Porter Moser returning to Oklahoma with NIL upgrade for players - ESPN

NASHVILLE — Oklahoma men's basketball coach Porter Moser will return for the 2026-27 season, athletic director Roger Denny told ESPN on Saturday.

Moser's return will come with added investments to the program, Denny said, including an upgrade in NIL money available for players.

In one of Denny's first significant decisions since being hired at Oklahoma in January, he made it clear that Oklahoma's resources need to match the program's expectations.

«It's on coach Moser to make sure that our team's performance continues to meet and exceed our resources for the program,» Denny said in a statement. «He's done that and I'm confident he will continue to. But an underdog spirit will only take us so far. It's my job to ensure that our resources match our expectations. We haven't held up our end of that bargain. From NIL to staffing and beyond, we're going to fix that.»

Moser has been a Division I college head coach for 22 seasons, including stops at Little Rock, Illinois State and Loyola-Chicago. He led Loyola to the Final Four in 2018.

At Oklahoma, Moser is in his fifth season and has a 93-74 record. The Sooners reached the NCAA tournament last year and are on the bubble of this year's tournament.

Chatter about Moser's status had been quieted some in recent weeks, as OU ripped off winning eight of 10 games before falling to Arkansas in the SEC tournament Friday night.

That flourish at the end of the season put the Sooners squarely in the crosshairs of the NCAA tournament committee this weekend, as they finished 19-15. Most projections predicted they would be in the tournament if they had beaten Arkansas, and that loss will leave them anxious on Selection Sunday.

Moser pled his case to the NCAA tournament committee late on