Last season, Oklahoma coach Sherri Coale could just glance at one of her starters, and it was like ...

	Sherri Coale and Oklahoma won last season's West Regional to advance to the Final Four.

Well, Coale enjoys 1970s musical references, so we'll say it was like that song by Pilot, "It's magic, ya know. Never believe it's not so.''

That's what it felt like and looked like much of the time last season for the Sooners, whose only misfortune was to be that good the same year Connecticut was unbeatable.

Now, though, with so many freshmen and newcomers, Coale said it's sort of like bringing up baby again.

"It reminds me of when you have your first child, and you don't know what you're doing but you figure it all out,'' she said. "And then you have your second, and it's like, 'Oh, no, now I remember this. She's going to wake up at 3 a.m. every single night for the next three months.' You remember exactly how hard it all is.''

I've written about how it's difficult to evaluate coaching. But there are some people who make it not so difficult. Coale's one of them.

When discussing this package of coaching stories for ESPN.com to accompany the impending 800-victory milestones for Pat Summitt and Jody Conradt, we had a quandary. Picking the "best'' active coaches was based a lot on their history as well as their current success. We also wanted to pick another category of "best,'' but struggled with what to call it.

"Up and coming'' wasn't right, nor was "rising.'' I thought perhaps, "Potential Pats and Jodys,'' but not necessarily in terms of 800 wins. Since that's a crazy-big number.

Maybe more in the sense of coaches who we expect will not only have a lot of victories but come to define their programs. Coale, 37, already has done that at a YOUNG age (I really like to say that because she's 67 days older than me).

Coale hasn't felt so young at times this season, though. Last year, she had four senior starters and a junior, Caton Hill, with the mind of a senior. Coale could at times communicate with just a nod to this group, especially guard Stacey Dales. It was Dales' fifth year with Coale, and so much teaching, learning, trusting and bonding had created an almost psychic link.

And then, as those darn kids will do, they had to leave. Coale did have Hill back, and more than ever she seemed worth her weight in gold. But Coale lost her, too. An ACL injury took out Hill in late November, a few hours after the same injury ended Erin Higgins' freshman season. Both are redshirting. Recently, the Sooners lost senior Stephanie Simon, one of those kids who just works hard for every minute she might get on court, to ... yes, another knee injury.

Suddenly, it seemed Gilbert O'Sullivan should be singing the Sooners' theme song this season. (Aside: His two big hits, "Alone Again (Naturally)'' and "Clair'' are two of my childhood favorites ... yet how creepy and depressing are these songs when you think about it? One was about a guy who has everyone in his life either die or abandon him, the other about a guy who's infatuated with a child.)

So what has happened to the Sooners? Well, they're still ranked. They're still going to be one of the Big 12's better teams.

Asked if she does takes some time to contemplate how great the fighting spirit of this year's Sooner team is, Coale joked, "In the 2.2 seconds between when I lay down and when I fall asleep, I do think about that.''

But, seriously, she said she reminded herself to tell the kids that, to add in a few compliments along with the "450 things I see wrong.''

Texas Tech coach Marsha Sharp has watched how the Sooners have responded to their misfortune this season. She thinks their Final Four trip last season is a part of what has kept them going -- even for those kids who weren't actually on that team.

Sharp reflects back to her 1993-94 team getting juice from Tech's national championship of the season before.

"There is some pride and euphoria that stays, and you're able to sustain some things that otherwise you wouldn't be able to,'' Sharp said.

Speaking of Sharp, two years ago when the Sooners were at the West Regional in Spokane, Wash., reporters unfamiliar with Coale were trying to get a handle on this from high-school-to-Division-I jump she made.

At the time that happened in 1996, there were more than a few disparaging comments that went around the Big 12: "That shows you how much Oklahoma cares about it's women's program. They hired a high school coach.''

Looking back now, it's easy to see that Coale was a little like the old Hollywood fable of the superstar discovered at the malt shop, the person who only needed to be given a chance.

But Coale knew how people think and she was prepared to be doubted and dismissed. That's why, she said in Spokane, it meant so much to her that from the beginning, a coach of Sharp's stature, "treated me as if I were already in the Hall of Fame.''

Coale has shown she can build a program up from a pitiable state. And that she can get talent and maximize it to the level of being a national-championship contender. This season, she's showing she can re-trace any and all of her steps when necessary.

"Some days it's really hard,'' she admits, "like driving a stickshift when you haven't done it in a while.''

And maybe that's the best of all analogies for what makes good coaches and why Coale is one of them. When she has to, she can still run the beat-up little hatchback with the temperamental clutch.

Mechelle Voepel is a regular contributor to ESPN.com's women's basketball coverage. She can be reached at mvoepel@kcstar.com.