- Tulsa Golden Hurricane men's basketball
Infobox CBB Team
name = Tulsa Golden Hurricane
logo_size = 150px
university = University of Tulsa
conference = Conference USA
conference_short = C-USA
division = West
city = Tulsa
stateabb = OK
state = Oklahoma
coach =Doug Wojcik
tenure = 3rd
arena =Reynolds Center
capacity = 8,355
nickname = Golden Hurricane
studentsection =Reynolds Rowdies
color1 = Old Gold
color2 = Royal Blue
color3 = Crimson
hex1 = CFB53B
hex2 = 084c9e
hex3 = DC143C
NCAAchampion =
NCAAfinalfour =
NCAAeliteeight = 2000
NCAAsweetsixteen = 1994, 1995
NCAAtourneys = 1955, 1982, 1984, 1985, 1986, 1987, 1994, 1995, 1996, 1997, 1999, 2000, 2002, 2003
conference_tournament = 1982, 1984, 1986, 1996, 2003
conference_season = 1955, 1984, 1985, 1987, 1994, 1995, 1999, 2000, 2002The University of Tulsa Golden Hurricane basketball team represents the
University of Tulsa inTulsa ,Oklahoma . The team participates inConference USA . The men’s team is currently coached byDoug Wojcik .The team has long been successful, especially since the hiring of
Nolan Richardson in 1980. Many big-name coaches previously worked at Tulsa, likeUniversity of Kansas coachBill Self andUniversity of Minnesota coachTubby Smith . In 2005, " [http://www.streetandsmiths.com/ Street & Smith's] " named the University of Tulsa as the 59th best college basketball program of all time. [University of Tulsa men’s basketball media guide, pg. 139]Coaches
Clarence Iba , brother ofHenry Iba , helped to springboard Tulsa to success when named the head coach in 1949. He coached at the school for 11 years, the longest tenure of any Tulsa coach, and is the all-time winningest coach at the school with 137 wins in his 11 seasons.Nolan Richardson is credited with bringing the Tulsa program to national prominence when hired in 1980, and he led the school to the 1981 NIT Championship and had a .763 winning percentage at the school. He became the first coach in NCAA history to win 50 games in his first two seasons. ["Coaching Great Nolan Richardson and Three Former Athletes to Receive Induction into TU Athletic Hall of Fame." Best of Tulsa. Oct. 8, 2006. http://www.bestoftulsa.com/tulsa_university.shtml]
In the 1990s and 2000s, a succession of Tulsa coaches went on to big name programs across the country, including Tubby Smith,
Buzz Peterson , and Bill Self. The team remained successful throughout the string of coaches.Notable assistants in the program’s history have included
Billy Gillispie ,Flip Saunders , Kevin O’Neill,Tom Izzo , Mike Anderson, andRon Jirsa .Players
[University of Tulsa 2006-07 Men's Basketball Media Guide]
Tulsa Golden Hurricane men's basketball
Conferences
Tulsa has been a member of a variety of conferences over its history. With Oklahoma and Oklahoma State, the
The University of Tulsa joined the
Arenas
Tulsa currently plays in the
Rivals
Tulsa’s primary basketball rival is Oral Roberts, which is located in southern Tulsa. The teams began play in 1974 and currently play annually. Tulsa hired Bill Self away from Oral Roberts in 1997.
Tulsa’s other rivalries have not had the intensity as that with Oral Roberts. While in the Missouri Valley Conference, the Golden Hurricane had an extensive rivalry with Wichita State; [Bonham, pg. 10.] that has largely faded since Tulsa left the conference. The team has also had longstanding competitions against Oklahoma, Oklahoma State, and Arkansas. The rivalry with Arkansas was enhanced with their hiring of Nolan Richardson away from Tulsa in 1985. Tulsa had an intense rivalry with Fresno State and Hawaii while a member of the Western Athletic Conference. Southern Methodist remains a fairly interesting rivalry, given that the two schools sometimes recruit similar players and that current Southern Methodist coach
With Tulsa’s move to Conference USA, it is hoped that a restoration of the Golden Hurricane program could form a natural rivalry with Memphis for dominance in the conference. [”Six Schools Join Conference USA”. "NCAASports.com", July 5, 2005. http://www.ncaasports.com/story/8622150]
References
Wikimedia Foundation. 2010.
