NORMAN — Oklahoma coach Sherri Coale keeps saying she wants to take on the nation's best. She's acting on it, too.
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The Sooners and Connecticut have agreed to a four-year deal, set to begin next season at UConn.
While OU awaits a finalized contract, athletic director Joe Castiglione said Saturday the schools had an agreement in principle.
"We don't confirm contracts until they're signed,” Castiglione said, "but negotiations have been very promising. We've been in serious discussion with them the last several months.
"These are the kind of games we want to play. Coach Coale is committed to playing the best teams in the country. This year. Next year. Years past.”
OU will open this season against Tennessee and Maryland, the past two NCAA champions.
When those matchups were announced, Coale said they were too good to pass up."I'm not really an ease-into-it kind of girl,” Coale said. "This is about opportunity. Opportunity to improve. Opportunity to expose ourselves early, so that we can work on areas we need to work upon. Opportunity in terms of national implications involving television.
"I just don't think that we can pass it up.”
For the Connecticut series, OU holds an option with their two home games to play in either Norman or Oklahoma City.
The opportunity to play UConn was created when a deal between Tennessee and the Huskies fell apart.
"We'd been approached to play them in the preseason this year and couldn't work it out,” UConn coach Geno Auriemma told the Hartford Courant. "I've always left it in their hands. I told Sherri and the people at Oklahoma that if they want to play, we are more than willing to.”
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