Joe Castiglione reflects on success as Oklahoma AD: ‘It’s never been about me’

On June 7, Oklahoma announced that athletic director Joe Castiglione will be retiring this year. On the following day, Oklahoma held a press conference for Castiglione to officially announce his retirement from the full-time role.
It’ll be a change of pace for Castiglione, who’s been Oklahoma’s AD since 1998. At the press conference, Castiglione reflected on his illustrious career at OU.
“Look, I could do without this setting of an announcement because it’s never, ever been about me, and it never will be,” Castiglione said. “But if I’ve done anything well, it’s to find the right people with the right qualities, with the right passion, the right plan, the ability to teach and build confidence in others — and pour into them, everything, to help them be successful.
“I appreciate moments like this, where the recognition is coming my way. But you know [why] I appreciate it the most? Is because it’s recognizing everybody else that helped make a moment like this possible. It’s not about me.”
Despite Castiglione’s humility, he’s been responsible for a massive amount of success at Oklahoma. Since he took over the school’s athletics, Oklahoma has won a total of 25 national championships in college athletics, including in football (2000) and softball (2000, 2013, 2016, 2017, 2021, 2022, 2023, 2024).
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Additionally, Castiglione guided Oklahoma during its transition from the Big 12 to the SEC. Castiglione has hired three football head coaches during his tenure at Oklahoma: Bob Stoops, Lincoln Riley and Brent Venables.
He’s also hired three men’s basketball head coaches: Jeff Capel, Lon Kruger and Porter Moser. Castiglione has always attempted to help them, and the rest of Oklahoma’s coaches, to improve as individuals. In turn, he hopes they can help improve the school’s athletics.
“I always thought that if I could help others be the best version of themselves, then I was doing what I was called to do,” Castiglione said. “t’s never been about an ego. So when I see Bob and Sherri And KJ and Skip and Patty and, you know the other coaches… And those that came before them, they’re the they’re the reason why any AD gets any accolade, not the AD themselves.
“So if you want to see the people that do it the best, look for the success in the others, and then their success means the person that was in that role to play that point position, to help them be successful, they’re doing the right job. So for me, it’s just be able to celebrate them, celebrate others’ success.”