‘He Doubled the Blessings’: How Faith Transformed OSU Women’s Basketball

Published: July 10, 2026

By Mallory Mattingly

Oklahoma State University women’s basketball coach Jacie Hoyt relied on her faith in God to build the nation’s No. 1 transfer portal class.

“I want the players who want to buy into what we have, and when that portal opened this season, I realized how many players are really bought into what we have, and that was really cool,” Hoyt said on the “Fuel the Fire” podcast with Will Dawson.

View this post on Instagram

The coach said that her faith was really tested leading up to the opening of the transfer portal.

“Just to honestly have my faith be tested, because there was a time when things seemed very dark and a little bit of a valley that I had to go through before the portal opened,” she reflected. “Knowing that I really didn’t have a team. I mean, I just had a few players on my team, so knowing that and having to wait and be faithful and continue to stay obedient to doing what’s right and trusting Him and His plan for me, that was easier said than done.”

Hoyt, who just finished her fourth year at OSU, added: “God took that situation in my life, and He more than gave me a roster; He doubled the blessings for me. I mean, I’ve never had such a talented roster, so it was really amazing to just let Him work, and of course I had to show up, and I had to do the work, but really just trusting Him with the rest. It was so incredible for me and my staff, you know, just finding the right people who want to be a part of what we do here and how we do it.”

When player Audi Crooks was asked why she committed to Hoyt’s teams, she pointed to the coach’s accountability.

“I’d say for me it was kind of the midpoint in the visit, but I had come here and she had put together some clips, and it was like a low-light reel,” Crooks told the media in a video shared on Instagram. “It was just a reel of missed layups, and I thought to myself, ‘Man, like that’s pretty gutsy for you to sit here and show me everything that I’m doing wrong.’ But I really appreciated that reality. I appreciated her approach with it, you know.”

“She’s not somebody that’s just going to say, ‘Oh, come over here, we have the sun and the moon and the stars.’ No, you’re here to work, and so knowing that she had that mentality to even humble me on my visit when she’s actively trying to get me to come to her school, and yet she’s going to humble me in that way, and knowing that that accountability was going to be present, that’s what made me decide,” the athlete explained.

View this post on Instagram

By blending her steadfast faith with a transparent, highly accountable recruiting approach, Coach Hoyt successfully transformed a nearly empty roster into the nation’s top transfer portal class.

Questions or comments? Please write to us here.

Add Movieguide® as preferred on Google