OKLAHOMA CITY -- Nothing he learned in basketball coach
training could have prepared him for the task of talking to the
relatives of two his players and others who died in a weekend plane
crash in Colorado, Eddie Sutton said.
"I don't ever want to go through that again," Sutton said
Monday in his first public comments since Saturday's accident.
"But I know God will help me through this. We'll all have to get
through it. Maybe we'll never be able to get over it completely,
but life goes on and if you are a strong believer in God, you know
all 10 of those people are with our maker."
The comments came in a taped interview for his weekly radio show
that was played Monday night. Sutton, who has not spoken formally
to the media, sounded fatigued as he spoke during the show.
Sutton said after calling family members after the accident, he
checked to see how other team members were dealing with the deaths of players Nate Fleming and Daniel Lawson early Sunday.
"I went by to see all the players to make sure they were OK and
to tell them how much I loved them and that we were all just going
to have to bond together and get closer and get through this," he
said. "We are going to do that. Life goes on and we've got to make
sure we aren't going to dwell on this forever, but for a while,
it's going to be difficult for all of us."
Other head basketball coaches close to Sutton said Monday they
were not surprised that the veteran coach would be bolster his
players' spirits.
"He is a very strong person, and those players will certainly
rally around him," said James Dickey, the coach of Texas Tech and
a former assistant coach under Sutton, 64. "He'll provide great
leadership. He'll say the right things, he'll do the right things,
but he's got a tremendous burden."
Dickey's team and Oklahoma State were scheduled to play Tuesday,
but the contest was postponed indefinitely.
"He truly epitomizes the philosophy of family, and cares about
those people," Dickey said. "He knows how invaluable the members
of the support team and team members. But it's hard on him. Very
hard."
Oklahoma coach Kelvin Sampson said he spoke at length with
Sutton on Monday morning and said Sutton appeared to be holding up well, given the circumstances.
"If I had to use a word for coach Sutton this morning, I would
use strong," Sampson said. "I don't know if life prepares us for
anything like this. This isn't losing a ball game. It's death."
Sutton advised players to remember good times.
"I think sometimes when death occurs you go into mourning,
which you should. But at the same time, you need to go through the
healing process and one of the things you need to do is tell them
about the funny things that have happened while we have all been
together."
Sutton also defended Denver Mills, the pilot and one of the
victims of Saturday's ill-fated flight.
"There's not a plane that we've ever asked to take our
student-athletes and our coaches on that wasn't just in tip-top
shape. The plane that went down, I have flown on it so many
times," Sutton said.
"I have probably logged thousands and thousands of miles at
Arkansas and Kentucky and OSU, and if there was a pilot that I
would choose to fly me anywhere, it would be Denver Mills. He was
the most cautious and safest pilot I've ever been around."
Sutton flew on one of two other planes which arrived safely back
in Stillwater on Saturday night. He said he talked to Mills before the
doomed airplane left the ground and advised the pilot that the
Cowboys did not want to leave "if it's not going to be OK."
"And he said, `No coach. There's no problem. It's going to take
us about an hour and 45 minutes to get home."' Sutton said. "So,
what happened, I guess we won't know for many days."
As Sutton reflected on Saturday's tragedy, he also looked
forward to something good.
"I've got to go and see my new grandbaby be born -- something
pleasant," Sutton said Monday as he left the Stillwater campus.
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AUDIO VIDEO
 Eddie Sutton and players speak during an Oklahoma State news conference.
RealVideo: 28.8
Steve Cyphers reports on the Oklahoma State tragedy.
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RealVideo: 56.6 | ISDN | T1
 Eddie Sutton comments on having to speak with the families of the plane crash victims. (Courtesy Cowboys Sports Properties/Learfield Communications)
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RealAudio: 14.4 | 28.8 | 56.6
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