When you think of Sulphur basketball, you think of Toby Todd.
Over 300 wins. Numerous coaching honors. An undefeated state championship season.
His list of accomplishments runs long, but his impact on the youth in Sulphur during his 20 years as a coach spans much further.
Todd announced his retirement last week, stepping down as the most successful basketball coach in school history.
“I feel good about my decision,” he said. “I just felt like I needed a change after 26 years of coaching. I was really tired this season. I’m looking forward to some time away from coaching to see what my next chapter in life will look like.”
His next chapter will likely look different, but many won’t soon forget the impact Todd had on his players, the school and the Sulphur community since he took over in 2006.
Todd guided the program to the historic 2013 Class 3A state title, capping off a 30-0 season that is still talked about around town.
He also helped Sulphur to two other state tournament appearances, as well as four regional championships and 14 district titles.
But he didn’t always see himself as the man to lead the girls basketball program.
After Todd came over from Dickson in 2000, he worked as an assistant football coach and an assistant girls basketball coach under Les Kirby.
But Todd quickly found himself as the head man before long.
“I was asked by Keith Foreman and Billy Sue Pyle in 2000 if I would be interested in coming to Sulphur to coach junior high,” Todd said. “I accepted the job and coached junior high football, basketball, and baseball, while helping in high school football. Les Kirby came on as the head coach and asked if I would be his assistant.”
“Les stepped down as head coach after several years, and I wanted to stay in the assistant role in football and girls’ basketball. But I found out in 2006 about a week before the season started that due to unforeseen circumstances that I would be the girl’s head coach for the upcoming season and the rest is history.”
He built his coaching philosophy from some early mentors, both on the court, and in other sports, as well.
“I have had so many mentors over the years,” Todd said. “In basketball my career started off coaching under Jeff Word and Les Kirby at Dickson.. I learned so much in those early years. I also learned a ton under Coach Jim Dixon, Coach Tony Duck, and Coach Jeff Nye. They were all my coaches and getting to come back home and be a small part of the success of our football program meant the world to me.”
Todd learned to pick up on the things each of these coaches were doing well and to soak in those successful habits, the work ethic and the culture that he’d seen on display.
“I learned early in my career that you should find people who are consistently being successful and try to learn something from all of them,” he said. “I do believe that a coach has to create a culture that fits his or her true personality. I wanted to learn as much as I could so I would go and ask other coaches to practice with them. Jim Jenson and Brett Sanders helped me a ton while I was a young basketball coach.”
One coach that Todd holds as high as any was his longtime assistant Trace Eldred, who was with Todd for almost the entirety of his career.
“Tracy Eldred joined me that first year as my assistant and she remained a loyal coach and friend for 17 of my 18 seasons,” he said. “She did so much for our program and sacrificed a ton of her time to our kids.”
His relationships were not limited to coaches, but including support staff and community members, as well, that were constants of the program during Todd’s tenure.
“The late Seth Hensley was always a huge supporter and always kept stats for us throughout the years,” Todd said. “Long time Bulldog fan Justin Rogalla was also a staple for all of our road trips.”
Todd won numerous coaching honors during his two decades, including the OGBCA All-State Coach in 2013 and the OCA All-State Coach in 2011.
He was the Region 5 Coach of the Year in girls basketball in 2008, 2012 and 2013, as well as the 2012 and 2013 All-Ardmoreite Coach of the Year.
Todd was also a 4-time Lake Country Conference coach of the year, as well as an assistant coach on the 2002 and 2004 state title football teams, the 2003 football state runner-up team and head coached the boys golf team to seven state tournaments.
While the honors were great, for Todd, it was more about the relationships and bonds that he was able to build, helping his kids learn life lessons along the way.
“It has been a true joy to get to coach for so long,” he said. “I have been fortunate to get to coach with some really good coaches over the years. I have also been privileged to get to work with some amazing young women and young men. I have always tried to focus on more than the sport itself while coaching.”
