Oklahoma’s Jennie Baranczyk Named Naismith Award Semifinalist

The Sooners have enjoyed an 11-game turnaround so far and are among the national leaders in scoring, assists and 3-pointers.

John E. Hoover | Mar 9, 2022

Oklahoma’s Jennie Baranczyk Named Naismith Award Semifinalist /

In just her first season at Oklahoma, basketball coach Jennie Baranczyk has executed one of the game’s most impressive turnarounds.

This week, Baranczyk’s renaissance continued as she was named one of 10 semifinalists for the Naismith Trophy as college basketball’s coach of the year.

The award, named for the inventor of the sport, is presented by the Atlanta Tipoff Club.

Baranczyk, Michigan’s Kim Barnes-Arcio, Baylor’s Nicki Collen, BYU’s Jeff Judkins, NC State’s Wes Moore, LSU’s Kim Mulkey, Florida’s Kelly Rae Finley, South Carolina’s Dawn Staley, Stanford’s Tara VanDerveer and Louisville’s Jeff Walz are this year’s finalists.

OU improved from 12-12 last year in Sherri Coale's final season to 23-7 so far this season under Baranczyk heading into Friday’s Big 12 Tournament game against Kansas. It’s the first time in program history for a coach to improve by 10 wins in their first season, and the 11-win jump is the second-largest overall in program history.

This year’s Sooner squad reached 20 victories faster than all but two teams in school history — and both of those teams went to the Final Four.

Oklahoma made its return to the AP Top 25 for the first time since 2017, reaching as high as No. 12.

The Sooners swept Big 12 regular-season champ Baylor for the first time in more than a decade and also knocked off No. 9 Texas and No. 16 BYU, giving Baranczyk four wins over top-25 teams — a first in school history.

OU ranks third nationally at 83.7 points per game and leads the Big 12 at 19.1 assists per game. The Sooners also set a program record with 283 3-point field goals this year.

Published Mar 9, 2022

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.