Tramel's ScissorTales: OU softball radio voice Chris Plank swept up in Sooner phenomenon

Chris Plank’s friends bust him from time to time. They suggest he get a T-shirt made with the following message.

“Softball made me famous.”

Plank’s pals aren’t wrong.

Plank is the voice of OU softball, on both radio and some ESPN-Plus games, and he’s been caught up in the tidal wave of popularity that accompanies these Sooners.

OU softball clearly has soared to the No. 2 sport on campus in terms of fan following and devotion. Patty Gasso’s powerhouse has won two straight NCAA championships, is 37-1 this season and again is ranked No. 1.

The athletic department is scurrying to get a new stadium, Love’s Field, built in time for the 2024 season, to handle the ticket demands.

And fans scramble each game day to make sure they find the right outlet, be it The Franchise on radio (107.7-FM or 1560-AM), or an ESPN channel on cable, or ESPN Plus, FloSports or YouTube on streaming.

They can’t miss the games. Can’t miss hearing Plank call the action.

“It’s unbelievable,” Plank said. “Unlike anything I’ve seen in my life, and I love it. This is not just an Oklahoma thing. Not just a United States thing.”

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Plank hears from fans in New Zealand and Australia. Brazil, Japan and Poland. Some with deep OU roots and some not, up at ungodly hours, just to follow along with the exploits of Tiare Jennings and Jayda Coleman and Jordy Bahl.

“It’s really cool, man, and it’s wild because it's so much more than just even die-hard Sooner fans,” Plank said. “They appreciate everything that’s gone into this.”

Plank did in-game shoutouts to the far-away fans throughout the game, but the list grew so long, he now dedicates a segment in the third inning and lists as many as he can get to.

Fans bring their radios to the games to listen along, like old-school football fans, and Plank’s voice in a short amount of time has become synonymous with the old traditional baseball voices in markets like St. Louis and Detroit, Philadelphia and Los Angeles.

“Pretty wild,” Plank said. “It has nothing to do with me. This team is good, this team is fun. That passion would be there regardless of who was there.

“Shows you how some goofy, overly-energetic kid can lose his mind and have such an unbridled passion for Patty Gasso and this softball team.”

Plank, 47, grew up in Wood River, Illinois, just across the Mississippi River from St. Louis. He says he wasn’t much of an athlete, but his dad told him that was OK, “you can sit over there and be the next Dewayne Staats,” a Wood River native who has called games for the Houston Astros, Chicago Cubs, New York Yankees and, since 1998, the Tampa Bay Rays.

Out of high school, Plank followed a girlfriend to the University of Tulsa in 1993. The relationship didn’t last, but his Oklahoma connection did. Plank stayed in Tulsa for 22 years, attending TU then working in Tulsa radio and building a career.

In 2011, Plank joined OU football’s new radio crew, when Toby Rowland succeeded Bob Barry Sr. as the voice of the Sooners. Plank filled in on some OU baseball games, did a few softball games and in 2015 was asked by Sooner Sports Properties officials to move to Norman and take on a bigger role. Including full-time softball, since Gasso was campaigning for a bigger radio presence.

“The support of T-Row is really important in all this for me,” Plank said. “Without Toby and his support and guidance, no chance I’m here.”

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Plank knew softball on some level but immersed himself more in the game, listening to other broadcasters and taking tips from the likes of Jim Gasso, Patty’s husband and a softball aficionado himself. Learning the nuances of illegal pitches and obstruction.

These days, Plank hosts a daily radio show (9-11 a.m.) on KREF, immediately following Rowland’s show; hosts a weekly Sunday night show on Fox Sports Radio; and occasionally hosts on Sirius-XM Big 12 Radio.

The OU football crowd knows Plank as a sideline reporter and “The Scoreboard Guy,” when each half the giant video screen shifts to Plank, standing awkwardly surrounded by the pom-pom squad, delivering highlights and scores from games around the country.

But his fame has zenithed with softball.

Plank describes the OU softball phenomenon this way:

“No. 1, they’re really good. No. 2, I have daughters; it gives my daughters role models they can look up to; and No. 3, most importantly, they’re good people.

“The young girls are the best. The little kids that follow them. In Baton Rouge, hundreds of young girls, lined up, hanging over the wall. A kid with a let-me-out-of-school letter that Patty signed. They’re there, trying to get a split second with their heroes.”

And while the older crowd loves Grace Lyons and Alyssa Brito and Nicole May, it also connects with the 47-year-old broadcaster who brings alive the games when they can’t get into the ballpark. Or can’t get to Norman for games and are listening in Ohio or Birmingham or St. Cloud, Florida.

Plank says he sometimes struggles, even as a radio professional, in finding the right words to describe how emotional and passionate Sooner softball has become.

