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Report: OU legend Billy Tubbs enters hospice

Tommy Tubbs told the TCU coaching staff that his father is convalescing at a facility near Lake Texoma

John E. Hoover

Former Oklahoma basketball coach Billy Tubbs has entered hospice care, according to a report in Friday’s Fort Worth Star-Telegram.

Tubbs, 85, was the the architect of “BillyBall” — one of the most exciting brands of basketball the college game has ever seen with high-pressure defense, lots of shots and an endless supply of points — guided the Sooners from 1980-94 and posted 333 wins and a .716 winning percentage — best in program history.

Star-Telegram columnist Mac Engel reported that Tubbs’ son, Tommy, told the staff at TCU about his dad’s condition and that he was in a facility near Lake Texoma.

Tubbs turned the Sooners around almost immediately, but OU’s fortunes really took off when he brought in three-time All-American Wayman Tisdale from Tulsa in 1982.

In 1988, Tubbs guided Mookie Blaylock, Stacey King and the Sooners to the national championship game, where they lost to Larry Brown, Danny Manning and the Kansas Jayhawks.

Tubbs, who was born in St. Louis and grew up in Tulsa (he attended Tulsa Central High School), left OU after going 15-13 in 1993-94. He coached TCU to 156 wins from 1994-2002, and he finished his Division I career with three seasons at the same school he started it — at his alma mater, Lamar (2003-04), where he was head coach and athletic director. Tubbs also coached the Cardinals from 1976-80.

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John E. Hoover
JOHN E. HOOVER

John is an award-winning journalist whose work spans five decades in Oklahoma, with multiple state, regional and national awards as a sportswriter at various newspapers. During his newspaper career, John covered the Dallas Cowboys, the Kansas City Chiefs, the Oklahoma Sooners, the Oklahoma State Cowboys, the Arkansas Razorbacks and much more. In 2016, John changed careers, migrating into radio and launching a YouTube channel, and has built a successful independent media company, DanCam Media. From there, John has written under the banners of Sporting News, Sports Illustrated, Fan Nation and a handful of local and national magazines while hosting daily sports talk radio shows in Oklahoma City, Tulsa and statewide. John has also spoken on Capitol Hill in Oklahoma City in a successful effort to put more certified athletic trainers in Oklahoma public high schools. Among the dozens of awards he has won, John most cherishes his national "Beat Writer of the Year" from the Associated Press Sports Editors, Oklahoma's "Best Sports Column" from the Society of Professional Journalists, and Two "Excellence in Sports Medicine Reporting" Awards from the National Athletic Trainers Association. John holds a bachelor's degree in Mass Communications from East Central University in Ada, OK. Born and raised in North Pole, Alaska, John played football and wrote for the school paper at Ada High School in Ada, OK. He enjoys books, movies and travel, and lives in Broken Arrow, OK, with his wife and two kids.