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Rooted to Rise: The Redwood Legacies of Life-Anchoring People
We become who we are in part because of who we bump into on our journeys. Some encounters knock us off our feet, leave us dizzy, and make the world look different in an instant. Others are just shoulder brushes, intersections we barely even notice at the time. But the human confluence changes our shape. In Rooted to Rise , Hall of Fame women’s basketball coach Sherri Coale shares the indelible truths she’s learned from the people she’s crossed paths with in her life. From Coale’s small-town roots to her award-winning courtside career, her life has been littered with remarkable connections. Each connection, small or large, is a vital part of Coale's journey. As a coach, as a mother, as a daughter, and as a friend, she shares insight from those responsible for teaching her, as well as those she has been responsible for teaching. Coale invites you to learn from the wisdom she’s gained from paying close attention to the extraordinary, the ordinary, and all that’s in between.
- GenresNonfiction
184 pages, Paperback
Published October 12, 2022
6 people are currently reading
87 people want to read
About the author
Sherri Coale
2 books6 followersThanks for coming to my page! Since leaving the world of sports I've dedicated my time to sharing my experiences through Public Speaking, writing, and conversation.
You can order a signed copy of my book on my website, - feel free to request an extra note when you do!
I grew up about 30 minutes to the right side of the Red River in a small southern Oklahoma town that had a bunch of churches, a few places to eat and one stoplight that felt pretty unnecessary most of the time.
In the 4th grade I was introduced to basketball and by the 5th grade I had fallen in love with it. Before I knew it, the game had become the road map for my life. As the first female basketball All-Stater at Healdton High School, I headed for Oklahoma Christian College on a full scholarship with the goal of getting a degree in education so that I could coach and teach. Four years later, I graduated from OC with a piece of paper that said I could do just that. And so I did…for a long, long time.
My first job was at Edmond Memorial High School where I was an assistant basketball coach and a senior English teacher. I taught six classes a day without a planning period, coached basketball, drove the bus for games, and helped out with the volleyball team on the side. For those duties I was compensated, roughly, 37 cents an hour. I thought I had died and gone to Heaven. Two years later I took the head girls’ basketball job at Norman… seven years and a couple of State Championships later, I became the proverbial coaching poster child as I was named the head coach at the University of Oklahoma, with zero collegiate coaching experience, at the age of 31.
During my 25 years on college basketball’s biggest stage, our teams won multiple Big 12 championships, qualified for 19 straight NCAA tournaments, and earned our way into three Final Fours. I had the privilege of coaching 4 All-Americans, 14 WNBA draft selections, and a whole bunch of remarkable women who reward me still with their lives.
In addition to working the Oklahoma sideline, I had the extraordinary opportunity to participate in USA Basketball as an assistant coach in 2001 and as the head coach in the 2013 World University Games where our squad defeated Russia on their home floor to bring home the gold. From small town Oklahoma to our state’s flagship institution to ports across the world, the game of basketball has been the vehicle of my life.
But words have always ridden shotgun, never very far away.
I’m the girl who wishes she had 37 lives. In my previous one—this major college basketball journey that lasted a quarter of a century—I used to get asked all the time, “What would you be doing if you weren’t doing this?” My answer wasn’t the same as Luke Combs’. I wouldn’t be “Doin’ This”. I would be doing all kinds of other things. I had a list.
So when I walked away from basketball, I did so with intention. Coaching was a beautiful, hard, rewarding, draining, amazing, fulfilling, incredible job that rarely felt like work. It was more fun than fun most days and I live grateful for the journey. But the things on the list were calling.
The one making the most racket was “write.”
A writing life may seem to lie somewhere on the other side of the moon from a life in athletics, but the two are scary similar in the things that they require. They’re both ridiculously hard, even if they sometimes look easy. And the reward for either isn’t what you get at the end, it’s what you go through to get there. The process in both is the prize.
In addition to writing, I’m doing lots of public speaking, some consulting, and a lot of chasing my granddaughter around and around the room. I play tennis, work in the garden, and typically can be found reading three or four books at a time.
I’m married to a very patient fisherman who’s been my partner for 35 years. Our nest is empty but our l
You can order a signed copy of my book on my website, - feel free to request an extra note when you do!
I grew up about 30 minutes to the right side of the Red River in a small southern Oklahoma town that had a bunch of churches, a few places to eat and one stoplight that felt pretty unnecessary most of the time.
In the 4th grade I was introduced to basketball and by the 5th grade I had fallen in love with it. Before I knew it, the game had become the road map for my life. As the first female basketball All-Stater at Healdton High School, I headed for Oklahoma Christian College on a full scholarship with the goal of getting a degree in education so that I could coach and teach. Four years later, I graduated from OC with a piece of paper that said I could do just that. And so I did…for a long, long time.
