Coaching Staff

ASSISTANT COACH | SHANNON GAGE

Assistant coach Shannon Gage is set to enter her first year as an assistant for the Sooners but will enter her third year overall with the program in 2023-24.

Gage, a 15-year coaching veteran, spent the first two seasons of the Baranczyk era as Oklahoma's Director of Basketball Operations.

A Tulsa, Oklahoma, native, Gage returned to coaching in 2023 after a nine-year hiatus where she served in various behind-the-scenes roles. Before joining the Oklahoma staff on the operations side, she worked as an assistant coach at Oklahoma State (2013-15), Iowa (two stints: 03-05, 07-13) and Michigan (2005-07). In her three seasons in Stillwater, she helped guide the Cowgirls to three consecutive NCAA Tournaments, including a run to the Sweet 16 in 2014. Her three-year tenure at OSU produced the third-most winningest stretch in the program's history, compiling a record of 66-31.

At Iowa, Gage worked with Hawkeye perimeter players, coaching 19 All-Big Ten selections, the 2010 Big Ten Freshman of the Year and the 2003 Big Ten Sixth Player of the Year. With Gage helping lead the charge, the Hawkeyes signed a top-10 recruiting class bringing some of the nation's top talent to Iowa City. Additionally, she coached a pair of all-district selections and two honorable mention All-Americans. With Gage on the bench, the Hawkeyes appeared in six NCAA Tournaments, including 2004 when All-Big Ten selection Baranczyk starred on the court for Iowa, and won the 2008 Big Ten regular season championship.

A 1999 graduate of Southwest Missouri State (now Missouri State), Gage was a standout guard for the Bears for head coach Cheryl Burnett. She appeared in 91 games making 11 starts for the Bears and totaled over 1,200 minutes played. While on the team, Missouri State compiled an 87-33 record and 57-15 mark in the Missouri Valley Conference, appearing three times in the NCAA Tournament.

ASSISTANT COACH | MICHAEL NEAL

Assistant coach Michael Neal will enter his third season on the Oklahoma bench in 2023-24 after joining Jennie Baranczyk's staff prior to the 2021-22 season.

In his second season with the Sooners, Neal helped guide OU to a share of its first Big 12 championship since 2009 as the Sooners posted a 14-4 record in league play. A conference-high five players earned postseason Big 12 recognitions, highlighted by Madi Williams' unanimous All-Big 12 first-team honor and Skylar Vann's Big 12 Sixth Player of the Year award. Neal and the Sooners advanced to the second round of the NCAA Tournament for the second consecutive season in 2023.

In his first year at Oklahoma, the Sooners reached the second round of the NCAA Tournament for the first time since 2017. Oklahoma posted the nation's third-highest scoring average (82.6) and scored the second-most points (2,808) in school history while sinking a program-record 316 3-pointers. The Sooners swept Baylor and Oklahoma State in the regular season, winning a first-year staff record four games over ranked opponents.

Neal joined the Sooners after seven transformative seasons as head coach of the Norman High School girls' team. He led the Lady Tigers to a 43-1 overall record in his final two seasons at Norman, winning Class 6A state championships in 2019 and 2021. For his efforts at Norman High, Neal was named The Oklahoman's 2021 Super 5 Coach of the Year and USA Today's Oklahoma Coach of the Year for the same season.

Norman High was the No. 1 seed in the 2020 state tournament before the event was canceled due to the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic. Neal was named the Norman Transcript's 2020 Girls' Basketball Coach of the Year after leading the Lady Tigers to a 24-1 record, the Central Oklahoma Athletic Conference championship and a 22-game winning streak heading into the state tournament.

Neal coached several NHS players to all-district and all-state honors, and the 2021 Norman roster featured four players who either signed with or committed to NCAA Division I schools.

No stranger to Lloyd Noble Center, Neal played for the OU men's basketball team during the 2005-06 and 2006-07 campaigns, when he averaged 11.0 points and 2.6 rebounds while shooting 37.5% from 3-point range (136 makes). With Neal on the team, Oklahoma advanced to the 2006 NCAA Tournament with a 20-9 record.
Following his career at Oklahoma, Neal played professionally overseas in France and Germany for Saint-Quentin and the Dusseldorf Magics before returning to the United States.

Neal and his wife, LaToya, live in Norman and have two sons, Nash and Jude, as well as one daughter, Emry.

ASSISTANT COACH | JONAS CHATTERTON

Bio and Image Coming Soon!

PROGRAM COORDINATOR AND ASSISTANT COACH | TYUS HOOKS

Tyus Hooks was elevated to program coordinator and assistant coach in advance of the 2023-24 season and is entering his second season at Oklahoma.

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.

In his first season on the Oklahoma staff in 2022-23, the Sooners went 26-7 and won a share of the program's first regular season Big 12 championship since 2009. The Sooners advanced to the second round of the NCAA Tournament, powered by one of the nation's top offensives that was guided by two All-America honorees in Madi Williams and Taylor Robertson.

DIRECTOR OF PLAYER DEVOLOPMENT AND ASSISTANT COACH | MARKISHA KASTANTIN

Markisha Kastantin, a stalwart of Jennie Baranczyk's staffs, was elevated to an assistant coaching role prior to the 2023-24 season.

Kastantain (KASS-tan-teen) served as Oklahoma's Director of Player Development in the first two seasons of the Baranczyk era, and will continue those responsibilities in addition to her new coaching role.

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.

At Notre Dame, she was a captain for the Fighting Irish and played in 138 games, 11th most in program history. A two-time ACC Academic Honor Roll selection, Kastantin's 36 games played as a freshman as the sixth most ever for the Irish.

She graduated in May 2015 from Notre Dame's College of Arts and Letters with a bachelor's degree in sociology. She earned a master’s degree in leadership development at Drake.

Kastantin and her husband, Tyler, reside in Norman.