‘EDDIE’ Review: Notes, Quotes and Thoughts from The Sutton Documentary

Two things I love: Oklahoma State and Eddie Sutton. So combining the two in a documentary was, as you might imagine (and as you probably concluded for yourself), appointment television on Monday evening.

It did not disappoint.

“EDDIE” was a rollercoaster that brought about everything we want in a show. Raw emotion. Unvarnished truth. The trajectory of a flawed human who faced adversity. A comeback story. The rise and fall and rise and fall. The ups and downs of a life lived, and the impact of those around him.

Eddie Sutton is a Hall of Famer. He is a legend. He was a mentor, a friend, a coach, a father. He was family. I hope you enjoyed the doc as much as I did.

There will be more thoughts about it in the coming days, but as I watched it Monday, I took notes and (tried!) to keep it light. Please, do not ask me why the skin under my eyes are wet. My ceiling has a leak!

OK, let’s get to it.

• What an opening scene. Man. A 911 call from a passerby who witnessed Eddie Sutton’s drunk driving incident. Jarring, but attention immediately grabbed.

• Eddie Sutton had an outhouse growing up in Bucklin, Kansas, but it was not a typical outhouse. “A two-holer.” [lolz]

• Original Henry Iba film. Someone take my money and show me where the Henry Iba film vault lies. Need it.

• Eddie Sutton: “I dated some cute girls. Finally I found the right one in Patsy.”

• It’s so wild to think Eddie Sutton was once just a high school coach in Tulsa. And his wife was a home economics teacher. And that was just normal. Having only known him as the Eddie Sutton, it’s hilarious to think about people thinking of him in any other way other than reverentially.

• Southern Idaho didn’t have a gym … but he up and moved his life to move there and start a hoops program. He was either crazy or completely in the dark. (It was definitely the latter.)

• Imagine a world in which Sutton jumps from Creighton to Duke instead of Creighton to Arkansas. Legitimately never considered this possibility. But Coach K arrived at Duke in 1980, and Sutton was at Arkansas from 1974-1985. What a sliding doors moment.

• Gottlieb is nails in this. Really hammers home the charm of Eddie and the impact of that. Sutton knew the power of TV — and knew his charm was contagious.

“Coach Sutton was a salesperson with integrity,” said Sidney Moncrief.

• Legend.

• Whoo boy, Eddie Sutton with an all-time subtweet prior to resigning from Arkansas. Said he would be fine leaving if Arkansas’ AD wasn’t being loyal. Stones! (Kentucky in the wings makes it an easy decision, but still!) Kind of incredible he goes on to call leaving Arkansas “the worst mistake I ever made.”

• Smokes, that Sutton introductory presser at Kentucky was an unmitigated disaster. Wiping sweat off my palms just watching Eddie squeamish in front of everyone. Yowza. Leaving Arkansas — what a mistake!

• “If you wanna play for me, you gotta learn how to take a charge.” PUT ME IN!

• “Eddie’s first year was great. They won the SEC Championship.” [Literally 90 seconds later] “WHY DIDN’T YOU WIN IT ALL BRO!”

• Rex Chapman is Thomas Dziagwa with hops. Prove me wrong.

• Brutal honesty from Rex: “Most of my freshman year, he was drunk. He didn’t drink in public. But at games, there were times when he was alright. But never great my freshman year.

“I had a big game, we had a big game, we went on to the press conference. Coach put his arm around me. And he was so drunk.”

• Sean. Man. So real. This sequence got me.

• Eddie with some lol-truth level bomb on how he was told things would work from boosters. “There were two or three boosters, they told me once ‘we know you’re a great coach, but we’re not sure about your recruiting.’ So they told me ‘let us get the players for ya and you coach ’em.’ I said we aren’t gonna do that.”

• Well put, Darrell. Well put.

• Legends.

• Also: legend.

• Sean was on P90X before P90X was the bee’s knees.

• I was born in the wrong decade. These are my people.

• The “Eddie! Eddie! Eddie!” chants will never not give me chills.

• Sean Sutton. So much respect. So much integrity. Gritted his teeth and fought through adversity as a player, as a son, as a brother, as a coach. He seems to have found his peace in a wild life and came out better for it.

• Big Country. Big Country!

• More greatness from Sean.

• Sean describing that OSU vs. Missouri game the most important game in Oklahoma State history was so spot on.

• That Eddie was able to rise up in a tough situation after the plane crash, speak for those who passed on a personal level, provide leadership, and still coach his team is truly a remarkable accomplishment. A gutting experience for everyone and he galvanized the team, the fans, the state.

• Reporter: “Did you really want to coach or did you want to get 800 [wins]?

Sutton: “Probably both.”

• Chills.