OSU memorial: Kurt Budke was a basketball coach, life mentor, father figure

And Cowgirls basketball coach Kurt Budke indeed offered. But it was what he said next that confirmed to her that he was the right coach and the right man to play a prominent role in the next four years of her life.

“This is how much of a family man Coach Budke is,” Clardy said, “it was Father's Day when he asked me to commit. My dad wasn't with me, my mom was, and when he asked, ‘Will you commit to us?' I was like, ‘Absolutely.' I almost fell out of my chair.

“And he said, ‘No, no, no, you're going to go home and talk to your dad, then you call me and let me know.' That was him, it was about family first.

“I know that he wanted me to join his family, but he was like, ‘You go to your dad. You sit down with your dad, you talk to your dad and you make sure this is the best decision.' And it was the best decision I ever made.”

Clardy, a Cowgirl from 2007-2010, joined several former teammates and thousands more Monday at the memorial service to celebrate Budke, assistant coach Miranda Serna and Olin and Paula Branstetter, all lost in a plane crash Thursday in Arkansas.

The common theme among the former Cowgirls was how much Budke influenced their lives. As a coach, yes, but also as a mentoring force, even a father figure.

“Hard-headed. Tough. But a very loving man,” said Taylor Hardeman, who played for Budke from 2005-09. “He was very father like.

“He always wanted to make sure we were doing the right thing, checking on us every day, not being so much a crazy father, but one who was making sure you were where you were supposed to be and do what's told and do it to the best of your ability.”

Budke had expectations of his Cowgirls.

“He always put the Lord first,” Hardeman said. “I remember him saying to us, ‘Are you all in church?' One thing I always remember, we would have practice but it would always be late. Regardless of who else was in the gym, it had to be late, because we all had to go to church, we had to eat lunch with our families, and then it was school and then it was basketball.”

And the fatherly touch didn't end when the eligibility expired.

Shaunte' Smith, a Cowgirl from 2005-09, is now an assistant coach at Carl Albert State College in Poteau. Budke led her there.