Former OC standout Kendre Talley completed his seventh year as the head men's basketball coach at Oklahoma Christian in 2025-26 after beginning serving as the program's interim head coach beginning April 5, 2019 and later being elevated to full-time head coach on Jan. 23, 2020.
Since becoming interim head coach ahead of the 2019-20 season, Talley has accumulated a 67-113 overall record and a 47-94 record in Lone Star Conference competition.  Â
Talley joined the OC men's basketball staff on a full-time basis on Aug. 1, 2017, after spending the 2015-16 season as a graduate assistant coach for the Eagles.
In his seven years, Talley has coached 13Â All-Lone Star Conference selections, including three during the 2023-24 season, matching OC's most All-LSC honorees since Talley's first season at the helm of the program.
In 2025-26, Oklahoma Christian posted its second-most wins of the Talley era with a 12-14 record, closing the year winning three of its last four, including a two-point home victory over No. 14 St. Edward's.
Under Talley's tutelage, Miles Gibson became the program's first Second Team All-Conference selection since 2020, scoring 458 points for the most points by an Eagle since the 2017-18 campaign. In addition to Gibson, Jason Clark was tabbed Third Team All-Conference.
During OC's upset of No. 14 St. Edward's, Clark (32) and Gibson (30) became the first pair of OC teammates to score 30 points in the same game since making the transition to Division II in 2013.
Talley led the Eagles to their most home wins of his tenure in the 2024-25 season, finishing 9-5 inside the Payne Athletic Center. Included in the impressive home stand was OC's first-ever victory against Angelo State.
In that same season, Talley coached two of most prolific offensive stretches in the program's NCAA Division II history. Former Oklahoma Player of the Year Keyondre Young became the first OC player since 2018-19 to score 20 or more points in three straight games while Marco Foster joined Young as the first players to make three triples in three straight games since Foster did it as a true freshman during the 2020-21 season.
For the 2023-24 campaign, the Oklahoma Christian men's basketball program saw its most wins (13) in its NCAA Division II era and its most wins since the 2012-13 season. Talley's Eagles also claimed eight victories inside the Payne Athletic Center, which was at the time the most home wins since 2018-19.Â
Talley returned to his alma mater after one season as a full-time assistant coach at USAO in Chickasha for the 2016-17 season, during which he helped the Drovers win the Sooner Athletic Conference tournament title and earn a berth in the NAIA Division I tournament.
Talley, from Spencer, played for OC from 2010 to 2014. As a senior, he earned National Christian College Athletic Association All-America second-team honors and first-team All-Heartland Conference laurels after becoming the only player in Heartland history to lead the NCAA Division II league in three major stat categories – scoring (17.5 points per game), assists (5.9 per game) and steals (2.0 per game).
In 2012, Talley earned most valuable player honors after leading OC to an improbable Sooner Athletic Conference tournament title during the program's final season in the NAIA and he was a key cog in OC's march to the 2013 NCCAA title game. He finished his OC career with 1,333 points, tying him for No. 25 on the Eagles' all-time scoring list.
He played professionally for BBG Herford in Germany for one season before embarking on his coaching career.
COACHING CAREER AT OKLAHOMA CHRISTIAN
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| YEAR |
WINS |
LOSSES |
| 2019-20* |
10 |
17 |
| 2020-21 |
6 |
12 |
| 2021-22 |
8 |
18 |
| 2022-23 |
9 |
19 |
| 2023-24 |
13 |
15 |
| 2024-25 |
9 |
18 |
| 2025-26 |
12 |
14 |
| TOTALS |
67 |
113 |
*Interim
CONFERENCE CAREER AT OKLAHOMA CHRISTIAN
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| YEAR |
WINS |
LOSSES |
CONFERENCE |
| 2019-20* |
9 |
13 |
Lone Star |
| 2020-21 |
6 |
12 |
Lone Star |
| 2021-22 |
4 |
11 |
Lone Star |
| 2022-23 |
5 |
17 |
Lone Star |
| 2023-24 |
10 |
12 |
Lone Star |
| 2024-25 |
6 |
16 |
Lone Star |
| 2025-26 |
7 |
13 |
Lone Star |
| TOTALS |
47 |
94 |
Lone Star |
*Interim
