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Edward Eugene Sutton (March 12, 1936 – May 23, 2020) was an American college basketball coach. A native of Bucklin, Kansas, Sutton played college basketball at Oklahoma A&M (later Oklahoma State) and was a head coach at the high school, junior college, and college levels spanning six decades.
After beginning his coaching career as a graduate assistant at Oklahoma State under Henry Iba, Sutton was a successful head coach at Tulsa Central High School and the College of Southern Idaho. Sutton began coaching at the NCAA level in 1969 at Creighton University, followed by Arkansas from 1974 to 1985, Kentucky from 1985 to 1989, and Oklahoma State from 1990 to 2006. For part of the 2007–08 season, Sutton was interim head coach at San Francisco. During his college coaching career, Sutton is one of only eight NCAA Division I coaches to have had more than 800 career wins. From 1977 to 2005, Sutton's teams appeared in all but two NCAA Tournaments. Sutton was inducted into the College Basketball Hall of Fame in 2011 and Basketball Hall of Fame in 2020.
His success led Arkansas to expand its home basketball venue, Barnhill Arena, from 5,200 seats to 9,000. Sutton also coached a trio of basketball players, all from the state of Arkansas, known as "The Triplets": Ron Brewer, Marvin Delph, and Sidney Moncrief.
On February 12, 1984, Arkansas had a 65–64 upset win over an undefeated, no. 1 North Carolina team that featured Michael Jordan, Sam Perkins and Brad Daugherty. The game took place at the Pine Bluff Convention Center in Pine Bluff, Arkansas, and NBC Sports televised the game nationally. Arkansas finished the 1983–84 season with a 23–7 record and no. 8 AP Poll ranking. Number 2 seed Arkansas lost to number 7 seed Virginia 53–51 in overtime in the NCAA tournament. In Sutton's final season as head coach in 1984–85, Arkansas went 22–13 and qualified for the second round of the NCAA tournament.
He coached the Wildcats for four years, leading them to the Elite Eight of the 1986 NCAA tournament. Two seasons later, Sutton and the 25–5 Wildcats captured their 37th SEC title (which was later vacated by the SEC) and were ranked as the No. 6 college basketball team in the nation by the AP Poll and UPI before being upset as the No. 2 seed in the Southeast Regional by Villanova in the 1988 NCAA tournament.
Sutton's tenure at Kentucky ended at the close of the 1988–89 season after a scandal and a losing record tarnished the school's basketball program. Kentucky entered the 1988–89 season lacking significant talent in their lineup. The previous season's offensive and defensive stars Ed Davender, Rob Lock and Winston Bennett had all graduated from school, while All-SEC sophomore Rex Chapman left school early to enter the 1988 NBA draft. Additionally, sophomore standout Eric Manuel was suspected of cheating on his college entrance exam and voluntarily agreed to sit out until the investigation was finished. Potential star recruit Shawn Kemp transferred out of Kentucky after signing with the school early that year. As it turned out, Manuel didn't play a single game as the investigation dragged through the entire season, essentially placing the Wildcats in the hands of inexperienced sophomore LeRon Ellis and freshman Chris Mills. The two underclassmen struggled to fill the talent vacuum on the court and the Wildcats finished with a losing record of 13–19, the team's first losing full-season record since 1927.
The scandal broke when it was alleged that Emery Worldwide employees discovered $1,000 in cash in an envelope Kentucky assistant coach Dwane Casey supposedly sent to Mills' father.York, Michael. "Kentucky Loves Its Basketball, but Not at Any Price", latimes.com, December 11, 1988. It was later shown that Casey was uninvolved in the Emery envelope incident.
The NCAA announced at the end of the season that its investigation into the basketball program had found the school guilty of violating numerous NCAA policies. The NCAA deemed the violations so egregious that it seriously considered hitting the Wildcats with the "death penalty", which would have shut down the entire basketball program (as opposed to simply being banned from postseason play) for up to two years. Kentucky was eligible for this severe penalty because it was already on probation for failing to cooperate with an investigation into an extensive scheme of payments to recruits.
