When I was a hs senior I took a college tour in Stillwater. The official tour was over by noon so I had a couple of hours to mess around on campus. I went to GIA (pre renovation) and walked right in. Eddie and an assistant were doing drills with our center and I 2was just sitting there watching. All 3 of them kinda glanced at me and went back to work. Growing up a squat fan it was weird knowing I had found my next step but for an 18 year old kid that was pretty awesome.
On campus he was friendly. I was there at the start of the Miles era and that dude was a dick. Eddie treated students like he was their grandpa.
Good dude. It sucks that he had his demons and they kept him from getting the professional respect he deserved for so long. He is an icon in the game.
Sutton took a lot of heat from Arkansas fans for saying he would "crawl to Kentucky" if he got an offer to coach them and some held it against him forever but he eventually apologized and said it was more out of frustration dealing with Frank Broyles at AD. It was similar to the frustrations Nolan had with Broyles in that he disregarded a successful basketball program at the time to put all of our eggs in the football basket.
Sutton definitely had his issues but he took us from nothing to a great basketball program while he was here. If there was a 3-point line at the time then "The Triplets" might have been legendary. Laid the groundwork for Nolan to come in and raise it even higher. RIP Coach.