached the national championship game. Under Coale, the Sooners had 31 NCAA tournament wins, ranking her 15th among Division I basketball coaches.

Coale coached OU players to four All-America first-team honors and six Big 12 player-of-the-year awards. She had 31 players earn a total of 65 all-conference honors under her direction and produced 14 WNBA draft selections, including six first-round picks. Seventeen of her players competed professionally overseas (in 27 countries on six continents).

The NCAA appointed Coale to the USA Basketball Competition Committee in 2005 and in 2013, she coached the U.S. team to a gold medal in the World University Games in Kazan, Russia.

A plucky point guard from the small southern Oklahoma town of Healdton, Coale (then known as Sherri Buben) signed with OC and coach Max Dobson in 1983. While on campus, she played two seasons each for Dobson and Findley – helping the Lady Eagles win the 1986 NAIA District 9 title – and also developed a close relationship with OC's legendary former men's coach, Dan Hays. She's publicly credited all of them with playing key roles in her development as a coach.

At OC, she also met her husband, former OC baseball player Dane Coale.

Prepared by her time at OC, Coale quickly made a mark on her chosen profession. By age 24, she was the head coach at Norman High School, which competed in the state's highest class. Seven years and two Class 6A titles later, she was a surprise choice as the new head coach of an OU program so far down that in 1990, the university briefly dropped it before reinstating it after an outcry.

OU struggled in Coale's first season, going 5-22 in 1996-97 and losing its last 16 games. The Sooners went 8-19 the next season. By season three, 1998-99, OU posted a winning record of 15-14 and made the Women's National Invitation Tournament field. One season later, the Sooners won the Big 12 Conference championship and reached the Sweet 16 of the NCAA tournament.

"Sherri Coale has encouraged everyone from players to peers to 'leave your story better than you found it.' She walked her talk," OU athletic director Joe Castiglione said. "Her transformational impact on women's basketball at OU which, in turn, inspired generations of young girls throughout our state to play the sport is nearly impossible to measure."