Ryan is managing editor at Sooners On SI and covers a number of sports in and around Norman and Oklahoma City.

Working both as a journalist and a sports talk radio host, Ryan has covered the Oklahoma Sooners, the Oklahoma City Thunder, the United States Men’s National Soccer Team, the Oklahoma City Energy and more.

Since 2019, Ryan has simultaneously pursued a career as both a writer and a sports talk radio host, working for the Flagship for Oklahoma sports, 107.7 The Franchise, as well as AllSooners.com.

Ryan serves as a contributor to The Franchise’s website, TheFranchiseOK.com, which was recognized as having the “Best Website” in 2022 by the Oklahoma Association of Broadcasters.

Ryan holds an associate’s degree in Journalism from Oklahoma City Community College in Oklahoma City, OK. 

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CNA Staff, Apr 1, 2025 /
15:34 pm

Oklahoma Gov. Kevin Stitt this week signed an executive order instructing state officials to ensure Oklahoma’s laws are “the most robust” in the nation at protecting religious freedom, with the governor also criticizing the state attorney general for attempting to block a proposed Catholic charter school there.

The order, announced on Monday, initiates a review of various state laws and policies to ensure they comply with religious freedom protections enshrined in both the U.S. Constitution and the Oklahoma Constitution.

The directive explicitly targets several state laws, including one requiring charter schools to be “nonsectarian” in their operations.

The order comes just weeks after the U.S. Supreme Court began considering a proposed Oklahoma school that could be the nation’s first publicly-funded religious charter school. 

Oklahoma’s St. Isidore of Seville Catholic Virtual School was approved by the state charter school board to open in 2023, but state Attorney General Gentner Drummond filed a lawsuit against the charter school board, arguing the charter school’s existence would constitute state support of a religion.

The ongoing litigation has since reached the U.S. Supreme Court, where the landmark decision could reshape school choice and religious freedom in the U.S.

Drummond criticized the governor’s religious freedom order this week, citing concerns that taxpayers could be forced to support other religious institutions. 

“Gov. Stitt has been clear that he supports our tax dollars funding radical Muslim schools teaching sharia law, and I couldn’t disagree with him more,” Drummond said in a March 31 statement. 

“If a taxpayer-funded religious charter school is allowed to open in Oklahoma, it will only be a matter of time before taxpayers are funding schools dedicated to sharia law, Wicca indoctrination, scientology instruction — even the Church of Satan,” he alleged. 

“As a devoted Christian and a strong supporter of religious liberty, I can tell you that the only way to protect religious liberty is for the state not to sponsor any religion at all — just like our Founding Fathers intended,” Drummond continued.

Stitt in his executive order explicitly criticized what he calls Drummond’s “apparent hostility to religious liberty.”

“By filing lawsuits seeking to prevent the nation’s first religious charter school [from] opening its doors, Oklahoma’s attorney general has fought against Oklahomans’ religious liberty with a zeal and aggressiveness that suggests animosity towards religion and religious liberty,” Stitt wrote.

Stitt’s executive order further requires that state officials not restrict access to public programs on the basis of a person’s or entity’s religious nature.

The executive order instructs “that no individual or entity shall be excluded from participation in, or denied access to, any public benefit, program, or funding solely on the basis of their religious character or affiliation or intended religious use of such benefits.”

“Religious freedom is foundational to our way of life in Oklahoma,” Stitt said this week. “It’s not a privilege handed out by the government — it’s a God-given right that the government must protect.”

“We will not stand by while faith-based organizations — including faith-based schools — are pushed to the sidelines by activist bureaucrats or hostile politicians,” he said.

(Story continues below)

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The Chicago Bulls have been one of the hottest teams in the NBA recently, winning nine of their last 12 games heading into Monday night, but unfortunately ran into a brick wall.

The Bulls were matched up against the league’s top team, the Oklahoma City Thunder, and were certainly outmatched. Oklahoma City jumped out to a 33-point lead at halftime and even led by as many as 43, finishing with a dominant 145-117 home win.

The Thunder are now 63-12 on the season, an incredible mark for such a young team.

On top of having a league-best 63 wins on the season, the Thunder are also an absurd 34-5 at home, and now have a historic record against Eastern Conference opponents.

With Monday’s win over the Bulls, the Thunder have clinched the best single-season record by a West team against the East in NBA history at 28-1.

Oklahoma City has been historically impressive this season, and setting a new benchmark for best record against Eastern Conference opponents as a West team is very impressive. Of course, the East is in somewhat of a down year outside of the Cleveland Cavaliers and Boston Celtics, but it stands as an impressive feat.

The Bulls suffering a 28-point loss amid a hot streak is certainly crushing, but nobody expected them to take on the powerhouse Thunder, and it resulted in a historic night for Oklahoma City.

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