The two decades before Coale was hired to head the women’s basketball program at Oklahoma were almost a reverse image of the way things are now.
In fact, in 1990, 16 seasons after women’s basketball was officially recognized as a varsity sport at OU, university officials announced that the sport was being dropped because of poor performance and low attendance.
At the time the decision was made to discontinue varsity women’s basketball at Oklahoma, the average attendance at a women’s game was reported to be well under 100. There was such a public outcry following the announcement that the decision was reversed just a week later and the rest, as they say, is history.