And OU’s softball explosion has coincided with the ascension of the sport on the college level, as ESPN’s coverage can attest. Maybe it’s no coincidence.

“The team has never been better and the sport has never been better,” Plank said. “The Sooners have been the turbo booster to the rocket ship that has driven the popularity of softball.”

Plank’s voice is part of that turbo booster.

More: Tramel's ScissorTales: OU softball now has a three-headed monster of a pitching staff

Thunder & star-crossed franchises

Ten of the NBA’s 30 franchises never have won the league championship.

From the Eastern Conference: Netropolitans, Hornets, Magic and Pacers.

From the Western Conference: Nuggets, Suns, Clippers, Grizzlies, Timberwolves and Pelicans.

The Thunder is playing the latter two in back-to-back play-in games. And their histories are interesting.

The Thunder beat the Pelicans 123-118 in a rousing play-in game Wednesday night in New Orleans. Now the Thunder plays at Minnesota at 8:30 p.m. Friday, with a playoff berth on the line.

New Orleans and Minnesota are franchises that instruct us on how fortunate the Thunder history has been in its 15 Oklahoma City seasons.

The Pelicans, who switched their name from Hornets a few years ago, originally came from Charlotte.

In their 21 New Orleans seasons (counting two years spent mostly in Oklahoma City because of Hurricane Katrina), the Pelicans/Hornets have made the playoffs eight times and won two series.

In their 14 seasons in Charlotte, the original Hornets made the playoffs seven times and won four series. In Charlotte, New Orleans or OKC, the franchise never has made a conference final.

In 35 NBA seasons, that’s 15 playoffs and six series advancements.

Meanwhile, the Timberwolves in 34 years have made the playoffs 10 times and won two series, both in 2004, when Minnesota reached the West finals.

Compare that to the Thunder, which arrived from Seattle in 2008. In 15 years, OKC has reached the playoffs 10 times, with nine series advancements, including four trips to the West finals and the 2012 NBA Finals.

Heck, the Seattle SuperSonics, who moved to Oklahoma 15 years ago, have a more recent playoff advancement (2005) than does Minnesota.

More: Thunder vs. Timberwolves: Inside the numbers, matchups of NBA play-in tournament game

The Pelicans at least have a bright future, with a variety of young standouts and a bevy of future first-round draft picks. But Zion Williamson’s continued unavailability is a concern.

The Timberwolves mortgaged their future with the Rudy Gobert trade. They have a blossoming superstar in Anthony Edwards, one of the best offensive centers in NBA history in Karl-Anthony Towns and a defensive difference-maker in Gobert.

But the chemistry is affright, leading to Gobert taking a swing at teammate Kyle Anderson in the regular-season finale, and another teammate, Taurean Prince, immediately going after Gobert. Gobert was sent home, suspended for Minnesota’s play-in game at the Lakers on Tuesday night.

Gobert is off the suspended list, but T-wolves coach Chris Finch says back spasms could sideline Gobert for the Thunder game.

Either way, the histories of the Timberwolves and Pelicans are reminders of how some franchises can lather in futility.

Think of how important that New Orleans game seemed to the Thunder the other night. It ended two years of post-season droughts and seemed to infuse the city with renewed Thunder energy. Gave OKC a shot at the 2023 playoffs.

Now think of what that game (and this T-Wolf game) meant/means to the river cities of New Orleans and Minneapolis.

Playoff appearances are rare. Playoff successes rarer. These West playoffs seem wide open. Most anything could happen.

But it won’t happen for the Pelicans, not this year, and it won’t not happen for the Timberwolves, if Friday night doesn’t go well.

The Thunder future is bright. The Thunder past has been pretty danged cool, too. If you don’t believe it, just ask the basketball fans of Minneapolis and New Orleans.

More: Thunder vs. Pelicans report card: Lu Dort, Josh Giddey are spectacular in NBA play-in win

Gerald McCoy retires from NFL

When anyone wants to really know what has happened to OU’s defense over the last decade-plus, there’s an easy answer.

The Sooners have had no more Gerald McCoys.

The great defensive tackle officially retired from the National Football League on Friday, announcing the decision via Twitter.

McCoy spent nine seasons with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, who in 2010 drafted McCoy third overall. McCoy played for the Carolina Panthers in 2019, then signed with the Dallas Cowboys but suffered an off-season ruptured-quad injury and never played for Dallas. McCoy signed with the Las Vegas Raiders in 2021, but in his first game suffered a season-ending knee injury. McCoy was out of the NFL in 2022.

McCoy gave OU a premier interior defensive lineman from 2007-09. He was a two-time all-American and led the last great Sooner defense, in 2009.

OU has not had a defensive lineman of McCoy’s caliber since – and has not had a great defense since. That’s a direct correlation.

McCoy’s NFL career was superb. He was first-team all-pro in 2013 and second-team all-pro in 2014 and 2016.

