2005-06: OU went 31-5, received a No. 2 seed in the NCAA Tournament and reached the Sweet 16 round ... The Sooners went 19-0 against league foes en route to Big 12 regular season and tournament championships ... Coale was named Big 12 Coach of the Year and WBCA Region VI Coach of the Year ... Coale earned her 200th career win when the Sooners defeated Iowa State in the quarterfinals of the Big 12 Championship ... In the summer of the 2006, she was elected Vice President of the WBCA. 2006-07: OU scored a second consecutive sweep of the Big 12 regular season and tournament titles en route to a 28-5 season, including a 13-3 conference record ... The Sooners reached the Sweet 16 for the second straight year and Courtney Paris earned AP National Player of the Year, Big 12 Player of the Year and consensus All-America honors ... In August 2007, Coale began a two-year term as president of the WBCA. 2007-08: Coale became the leader in Big 12 coaching victories with her 119th ... Oklahoma advanced to the NCAA Tournament for a ninth straight season and finished the year with a 22-9 record and No. 19 ranking ... Courtney Paris earned Big 12 Player of the Year and Defensive Player of the Year honors while Danielle Robinson was named Big 12 Freshman of the Year ... Ashley Paris, an All-Big 12 honorable mention, received recognition on the ESPN The Magazine Academic All-America District First Team.
Before OU
After graduating from Oklahoma Christian, Coale received her first coaching assignment at Edmond Memorial High School, serving a two-year term as an assistant coach.
2008-09: Voted by her peers as Big 12 Coach of the Year for a record fourth time, Coale coached the Sooners to a second Final Four ... OU matched its program-record 32 wins en route to a Oklahoma City Regional title and a record sixth Big 12 season championship ... Courtney Paris became the first four-time All-American recognized by the Associated Press and U.S. Basketball Writers Association, the Big 12 Player of the Year for a third time and won the Lowe’s Senior CLASS Award ... Danielle Robinson was a Nancy Lieberman Award finalist and, with Ashley Paris, honorable mention All-American and All-Big 12 First Team.
The next stop was as the head coach of the Norman High School girls’ basketball team from 1990-96.
2009-10: A No. 3 finish in the polls, the best since the 2002 season, was the result of a year marked in resilient wins ... OU finished 27-11 overall and tied for second in the Big 12 Conference at 11-5 ... The Sooners return to a Final Four for a consecutive year after playing through first and second round in Norman and winning its regional championship in Kansas City ... Danielle Robinson earned State Farm Coaches’ All-America First Team honors, becoming the seventh such selection in Coale’s tenure.
After being out of the high school ranks for six years, Hansmeyer and Coale were inducted into Norman High School Hall of Fame together in February 2002.
2010-11: The Sooners reached the Sweet 16 for the third consecutive year after compiling a 23-12 record ... Coale was honored as the inaugural winner of the United Nations NGO Positive Peace Award ... Danielle Robinson, Carlee Roethlisberger and Lauren Willis accounted for the most home wins by a senior class ... Robinson was named an All-American for the second straight season and earned Academic All-America honors. 2010-11: After being picked fourth in the preseason, Oklahoma finished second in the Big 12 standings behind national champion Baylor ... Danielle Robinson received a Today’s Top VII Award and Aaryn Ellenberg and Whitney Hand were All-Big 12 First Team selections.
The OU transformation that Coale has spearheaded is strikingly similar to the changes she made at Norman High. She took a declining program and after an 11-12 performance in 1990, her debut season, the Lady Tigers never had a losing record under her tutelage. By the time she left for OU, Coale had directed NHS to two Class 6A state championships and a 147-40 career record. Her final two Norman teams went 53-2. Coale was honored as the region, all-state and Big All-City High School Coach of the Year in 1993. Through the success of her high school teams, Coale had several players earn NCAA Division I basketball scholarships, including Stacy Hansmeyer to Connecticut (1997-2000), Sarah Dimson to Stanford (1998-2001) and Sunny Hardeman (1998-01) and Shannon Selmon (1999-2002) to Oklahoma.
For Coale’s life accomplishments, the community of Healdton, Okla., declared August 26, 2001, as “Sherri Coale Day.” Coale isn’t the only coach in her household. Her husband Dane, whom she met while at OCU, was formerly the head baseball coach at Purcell High School. She married the former OCU baseball player in June 1987. The couple has two children, son Colton, 21, and daughter, Chandler, 17. The former Sherri Buben and her brother, Jack, are the children of Beverly Stash and Joe Buben. Jack has 13-year-old twins, Jackson and Jaycie.
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