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Newly minted Oklahoma women's basketball coach Jennie Baranczyk makes pair of coaching hires

Norman High School's Michael Neal and Arkansas assistant Chantel Osahor will be joining Baranczyk's inaugural staff in Norman
Ryan Chapman|
Newly minted Oklahoma women's basketball coach Jennie Baranczyk makes pair of coaching hires
Newly minted Oklahoma women's basketball coach Jennie Baranczyk makes pair of coaching hires

Oklahoma has announced a pair of hires to help fill out new women’s basketball coach Jennie Baranczyk’s staff.

Norman High School head coach Michael Neal and Arkansas Razorbacks assistant Chantel Osahor will be joining Baranczyk on the sidelines this season, per an announcement by the program on Twitter.

Neal, fresh off leading the Tigers to back-to-back state championships at Norman High, leaves behind a roster he helped develop which is loaded with Division 1 talent. Rising seniors Mikayla Parks and Myka Perry are both currently committed to Power 5 schools, Kansas State and Florida respectively, while point guard Kelbie Washington will already be joining the Sooners in 2021.

Former Washington Huskies standout Osahor is also headed to Norman after stops at Arkansas as an assistant coach and Drake where she served as a graduate assistant under Baranczyk.

After helping Baranczyk’s Bulldogs to back-to-back NCAA Tournament appearances, Osahor joined Mike Neighbors, her college coach at Washington, in Fayetteville in 2019.

During her days on the court, Osahor was named an All-American in 2017 before she was taken by the Chicago Sky with the No. 21-overall pick in the 2017 WNBA Draft.

Baranczyk’s first two assistant coaching hires fulfill her goals of having a national recruiting footprint on staff, while also keeping the best in-state, and perhaps even just the best intra-city, talent home for the Sooners. 

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Ryan Chapman
RYAN CHAPMAN

Ryan is co-publisher at Sooners On SI and covers a number of sports in and around Norman and Oklahoma City. Working both as a journalist and a sports talk radio host, Ryan has covered the Oklahoma Sooners, the Oklahoma City Thunder, the United States Men’s National Soccer Team, the Oklahoma City Energy and more. Since 2019, Ryan has simultaneously pursued a career as both a writer and a sports talk radio host, working for the Flagship for Oklahoma sports, 107.7 The Franchise, as well as AllSooners.com. Ryan serves as a contributor to The Franchise’s website, TheFranchiseOK.com, which was recognized as having the “Best Website” in 2022 by the Oklahoma Association of Broadcasters. Ryan holds an associate’s degree in Journalism from Oklahoma City Community College in Oklahoma City, OK. 

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