OKLAHOMA CITY (AP) _ As the Sutton family reached another milestone this week, the family patriarch credited his sons and grandsons on Friday for pushing him back into coaching — even if only temporarily.
Eddie Sutton, who recently became the fifth coach in NCAA history to record at least 800 wins, said he initially was not enthusiastic about the job when San Francisco officials approached him in late December and asked him to be the Dons' interim coach.
But after speaking with two of his sons — Sean Sutton, who followed his father as Oklahoma State's coach, and Scott Sutton, the coach at Oral Roberts — Eddie Sutton decided to accept San Francisco's offer. Since then, the Dons are 3-11 and Sutton has recorded his landmark win.
"I had no interest in going out there," Sutton told The Associated Press before his induction into the Oklahoma State University Alumni Hall of Fame at the National Cowboy and Western Heritage Museum. "Sean and Scott pushed me ... and they talked me into it. It has been an interesting experience. The people have been extremely nice.
"I've enjoyed everything except losing basketball games. I got spoiled with all those good players that I had through the years. This is the least-talented team I've ever coached."
Sutton was in Tulsa on Thursday night to watch Oral Roberts beat Missouri-Kansas City 72-64, a win that raised the Sutton family win total to 1,000. Eddie has 801, while Scott has 164 wins in nine seasons with the Golden Eagles and Sean has 35 in two seasons at Oklahoma State.
Only two other coaching families are thought to have recorded more wins, and both of them have Oklahoma connections. Eddie Sutton's coach at Oklahoma State, Henry Iba, combined with brother Clarence and son Moe to finish with 1,143 wins. Longtime DePaul coach Ray Meyer and his sons, Joey and Tom, combined for 1,032 wins. Joey Meyer is now the coach of the Tulsa 66ers of the NBA Development League.
"I don't think Sean and I did a whole lot," Scott Sutton said Friday. "But it's neat to be mentioned with the Ibas and Meyers. That's a pretty elite group. To be linked with Mr. Iba probably means more to me than reaching 1,000 wins, because, again, my father deserves most of the credit."
Eddie Sutton retired as
