Metheny to be Inducted into Oklahoma Sports Hall of Fame

DURANT, Okla. – Southeastern Hall of Fame baseball coach Mike Metheny has been selected for induction into the Oklahoma Sports Hall of Fame, joining five others who have left their mark on athletics in the state.
 
Metheny, who will be entering his third hall of fame, will be joined in the 2024 Induction class by Steve Davis, Patty McGraw-Coatney, Ryan Minor, Roy Williams, and Shelby Wilson.
 
The Class of 2024 Inductees will be introduced at the Oklahoma Sports Hall of Fame's Inductees Luncheon on Thursday, March 28, 2024, at the Jeaneen and Bob Naifeh Family & Bud Wilkinson Event Center in Oklahoma City, Okla.
 
He joins Bloomer Sullivan, Jerry Shipp, Roy Cooper, and Crystal Robinson as Southeastern inductees into the Oklahoma Sports Hall of Fame.
 
Metheny had his No. 1 jersey retired on Nov. 11, 2017, joining his predecessor Don Parham (No. 5) and major leaguer Brett Butler (No. 2) in that honor.
 
Metheny retired from coaching following his 37th season at the helm and left the game as the Division II leader in all-time victories.
 
He finishes his storied career with 1,324 career victories across from 679 losses and three ties to push his career winning percentage to .660 over 37 seasons, averaging just over 35 wins per season.
 
SE collected a 9-1 win over Harding in the series opener on March 31 and that win secured Metheny the NCAA Division II record-setting 1,315th win.
 
Metheny is ranked among the top 20 on the all-time wins list regardless of division, climbing to 19th on the list just behind Larry Cochell who has 1,331 after finishing his career in 2005 as the head coach at Oklahoma.
 
If that list is narrowed to coaches who have picked up all of their victories at one school, Metheny would rank eighth behind Rod Dedeaux who spent 44 seasons at Southern California.
 
His connection with Southeastern has spanned more than 40 years from his beginnings as a player, through being a graduate assistant, an assistant coach and ultimately taking over as the head coach for the 1981 season.
 
Metheny guided the SE baseball program through its successful transition from NAIA to NCAA Division II, and in just the second season at the D-II level he led his squad to the NCAA Division II World Series in Montgomery, Ala., and on June 3, 2000, Southeastern earned its first National Championship.
 
That title earned him the 2000 National Coach of the Year honor at the American Baseball Coaches Convention.
 
While a member of the NAIA, his teams made seven trips to the NAIA World Series and earned three runner-up finishes.
 
His teams claimed 15 conference championships and he has earned conference coach of the year honors nine times and regional coach of the year seven times.
 
He coached 54 players who have signed professional contracts and has guided 35 players to a total of 42 All-American honors.
 
Among those are a pair of National Player of the Year honorees in Alan Cartwright in 1982 and Cary Ammons in 1997.
 
In January of 1999, he was inducted into the NAIA Hall of Fame while at the American Baseball Coaches Convention in Atlanta, Ga.
 
He was inducted into the Southeastern Athletics Hall of Fame in 2010.