September 16, 2021 – Oklahoma City, OK –
Many times in collegiate sports, you will witness coaches climb the ranks and land bigger coaching jobs. After nine years as the head men’s basketball coach and athletic director at Randall University, Coach Berokoff will suit up as the new head coach for Oklahoma City University. Randall University, an NCCAA DII institution, saw much success during the Coach Berokoff era. Berokoff led Randall to three national championships (2016, 2017, 2018), a national runner-up finish, three conference championships, and seven national tournament berths. Coach Berokoff also earned the honor of NCCAA DII Coach of the Year twice. With such an impressive resume, Coach Berokoff was overdue for a call-up.
Oklahoma City University, an NAIA institution, was tasked with finding their next head coach, which has been a search since Vinay Patel’s departure in 2019. Since Patel’s departure, OCU has accumulated an unimpressive record of 17-22. An important fact to note is that Randall beat OCU on November 12th, 2019 with a score of 70-67. As an NCCAA DII, no scholarship giving, institution, Randall came into that matchup as the underdogs. Coach Berokoff proved himself as a successful coach at the NCCAA DII level, but to beat an NAIA school requires a lot of skill. OCU knew Berokoff was worthy of the position and displayed that knowledge when they publicly announced him as their new head coach on March 26th, 2021.
Unlike many other NAIA schools, OCU has yet to announce their 2021-22 roster. Although a great coach, Berokoff will need more than just strategy to have a successful 2021-22 campaign. The Stars of OCU are also going to need everything they can get with their first game of the year being against Bethel College. Bethel College finished the season last year 21-7, ending their season with a 59-69 loss to the 2021 NAIA National Champions Shawnee State in the Round of 16. With a big game to start the year, in which they will enter as the underdogs, many question how the season will go. A winning season may not be a requirement for OCU to keep Berokoff for another season, but one would think that there has been a line drawn for the bare minimum. One could at least imagine that the Champion Christian College game on November 6th, 2021 is a must win game, since Coach Berokoff came from the same division and knows the team well. A man with a history of success, Coach Berokoff knows that he will need to build the same foundation that produced national player of the year award winners such as Trey Sneed (2016, 2017, and 2018), Antonio Wilson (2019), and Jordan Marshall (2021).
Although Coach Berokoff’s future with Stars has yet to unfold, Star’s nation has been given hope after two years of unmet expectations. The true test begins with recruiting for the 2022-23 season, as Berokoff was never really given enough time to develop a fully-rounded recruiting class. This season will be a true test of Berokoff’s strategy and game plan flexibility as chemistry with a new coach and new system will be the first task of the season. The Star’s have 42 days until the season opener at the McPherson Classic in McPherson, Kansas on October 29th, 2021. Until then, we watch and wait to see what will be of the OCU Stars and Coach Mark Berokoff.