My first job was at Edmond Memorial High School where I was an assistant basketball coach and a senior English teacher. I taught six classes a day without a planning period, coached basketball, drove the bus for games, and helped out with the volleyball team on the side. For those duties I was compensated, roughly, 37 cents an hour. I thought I had died and gone to Heaven. Two years later I took the head girls’ basketball job at Norman… seven years and a couple of State Championships later, I became the proverbial coaching poster child as I was named the head coach at the University of Oklahoma, with zero collegiate coaching experience, at the age of 31.
During my 25 years on college basketball’s biggest stage, our teams won multiple Big 12 championships, qualified for 19 straight NCAA tournaments, and earned our way into three Final Fours. I had the privilege of coaching 4 All-Americans, 14 WNBA draft selections, and a whole bunch of remarkable women who reward me still with their lives.
In addition to working the Oklahoma sideline, I had the extraordinary opportunity to participate in USA Basketball as an assistant coach in 2001 and as the head coach in the 2013 World University Games where our squad defeated Russia on their home floor to bring home the gold. From small town Oklahoma to our state’s flagship institution to ports across the world, the game of basketball has been the vehicle of my life.
But words have always ridden shotgun, never very far away.
I’m the girl who wishes she had 37 lives. In my previous one—this major college basketball journey that lasted a quarter of a century—I used to get asked all the time, “What would you be doing if you weren’t doing this?” My answer wasn’t the same as Luke Combs’. I wouldn’t be “Doin’ This”. I would be doing all kinds of other things. I had a list.
So when I walked away from basketball, I did so with intention. Coaching was a beautiful, hard, rewarding, draining, amazing, fulfilling, incredible job that rarely felt like work. It was more fun than fun most days and I live grateful for the journey. But the things on the list were calling.
The one making the most racket was “write.”
A writing life may seem to lie somewhere on the other side of the moon from a life in athletics, but the two are scary similar in the things that they require. They’re both ridiculously hard, even if they sometimes look easy. And the reward for either isn’t what you get at the end, it’s what you go through to get there. The process in both is the prize.
In addition to writing, I’m doing lots of public speaking, some consulting, and a lot of chasing my granddaughter around and around the room. I play tennis, work in the garden, and typically can be found reading three or four books at a time.
I’m married to a very patient fisherman who’s been my partner for 35 years. Our nest is empty but our l
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Displaying 1 - 11 of 11 reviews
August 18, 2024
I have always admired Sherri Coale. Even though she was an OU coach, there was always something about her that caught my attention and admiration. The day I met her and listened to her speak, that admiration grew. The pages of her book prove the strength of her worth and I can only aspire to be a little bit like her. Sherri shares amazing stories of the people who have touched her life and what she has gleaned from them. I love her take on why she is the person she is today because of all the people she has come across. I also love how she compares her relationships to the redwood tree. The roots of a redwood are shallow, but they spread out and support each other so that the trees grow tall and strong. I highly recommend this book. It’s one I couldn’t put down. And I’ll probably read it again.
April 14, 2025
So this book was meant for some individuals that lived at the house before me. I tried to return it to sender but the carrier kept bringing it back. I could tell it was a book so I opened it to let the author know. We communicated and I realized the people she was trying to get it to were close to an area I frequent so I just delivered it myself. Imagine my surprise when a thank you arrived in the mail that had my own copy of the book. I decided to pull it off the shelf just after basketball season, as the author is a retired coach, and I really enjoyed it. It is well-written and the little nuggets of wisdom and reflection make for an entertaining and uplifting read.
August 30, 2024
Beautifully written.
As a fellow Okie, it was nice reading about places I’ve been or know of.
As a fellow Okie, it was nice reading about places I’ve been or know of.
January 16, 2023
I was fortunate to work for 19 years inside college athletic departments. There were lots of perks, but one of the most unique didn’t have to do with sports. My first stop in college was at Oklahoma, where I was able to work with the women’s hoops program and head coach Sherri Coale. I loved every minute of it. In small ways because we were really good, in big ways because of the family aspect inside the program.
Back to that unique perk. I was the proofreader for Coach Coale’s blog posts. Sherri is a hall of fame coach. She definitely could be a hall of fame writer. The perk was being the first person to read her blogs.
The ‘proofreading’ part was a joke. It was like critiquing a Master Class.
So it was no surprise when she shared that she was writing a book in between spending time with her granddaughter. Also no surprise that I preordered it.