“I have tried to instill life characteristics that would benefit our kids for the rest of their lives. I feel blessed that I have got to experience things in coaching that some coaches coach a lifetime and never get to experience.”
For Todd, his wish, even more than winning, was for his players to feel the love he had for them and for others to see the gold standard of a program he had created.
“I hope more than anything in my coaching career that my players always felt valued and loved. I also hope that when people thought of Sulphur High School they had a great respect for our program,” he said.
That love has been reciprocated to Todd over the years, as he recalled on a couple of occasions that impacted him as much as any win, honor or accomplishment “Relationships, I would say, were my strength as a coach,” he said. “You will always get more out of people when they feel important and valued. Talley Thomas, and Tierani Smith wrote papers about me while they were in college and those are some of my favorite things that any of my players have ever given me.” “Talley talked about my leadership style which was called servant leadership. That was one of the biggest compliments that I have received over the years. Tierani talked about instantly feeling welcomed and loved and how the experience really changed her life. I could go on and on and talk about each and every girl throughout the years. I have been so blessed.”
Richardson was a member of the 2013 state title team, which is a group that will live in Sulphur lore forever, finishing 30-0.
The Lady Dogs won the loaded Mid-America tournament inAda, beating a 4A state champion in Georgetown, TX, a 6Astate-semifinalist Tulsa Union and the 4A state runner-up Mount St. Marys in a three day span.
Sulphur also beat five other state tournament teams along the way, which was one of the many accomplishments Todd still can’t believe to this day.
“I cherish all the memories the most,” he said. “The Big House atmosphere, the bus rides, the town send-offs, the community support, and even the practices. Those years were so special. To see the girls work so hard and be able to achieve something that some thought was impossible was the best feeling.”
Todd spoke about that team’s leader, Ashley Hughes, who won numerous honors and played collegiately at Tulsa, and the impact he had on him and his program.
“I can’t talk about those years without talking about Ashley (Hughes),” he said. “Ashley was the best leader that I have ever coached in all of my years coaching. She set the tone every day in practice, and every girl on that squad had an unbelievable work ethic.”
But the standards of the program weren’t always championship or bust.
It was built over time with hard work and consistency, before, as Rogalla would say, “the Lady Dogs kicked in the door to the Big House.”
“We started early on with a goal of trying to make the state tournament,” he said. “I kept telling the girls that someday we were going to hang a banner on the gym wall.”
“We tried to create a culture of winning.”
That, he did as he was 325-170 over his career, averaging 18 wins per season.
Doing that and accomplishing what he did in his hometown was such a special circumstance for Todd.
The support from his community and rallying around his team was unique, along with being close to his family.
“Sulphur has been great to me,” Todd said. “The community has always been huge supporters of our program. I feel blessed to get to work in the town where I grew up. My family is really the main reason I wanted to stay in Sulphur.”
And now, Todd gets to focus a little more on his family, as he will have plenty of time to catch up with his wife, Cassie, and sons, TJ and Trace.
“I would love the opportunity to personally thank my wife and boys for always sacrificing the most,” Todd said. “Coaching takes up so much time where you are investing in others. I am blessed to have an amazing wife that has done so much over the years, and allowed me to do what I have loved. I am looking forward to spending more time with the people that I love the most.”
But that doesn’t mean Todd won’t miss the memories and the relationships he built while leading so many in his 25 years. “I will miss my players,” Todd said. “I’m going to miss the relationship of having that bond that you can only have as a tight nit unit.”
But as Todd walks out the door on his coaching career, he can’t help but turn around and look back at what he has accomplished, smiling at all of the good memories.
“I have been so blessed to be able to be a part of some great successes at SHS over the past 25 years,” he said. “I am proud of what my teams have been able to accomplish.”
“I have truly enjoyed my years as the leader of the Lady Bulldogs.”
We have too, coach.
