University of Oklahoma head women’s basketball coach Jennie Baranczyk announced Friday she has finalized her staff, elevating Markisha Kastantin and Tyus Hooks to assistant coaching roles on top of their current positions on staff.
Kastantin will continue as Oklahoma’s director of player development and Hooks will remain as program coordinator while they add coaching responsibilities. The NCAA recently increased the number of men’s and women’s basketball assistant coaches by two, bringing the total to five each.
“I couldn’t be more excited to elevate Markisha and Tyus to assistant coaches,” Baranczyk said. “The work they’ve put into our program has been key to the success we’ve had, and I know that what they bring to the staff will continue to help us reach new heights. Markisha understands exactly what we’re trying to build on and off the floor, which will be important as we move into the SEC in 2024. Tyus is exactly what you want in a young coach – he brings energy, ideas and loves this team and program. We’re ecstatic to keep them on staff in these new roles and I look forward to continuing to work with them.”
A stalwart of Baranczyk’s staff since 2015, Kastantin (formerly Wright) was a standout at Notre Dame where she helped the Fighting Irish to four straight Final Four appearances (2012-15). After concluding her playing career, she became a graduate assistant at Drake before the start of the 2015-16 season, working alongside Baranczyk, and in 2016 was promoted to assistant coach. Throughout her six-year Drake tenure, the program amassed a 144-50 (.742) record. Notably, during a three-year period from 2017-19, the Bulldogs dominated the Missouri Valley Conference with a record-setting 55-1 league mark and secured three consecutive NCAA Tournament berths. In just two years with the Sooners, Kastantin has helped OU to a 51-16 (.761) record and the 2023 Big 12 regular season championship.
Hooks joined the OU basketball staff prior to the 2022-23 season after working as a graduate assistant at Eastern Michigan under former Sooner Fred Castro’s leadership for two years. Prior to his arrival in Ypsilanti, Hooks was an undergraduate manager on the women’s basketball staff at Ole Miss. A standout prep player for Columbia (Miss.) High School, Hooks has been crucial to the Sooners’ recruiting success and played a key role in signing top prospects, including five-star and McDonald’s All-American Sahara Williams, as well as Landry Allen, a top-10 center in the 2023 class.
Kastantin and Hooks complete a coaching staff that features Baranczyk, who enters her third year at the helm of the program in 2023-24, as well as assistant coaches Shannon Gage, Michael Neal and Chantel Osahor.
