OU Names Jennie Baranczyk New Women's Basketball Coach

The University of Oklahoma announced Saturday former Drake coach Jennie Baranczyk has been hired as the new women's basketball coach, replacing Sherri Coale, who retired last month.

Baranczyk has been the head coach at Drake for the past nine seasons, leading the Bulldogs to 3 NCAA Tournament appearances, 3 WNIT appearances, and six straight 20-win seasons.

She led Drake to three Missouri Valley Conference regular season championships and two conference tournament titles.

She was also an assistant coach at Colorado, Marquette, and Kansas State.

The 39-year-old played at Iowa, where she was a three-time All-Big Ten selection and graduated in 2004.

"It is an honor and a privilege to be named the next head coach for the University of Oklahoma's women's basketball program and follow the highly successful and much-admired Sherri Coale," said Baranczyk. "My coaching philosophy is based upon the most powerful human emotion to me and that is love. The players who put on this jersey must love the game, love to compete and love OU.

"We are going to compete at the highest level on the court and in the classroom. We will play hard, play together and be fun to watch. I'm looking forward to being at Oklahoma where there are amazing people and where we can – and will – compete for championships."

"This is a truly exciting day for our university and athletics department, as we welcome Jennie Baranczyk as our new head women's basketball coach," said OU athletics director Joe Castiglione. "Her track record of overseeing creative and effective offenses, and producing high win totals, conference championships and postseason appearances during her time at Drake certainly appealed to our search committee as it evaluated the very competitive candidate pool. But her mastery of the head coaching role extends far beyond the court, and it's clear that her personal and professional values align with ours.

"Jennie prioritizes the overall well-being of everyone in her program, is passionate about empowering her student-athletes and recognizes that a program is only as good as its people. She is family-oriented and community-minded, both of which will help her generate enthusiasm among our fans and as she works to return our program to Big 12 and national prominence. We are thrilled that she and her husband Scott and kids Eli, Jordi and Hope have joined the OU family, and we are so eager for their arrival in Norman."

OU will officially introduce Baranczyk at a news conference next week.

Barancyzk was 192-96 at Drake and was a two-time Missouri Valley Conference Coach of the Year.