One other perk of being in Coach Coale's extended family, is that you receive her annual Christmas letter. This year’s letter stuck out to me. She said that her husband read his first book in many years… Her book, Rooted to Rise. He gave her the ultimate compliment, “It sounds like you.”
Not sure exactly why, but that was seared in my brain.
I want to add to her husband's compliment of the book. It does sound like Sherri Coale.
It was like she was coaching me through her words. Her ability to capture the in-between moments that color life is remarkable. It makes me want to slow down, put the phone down and see everything I am missing.
My son is 11 now and he can’t go to bed without his parents reading to him. When I come across a book that will stretch his brain, I will add it into the mix of Diary of the Wimpy Kid and Hardy Boys. Rooted to Rise is on the night stand now.
Mom got to read the first chapter to him. Dayton’s review, “Why’d you pick a book that made Mom cry?”
That memory will be seared in my brain forever too!
So thank you Sherri Coale for contributing to the Freet family and for coaching us all from afar… even though it feels like you are right there on each and every page.
My copy arrived in a binge book-buying moment when I purchased the newest Patrick Lencioni book, the Life & Myth of Bo Jackson by Jeff Pearlman and Rooted to Rise.
I texted Sherri when the book arrived and said, “Pearlman and Lencioni are keeping good company on my bookshelf these days.”
It was a prophetic compliment that is absolutely true!
Back to that unique perk. I was the proofreader for Coach Coale’s blog posts. Sherri is a hall of fame coach. She definitely could be a hall of fame writer. The perk was being the first person to read her blogs.
The ‘proofreading’ part was a joke. It was like critiquing a Master Class.
So it was no surprise when she shared that she was writing a book in between spending time with her granddaughter. Also no surprise that I preordered it.
One other perk of being in Coach Coale's extended family, is that you receive her annual Christmas letter. This year’s letter stuck out to me. She said that her husband read his first book in many years… Her book, Rooted to Rise. He gave her the ultimate compliment, “It sounds like you.”
Not sure exactly why, but that was seared in my brain.
I want to add to her husband's compliment of the book. It does sound like Sherri Coale.
It was like she was coaching me through her words. Her ability to capture the in-between moments that color life is remarkable. It makes me want to slow down, put the phone down and see everything I am missing.
My son is 11 now and he can’t go to bed without his parents reading to him. When I come across a book that will stretch his brain, I will add it into the mix of Diary of the Wimpy Kid and Hardy Boys. Rooted to Rise is on the night stand now.
Mom got to read the first chapter to him. Dayton’s review, “Why’d you pick a book that made Mom cry?”
That memory will be seared in my brain forever too!
So thank you Sherri Coale for contributing to the Freet family and for coaching us all from afar… even though it feels like you are right there on each and every page.
My copy arrived in a binge book-buying moment when I purchased the newest Patrick Lencioni book, the Life & Myth of Bo Jackson by Jeff Pearlman and Rooted to Rise.
I texted Sherri when the book arrived and said, “Pearlman and Lencioni are keeping good company on my bookshelf these days.”
It was a prophetic compliment that is absolutely true!
October 18, 2022
Heart Warming Stories, A Must Read
This is an incredible book. Each story makes you feel all the emotions. Sherri has you engaged until the very last page. Rooted to Rise is for everyone!
This is an incredible book. Each story makes you feel all the emotions. Sherri has you engaged until the very last page. Rooted to Rise is for everyone!
November 25, 2022
If you have followed Oklahoma women’s basketball, former head coach Sherri Coale’s “Rooted to Rise” is a must read. Her collection of essays are well-written and ooze with her passion for people, life, and lessons learned along the journey of life.
August 13, 2025
Tremendous story telling from a Hall of Fame coach. Rooted to Rise is a story any reader can relate to. It is about the people that shaped you and the stories about those people. Every story is engaging. The Pajama Story is my favorite. It is a quick read that kept me turning the pages. Get a copy. You will not be disappointed.
January 10, 2023
I loved the format of short essays about several significant people who touched Sherri’s life. It was thoughtful on many levels. I hope she writes more about others who, she noted, should have been included.
September 14, 2024
“Life gives you no guarantees. But I know one thing: if you sell out and lose, it will mean more to you then if you go through the motions and win. It’s not about what you get at the end. It’s about how you choose to live the pursuit.” ~Sherri Coale
November 1, 2022
Extraordinary read! Sherri Coale has the ability to include you in her journey as she honors those who have framed her world. Will read again!
November 22, 2022
I will forever love to hear Sherri Coale speak and this book is almost as good as hearing her in person. It’s a great read.
Displaying 1 - 11 of 11 reviews