The Buccaneers released a congratulatory tweet Friday that called McCoy a “Buccaneer great.”

In nine Tampa Bay seasons, McCoy had 54½ sacks, 297 tackles, 140 quarterback hits, 79 tackles for loss, six forced fumbles, four fumble recoveries and 22 pass deflections.

McCoy ranks eighth on profootball-reference.com’s list of former Sooners in the NFL, behind only Adrian Peterson, Bobby Boyd, Trent Williams, Ralph Neely, Lee Roy Selmon, Lane Johnson and Greg Pruitt, in that order. Immediately following McCoy are Pro Football Hall of Famer Tommy McDonald and Kelly Gregg.

More: Why OU football's Kendel Dolby has 'a lot to prove' as rare junior college transfer

The List: College basketball coaching victories

In the last year or two, coaching icons Mike Krzyzewski, Jim Boeheim and Roy Williams have retired. That leaves a vacuum atop the active coaching victory list.

Here are the top 10 current major-college basketball coaches in victories:

1. Bob Huggins 863-389: Huggins spent three years at Walsh College, where his 71 wins aren’t counted on this list. Huggs has been at Akron, Cincinnati, Kansas State and West Virginia, with his 345 wins at WVU approaching his 399 wins at Cincinnati.

2. John Calipari 790-251: Final Fours at all three of his coaching stops – Massachusetts, Memphis and Kentucky.

3. Bill Self 787-237: We remember him well at Oral Roberts and Tulsa, before the jump to Illinois and Kansas.

4. Rick Barnes 779-406: George Mason, Providence, Clemson, Texas and Tennessee, a winner everywhere.

5. Dana Altman 731-383: Lon Kruger’s big-time assistant coach at Kansas State in the 1980s has gone on to be head coach at Marshall, KSU, Creighton and Oregon.

6. Rick Pitino 711-290: What an odyssey, from a six-game stint as Hawaii interim coach to Boston U., Providence, Kentucky, Louisville, Iona and now St. John’s.

7. Jim Larranaga 698-456: A two-time Final Four coach, with both George Mason and Miami, plus a stint at Bowling Green.

8. Mark Few 689-135: All at Gonzaga. What a career.

9. Tom Izzo 686-278: All at Michigan State. What a career.

10. Kelvin Sampson 658-300: His years at Montana Tech are not counted, but we know well the guy can coach, as we saw at Washington State, OU, Indiana and now Houston.

More: Why Purdue transfer Rachel Becker is a perfect table-setter for Oklahoma State softball

Mailbag: Softball players in MLB

The popularity of college softball has some readers dreaming big. Really big.

Gary: “Interesting stories today on softball. These (Sooner) girls, and the Cowgirls and the Bruins and others, are getting so good, I've wondered for some time when softball grads will make the transition into men's Minor League baseball. I think Josie Alo, for example, could hit doubles and triples from a minor-league pitcher. But could they also play infield? Pitch? Any thoughts? Do opinions vary around the sports desks?”

Tramel: This is one of the world’s most interesting emails, because of its time machine elements.

Back in the late 1990s, I dropped a line in a predictions column in which I said a female would make the major leagues in my lifetime. I saw the development of NCAA softball, the great athletes playing the game, and figured it was possible.

Amazing that Gary mentioned the sports desk, because back then we had a robust sports desk, and those guys hooted me down over my prediction.

I gave them the example of Brett Butler, one of my favorite ballplayers back then. A smallish, singles-hitting, speedy outfielder who was a very good player. I said a softball player could mimic those talents. The sports desk took that to mean I said Brett Butler played like a girl.

Neanderthals always are with us.

Anyway, college softball has exploded since the 1990s. The players are bigger, stronger, faster and better.

But that doesn’t mean one of them will play Major League Baseball. That game has changed, too.

Baseball has become sluggoball. Slap-hitting outfielders, or slap-hitting anythings, are in short supply. Could Brett Butler play in today’s game? I’m not sure.

The size and strength meters for baseball players have soared, making it unlikely that a female could reach that level. Softball players are as skilled as baseball players; but softball players are not as strong as baseball players.

Baseball is not as good of a game as it was in the 1990s. Many of the nuances of the sport are gone. The rule-changes – from positioning of fielders to limits on pickoff attempts – are designed to return some of baseball’s lost charm.

But until baseball changes again, my prediction looks dead in the water.

Berry Tramel: Berry can be reached at 405-760-8080 or at btramel@oklahoman.com. He can be heard Monday through Friday from 4:40-5:20 p.m. on The Sports Animal radio network, including FM-98.1. Support his work and that of other Oklahoman journalists by purchasing a digital subscription today.

This article originally appeared on Oklahoman: OU softball voice Chris Plank becomes must-hear radio for Sooner fans