New OU baseball coach Sunny Golloway

Sunny Golloway is the new head baseball coach at the University of Oklahoma. After successful stints on the Sooner staff as
an assistant and interim head coach, and a strong eight-year run as the head coach at Oral Roberts, Golloway's appointment was announced Friday by OU Athletics Director Joe Castiglione.

"Sunny proved himself as a head coach at Oral Roberts and on an interim basis here at Oklahoma," Castiglione said. "I am confident that he will do so again now that he has this position on a full-time basis. Based on his sparkling record and his experience with our national championship in 1994, this program can look to his leadership and aspire
for the absolute pinnacle of college baseball.

"His passion for this program is obvious and his enthusiasm never falters. I know that we have a coach who is devoted to the University
of Oklahoma and one that is completely committed to the long-term success of the program.

"Sunny has the full support of our university administration. We are dedicated to working with him and his staff in providing the resources they need to compete at the highest level."

Golloway characterized his new position as exciting and humbling.

"My family and I are extremely excited about this opportunity to coach at the University of Oklahoma," he said. "I am humbled to be included among the outstanding fraternity of coaches at OU. It is the very best group in the country.

"We look forward to directing this program towards championships year in and year out, and that will be the primary focus. I think about that a lot. But honestly, the first thing that came to mind when this job was offered to be was how excited I was to be able to coach these young men again at OU. I feel very close to them. We look forward to continuing
in 2006 the late-season run we put together in 2005."

Last season, Golloway was elevated from associate head coach to interim head coach on May 1, when Larry Cochell resigned. Golloway rallied the program to a 12-6 mark down the stretch and led the Sooners to a berth in the NCAA Tournament.

Including eight seasons (1996-2003) as the head coach at Oral Roberts and the record as OU's interim coach, Golloway is 347-162 (.681). That percentage ranks No. 10 nationally among active head coaches with a
minimum of five years of experience.

When Golloway took over the Sooners in 2005, the team was 23-20 with a seventh-place Big 12 mark of 7-11. The team won its last three Big 12 series to move its overall record to 35-26 and its Big 12 mark to 14-13, good for a fifth-place finish.

"Sunny not only kept the team together through a trying time, he led it to a strong run down the stretch," Castiglione said. "There are not a lot of coaches who could have done what he did in that situation and it is an understatement to say that he deserves a lot of credit for that accomplishment."

Golloway, an assistant coach at OU from 1992-1995, returned to OU from Oral Roberts prior to the 2004 season. In his first season back, he helped direct a win in the prestigious Kia Klassic, as the Sooners became a fixture in the nation's top 25 rankings again, recorded the program's highest finish (second place) in Big 12 Conference history and made a return to the NCAA Tournament, hosting a regional tourney.

As an assistant on the accomplished OU coaching staffs of the early 1990s, Golloway made three trips to the College World Series, including the 1994 National Championship run.

Golloway's impact has been felt in other areas of the program as well. OU's two recruiting classes since his arrival have ranked in the top 10 in Collegiate Baseball's national rankings. He worked with the 2004 Big 12 Newcomer of the Year and three other players who earned All-Big 12 honors. Additionally, he helped improve the fielding percentage by 14 points from the previous season.

At ORU, Golloway posted a mark of 335-156 record (.682). He coached 16 All-Americans, three Freshman All-Americans and 26 of his ORU players have either been drafted or signed professional contracts. He was honored four times as Mid-Continent Conference Coach of the Year by his peers (1998, 1999, 2000, 2002). Golloway also twice garnered Coach of the Year acclaim from the Oklahoma Baseball Coaches Association in 1998 and 2001 and was nominated again in 2003 for the fourth time in his career. Among his many other laurels as the ORU head coach, Golloway shaped the successful careers of 34 all-conference selections, four conference Players of the Year and Pitchers of the Year and one
conference Newcomer of the Year.

In his final six seasons at Oral Roberts, Golloway was responsible for turning the Golden Eagles into one of the nation's winningest programs.

The program flourished under Golloway's guidance and tallied 277 wins in
that time, an average of more than 46 victories per season, and a .731 winning percentage.

Golloway and the Golden Eagles dominated the Mid-Continent Conference after joining the league in 1998, winning six consecutive regular season and tournament titles, and advancing to six consecutive NCAA Regionals. ORU was an amazing 85-5 in conference play over his last four seasons.

Golloway's strongest postseason run with Oral Roberts came at the end of the 2002 season. The Golden Eagles, fresh from winning their fifth consecutive Mid-Continent Conference Tournament title, stunned 14th-ranked and home-standing Wichita State in the opening round of NCAA Regional play. ORU then knocked off the Shockers again the next night,
before falling to Arkansas in the Regional final. The national media and baseball coaching community took notice as the Golden Eagles ended the season ranked No. 21 by Collegiate Baseball and 20th by the NCBWA.

Golloway is a former Team USA assistant and head skipper of several collegiate summer teams. In the summer of 2002, he was selected to serve as pitching coach for USA Baseball's National Team. Under his
direction, the team recorded the lowest ERA in its history. Golloway also helped lead Team USA to a silver medal at the first-ever FISU World Championships in Messina, Italy. The National Team also won the championship at Haarlem Baseball Week in The Netherlands

During his first stint in Norman, Golloway helped guide the Kenai Peninsula Oilers of the Alaska Baseball League to consecutive National Baseball Congress World Series championships in 1993 and 1994. As a
result of his successes in those back-to-back years, he was named the NBC Coach of the Year in 1993 and 1994. Counting the Sooners' national championship in '94, Golloway won an amazing three national championships in one calendar year.

Coaching for several successful teams has given Golloway the opportunity to help mold many outstanding players. Among those who have come under Golloway's tutelage are current Major Leaguers Mickey Callaway, Ryan Christenson, J.D. Drew, Braden Looper, Greg Norton, Russ Ortiz, Doug Mientkiewicz and Mark Redman.

Although born in Springfield, Mo., Golloway grew up in Stillwater, Okla., and graduated from Stillwater High School in 1979. He attended Northeastern Oklahoma A&M Junior College in Miami, Okla., for one year
before transferring to Oklahoma Christian College where he received his
bachelor's degree in 1984. He has done graduate work at the University of Central Oklahoma and the University of Oklahoma. Golloway and his wife, Charlotte, live in Norman. The couple has three children: Sunni
Kate, 19, Taylor, 15, and Callen, 5.