By then, Sutton was already gone. In March, school president David Roselle told Sutton that he had lined up enough support on UK's athletics board to fire him unless he resigned. Rather than face all-but-certain termination, Sutton resigned. Athletic director Cliff Hagan resigned as well. The Wildcats were slapped with three years' probation, a two-year ban from postseason play and a ban from live television in 1989–90. Manuel was also banned from ever playing again for any NCAA member school.Kirkpatrick, Curry. "Dodging a Bullet", Sports Illustrated, May 29, 1989; accessed August 13, 2014.
In his first season at Oklahoma State, Sutton led the Cowboys to a 24–8 record, Big Eight regular season title, and Sweet 16 appearance in the 1991 NCAA tournament. In the 1991–92 season, Oklahoma State improved to 28–8 and made it to a second straight Sweet 16, followed by two more NCAA Tournament appearances in 1993 and 1994.
In Sutton's fifth season, the 1994–95 Oklahoma State team, led by Bryant Reeves (also known as "Big Country") and Randy Rutherford, won the Big Eight tournament and advanced to the Final Four for the first time since 1951. Following the season, The Oklahoman sports columnist Berry Tramel observed: "Sutton is pleased that pride has returned to the court made famous by Iba." Reeves went on to be selected sixth overall in the 1995 NBA draft.
Sutton continued to coach Oklahoma State following the school's move from the Big Eight to Big 12 Conference in 1996.
Oklahoma State's best season under Sutton was in 2003–04. With the roster including a significant number of transfers, Oklahoma State had a 31–4 overall record that tied the school record for overall wins in addition to gaining Big 12 regular season and tournament titles and the school's second Final Four appearance under Sutton. The 2003–04 team included junior college transfer Tony Allen, who would go on to be the 25th overall pick in the 2004 NBA draft and a six-time All-Defensive honoree in the NBA.
On January 15, 2005, the court at Oklahoma State's home arena, Gallagher-Iba Arena, was officially renamed Eddie Sutton Court.
On February 10, 2006, Sutton was involved in a car accident in Stillwater. He was cited for driving under the influence. Witnesses said that Sutton fell and hit his head at the Gallagher-Iba Arena parking lot, and The Oklahoman reported that campus police officers and athletic department physicians helped Sutton into his university-provided Dodge Durango. After declining a police officer's offer for a ride or ambulance, Sutton hit another SUV from behind at 60 mph, resulting in minor injuries for the other driver. Following the accident, Sutton's blood alcohol level was measured at .22, nearly three times the legal limit of .08.
Sutton announced on February 14 that he would take a medical leave of absence from the basketball team, citing his health problems and the accident as reasons. Assistant coach and son Sean Sutton served as acting head coach for the remainder of the season. The following day, in a prepared statement delivered over the phone at a press conference, Sutton admitted he had taken prescription medication due to back pain and "bought a bottle" of alcohol on the night of the accident. Sutton went on to say: "I have a problem with alcohol. That said, I make no excuses for what has happened. I recognize it and I will be seeking treatment for it. I know I have let many people down."
Sutton eventually resigned as head coach May 19, 2006, succeeded by Sean Sutton. In 16 seasons, Sutton had a 368–151 record at Oklahoma State with 13 NCAA Tournament appearances, two regular season conference titles (Big Eight in 1991, Big 12 in 2004), and three conference tournament titles (Big Eight in 1995, Big 12 in 2004 and 2005).
On February 2, 2008, Sutton became the fifth NCAA Division I men's basketball coach to reach 800 career wins after San Francisco rallied from a 19-point second half deficit to defeat Pepperdine 85–82 in an away game. San Francisco concluded the season with an overall 10–21 record, including 6–13 under Sutton. Following the season, San Francisco hired Rex Walters as head coach.
*Kentucky vacated the 1987–88 SEC regular season and tournament titles as well as its NCAA Tournament appearance after Eric Manuel was found to be academically ineligible.
**Due to sanctions from recruiting violations, Sutton and his entire staff were forced to resign following the 1988–89 season.
*** Includes wins that resulted from Texas Tech win forfeitures
In his final years, Sutton lived in southern Tulsa, Oklahoma. On May 23, 2020, Sutton died in Tulsa at age 84, after being in hospice care.
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