End of the line for Eddie
Even if an offer comes, Sutton plans to withdraw
End of the line for Eddie

Eddie Sutton says he's coached his last game. Of course, he's said that before.

This time, maybe Sutton means it.

So when someone calls — Missouri State, anyone? — Sutton says he'll say thanks but no thanks.

"There's a school that wants me to coach, but I'm not going to coach again,” said Sutton, who turned 72 on Wednesday.

That school is believed to be Missouri State, where Oklahoman Barry Hinson was fired last week.

Missouri State is not a bad job; decent tradition, good league (Missouri Valley) and a new arena under construction, courtesy of hotel magnate John Q. Hammons.

"If I was younger...” Sutton said. "John Q.'s a good friend of mine. But I'm not going to coach anymore. I owe it to (wife) Patsy not to coach anymore.”

Perhaps Sutton will be a broker instead, for old pal James Dickey at Arkansas State or son Scott, who has just coached Oral Roberts to its third straight NCAA Tournament.

Oklahoma State coach Sean Sutton said his dad might have been interested in the Missouri State job had he not spent the last two months coaching the University of San Francisco. Maybe the coaching bug finally has left the man who first took over a team at Tulsa Central High School in 1959.

"San Francisco's really a nice school,” Sutton said. "Not sure I would go back and do it again, knowing what I know now.”

What Sutton knows now is that losing stinks, and San Francisco's program needs an overhaul to compete with the likes of Gonzaga and St. Mary's.

Sutton got his 800th victory last week, for the second time. He finished his interim gig at San Francisco with a 51-50 loss to Santa Clara in the quarterfinals of the West Coast Conference Tournament.

The day before, the Dons beat Loyola Marymount 79-60, giving Sutton his sixth victory at USF. Sutton leaves USF with a career record of 804-327, and even discounting the four OSU wins credited to Sutton while he was on a leave of absence after being charged with drunk driving, Sutton reachs 800.

Sutton's duties at USF end next week. He's flying back to Frisco today, will attend the team banquet Friday night and make some recommendations to athletic director Debi Gore-Mann on the future of the program.

Then Tuesday, it's back to Oklahoma for good. Sutton plans to follow Oral Roberts.

Sutton said he will miss practices and team camaraderie but won't miss the games. Didn't miss them last season, when he didn't coach. Adjusting to losing — USF was 6-13 — was not easy.

To prove it, Sutton still was griping about a foul call with three seconds left against Santa Clara, leading to free throws that wiped out San Francisco's one-point lead.

The competitive fire still burns. The coaching desire, perhaps not.

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