In his third season as the Oklahoma Sooners’ head basketball coach, Porter Moser has likely led the program to its first NCAA Tournament appearance during his tenure. With a 20-11 record, the Sooners are likely going to be ranked anywhere from No. 7 to No. 10 in their respective region.
Moser’s transition from Loyola Chicago’s head coaching job to Oklahoma’s has taken some time to settle in, but after his first 20-win season in Norman, the interest is there for the Chicago native. DePaul is the current program with rumors circulating around, still, after Moser previously shut down any speculation.
ESPN reports DePaul to be interested in Moser, among other candidates
Jeff Borzello of ESPN wrote an updated men’s basketball coaching tracker, which happened to include Moser and a potential departure to DePaul as the Blue Demons are reportedly interested.
“The Blue Demons fired Tony Stubblefield in late January, but they’re still going through the process to find a replacement. The most intriguing speculation centers around Oklahoma’s Porter Moser, a native of the Chicago suburbs who spent a decade at Loyola Chicago,” Borzello wrote. “Talks aren’t as advanced as social media would lead you to believe, but there’s interest and DePaul has expressed it would be willing to pay Moser’s buyout, which is around $6.5 million, sources told ESPN.”
Other potential targets linked to the DePaul head coaching job are Arizona State’s Bobby Hurley, Mark Byington and UAB’s Andy Kennedy.
Moser doubles down, denies report
Earlier this season, Moser already had laid the rumors to rest, reaffirming his happiness in Norman and focus on the season. That was in a media availability, though.
“[I] haven’t talked to anybody, not even thinking about anything. I’m just absolutely not even engaging in anything like that, 100 percent,” Moser said during the season. “[I’m] so excited about where we’re at with the team. This is everything we’ve tried to build for, is being in this position.”
On Monday, he took to X (formerly Twitter) to once again deny the rumors, mentioning his love for the Sooners and Oklahoma
“Heard all the rumors this afternoon and want to say emphatically THERE IS ZERO TRUTH!! I LOVE Oklahoma and Sooner Nation These accounts make stuff up and there is no validity to any of these “sources” b/c I have spoken to NO ONE about any job,” Moser wrote on social media.
The Oklahoma head coach then followed up his original post to mention how he is currently at team dinner in Kansas City, preparing to being the Big 12 Tournament.
Social media stirring the pot
On Monday, before Moser took to social media to deny the rumors, the Twitter warriors were running rampant with the rumor. So called insiders had the entire story, so they thought. Evidently, they reported the story as the truth, giving more validation to the ESPN report. While the ESPN report isn’t saying anything substantial, and the biggest takeaway is DePaul’s willingness to pay the buyout fee, the additional “sources” didn’t make things any better.
For now, though, Moser will continue to build his program in Norman as the program will see its first success under the third-year head coach when they play in the NCAA Tournament.
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