Oklahoma Freedom Eyeing 2023 PBR Team Series Championship Ahead of Draft on May 17
By: Darci Miller
PUEBLO, Colo. – During the inaugural PBR Team Series season in 2022, the Oklahoma Freedom became the first team to win its homestand when they took the victory at Freedom Fest in Oklahoma City.
On that memorable weekend, Derek Kolbaba notched three walk-off rides – two for more than 90 points – and Chase Outlaw rode 2021 YETI World Champion Bull Woopaa for 94.5 points in the Bonus Round.
“I think the week before, we went to Texas, and they introduced Oklahoma, and they booed us. We’re not even used to team sports, and they booed us like crazy,” Freedom head coach Cord McCoy remembered with a laugh on PBR Now. “But to go the very next week and go to Oklahoma City here, the Paycom Center – it was so cool to see the home team, the home state, and the fans get behind it and cheer so much. It made the whole year worthwhile to see so many people show up for the Oklahoma Freedom event and cheer guys on. I mean, that was better than any gold buckle.”
The Freedom ultimately finished the regular season in a three-way tie for first place based on wins and losses, going into the PBR Team Series Championship in November in third place on the Bonus Points tiebreaker. In Las Vegas, they placed fourth behind the Nashville Stampede, Arizona Ridge Riders and Texas Rattlers.
While the cheers of the Oklahoma faithful meant more than a gold buckle, that’s precisely what the Freedom will have in their sights in 2023. They head into the 2023 PBR Team Series Draft on May 17 in Fort Worth, Texas, with pick No. 6 and with that in mind.
Fans can watch the draft live on May 17 at 6 p.m. ET on RidePass on Pluto TV.
“Our focus as a team, obviously, is improving every chance we get and looking to get a series championship this year,” assistant coach Kody Lostroh said. “We do have seven protected (riders) right now, but that being said, we all know the role injuries play in this sport. Every team’s dealing with them, and so we’re going to have to deal with that as well, and looking into this draft, there are some really, really heavy hitters in there that are going to make a difference in some teams. So we’ve got our eye on them.”
McCoy says that consistency – both throughout an event and throughout the season – is critical. The Freedom experienced that firsthand last season.
“I think about mid-season last year, we found that consistency, we found that solid point, and that’s when we won event after event after event and went on, I think, the longest winning streak of the whole season,” McCoy said. “So yeah, not too high, not too low, but in bull riding, you don’t have time to throw your sucker in the dirt. You’ve got to dust it off and keep going because the next day, that 8-second ride of yours could be the most important ride of the whole year. So you don’t have time to hang your head low.”
Part of the Team Series learning curve has been adjusting that mentality to riding not alone but with a group of other riders who can pick you up.
“You’ve got to love what you do,” McCoy said. “I mean, we’ve got a very dangerous sport, and then sometimes you lose, and it doesn’t pay anything. So you’ve got to love what you do. Also, you’re talking about a sport that, if you ride 50%, you’re one of the elite bull riders in the world. And that’s the other thing with the team deal, is realizing that, sometimes, this guy can ride his bull and be 90 points and the team still loses, and vice versa. You can get bucked off, and the team still wins.”
The Freedom have also been scouting at the PBR Team Series Combines, a three-stop series of events around the country that allowed riders to work out with coaches and show their stuff. The Combine Series Championship is being held Thursday, April 27, at 7 p.m. CT in Cowtown Coliseum in Fort Worth, Texas.
“The combines have been, obviously, a new deal with the sport, but it’s cool to see these new talents that a lot of people haven’t seen before,” Lostroh said. “It’s kind of like the walk-on guy that could be your superstar. We have seen quite a bit of talent at these combines and also seen guys that weren’t really prepared. But this was also an eye-opener for them, so hopefully we’ll see them down the road where they’ll be hopefully even more prepared and be a valuable asset to a lot of teams.”
While the Team Series has been in its offseason since November, McCoy has not been resting on his laurels. The stock contractor of 2022 YETI World Champion Bull Ridin Solo (among others, of course), he’s been crisscrossing the country all season, on the back of the chutes at Unleash The Beast events.
The affable McCoy loves being involved in bull riding in any way, shape or form, but he’s looking forward to putting his coach hat back on on May 17.
“I’m pretty excited about this new draft coming up,” McCoy said. “And as you kind of run through the stats of last year, we just tried to write down and remember what we did that worked and mimic that and do that again and again and again, and win a national title here in ’23.”
Photo courtesy of Josh Homer/Bull Stock Media
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