NORMAN, Okla. (AP) - Gene Stephenson returned to Oklahoma on Tuesday, looking a lot more comfortable than he did the last time he was in town and eager to put last summer's debacle behind him.

The Wichita State coach, whose 1,516 career victories rank second in Division I history, was hired by the Sooners last July to be their head coach. Just hours after being introduced at a high-profile news conference on the Oklahoma campus, Stephenson changed his mind and returned to Wichita State.

At that news conference, Stephenson slipped on an Oklahoma jersey, but never buttoned it and appeared somewhat uncomfortable. This time, after his Shockers beat the Sooners 12-2, Stephenson sported his familiar black No. 10 Wichita State jersey.

"We've tried to move forward,'' Stephenson said. "I have great respect for this program and for that coaching staff.''

A crowd of 1,410 - the largest February home crowd at L. Dale Mitchell Park since 1999 - watched the game, and five television cameras and three still photographers captured the pregame exchange of lineup cards between Stephenson and Sunny Golloway, who was hired as Oklahoma's coach five days after Stephenson's about-face. They shook hands as usual before the game and afterward, then largely downplayed the events of last summer.

A Guthrie native who spent five seasons at Oklahoma in the 1970s as a recruiting coordinator and hitting instructor, Stephenson added that his emotions were "not any more than normal. I'm always excited about coming to Norman.''

Still, the pregame handshake was awkward.

"No doubt, that was a very uncomfortable situation,'' Golloway said. "There were some negative comments made about our program (by Stephenson) that I didn't appreciate.''

The turmoil started last May when Larry Cochell resigned as Oklahoma's head coach after ESPN reporters said he used a racial epithet during an interview to describe Sooners outfielder Joe Dunigan, who is black. Golloway, an assistant, was named interim coach and guided the lagging Sooners into the NCAA tournament.

Golloway got what many felt was a cursory interview for the job, and his feelings were hurt further when the Sooners called a news conference to announce the unexpected hiring of Stephenson on July 11.

Stephenson built a college baseball dynasty at Wichita State, but never hid his admiration for the Oklahoma program. He regularly attends Sooners football games.

During an emotional news conference in Norman, with both of his longtime Shockers assistants at his side set to join him, Stephenson wept often and expressed his difficulty in leaving the program he'd built from scratch and directed to excellence for 28 years.

But just hours later, after discussing with administrators what he termed "unresolvable scholarship issues'' with the 2006 Oklahoma roster, Stephenson changed his mind and returned to Wichita State. Oklahoma issued a statement the next day indicating that its high scholarship number - at the time nearly five more than the NCAA limit of 11.7, but in compliance now - was not the problem.

Stephenson said he felt pressured by Oklahoma then - the Sooners were without a coach for five weeks and moved quickly in the final days of the search - so he made a hasty decision.

"It is my fault,'' Stephenson said, "but had I forced the delay for another week, none of us would have had the so-called embarrassment.''