Men's College Basketball Coach With Most Wins....Not Who You Think

In the long history of US College Basketball, there have been many great coaches: Bobby Knight, Dean Smith, John Wooden, Pat Summit in the Women's game, we could go on and on. However, with the exception of Summit, none of these other coaches have won as many games as Harry Slatham, the Men's Basketball Coach at McKendree University in Lebanon, ILL.


As of Dec. 15, 2009, Slatham has won 1,005 games during his 44-year coaching career at McKendree, an NAIA Div. l school in Lebanon, ILL near St. Louis, MO. That's more than Bobby Knight, Dean Smith, Adolph Rupp and John Wooden. He is the all-time winningest coach in ALL of Men's College Basketball, including NCAA Div. l. He has only Tennessee Women's Coach Pat Summit to beat. It is amazing that Coach Slatham has stayed at one place for 44 years. The only other college coaches I know of who have that long of a tenure are football coaches: Bobby Bowdon and Joe Paterno.

Slatham reached the 1,000 win mark when his Bearcats defeated East-West University 79-48 in the McKendree classic on Nov. 13. His most recent win came on Dec. 15 of this year when the Bearcats defeated Concordia (MO) 84-38. Currently, the Bearcats are 10-5 on the season. During the 2008-09 campaign, Slatham guided the Bearcats to a 14-0 America Midwest Conference record en route to winning the regular season championship and a berth into the NAIA Div. l National Tournament in which McKendree reached the "elite 8" for the third time in school history. That is just one of the many, many accomplishments of Slatham's tenure at McKendree. Slatham has led the Bearcats to post season play in 38 out of his 43 years of coaching at McKendree. The 2009-10 season will mark Slatham's 44th year at the school.

McKendree has qualified for the NAIA National Tournament 13 times in its history, and Slatham has been the coach all 13 of those years. He led the Bearcats to 5 straight NAIA "Big Dance" appearances from 1999-2004. Since he began his tenure at McKendree in 1966, Slatham's teams have averaged 23 wins a season and reached the 20 win mark 31 times.

I wonder how many offers this man has gotten from Mid Major NCAA Div. l programs such as Southern Illinois, Bradley, St. Louis or other schools. McKendree is fortunate to have had Coach Slatham for as long they have. Here are some of the many accomplishments Slatham has achieved while at McKendree:

• Selected as the 2001-02 NAIA Men’s Basketball Coach of the Year.
• AMC Coach of the Year award eight different times, including each of the last two years.
• Six-time recipient of the NAIA District 20 Coach of the Year.
• Named the NAIA-Illinois Basketball Coaches Association Men’s Basketball Coach of the Year 12 times.
• Led McKendree to an 83-72 victory over Maryville University, marking his 880th career win, passing legendary University of North Carolina head coach Dean Smith for the all-time wins record among college basketball coaches.
• Led McKendree to a 34-4 record and 10-0 record in conference play back in 2002-03.
• 1998 induction into the NAIA Hall of Fame. He is also a 1987 inductee into the IBCA-NAIA Hall of Fame.
• 70-48 win in St. Louis against Concordia. That marked career game No. 1,355 on the bench for Statham, allowing him to pass Jim Phelan for the college basketball record for games coached. Back on Nov. 25, 2005, Statham reached the 900-win mark as the Bearcats defeated Freed-Hardeman University, 73-69.
• Nov. 15, 2002---Led McKendree to an 88-87 win over Mountain St. University, becoming the NAIA’s all-time leader in career victories with career win No. 817.
• Statham has coached 67 different players that have received post-season accolades. Nine of those players have earned NAIA All-America honors.

One amazing thing in spite of all of these accomplishments, Slatham has never won a national championship. Let's hope that before he retires, whenever that may be, he gets to lead the McKendree Bearcats to a national title, capping off a brilliant coaching career spanning almost half a century. Information in this article was obtained from the McKendree University Web Site www.mckendree.edu.

Oregon Tech "Miles Ahead"

As far as college athletics is concerned in Oregon, Oregon and Oregon St. get the most attention. After all, the Ducks are headed to this year's Rose Bowl, and Oregon Sate's Baseball program has won two national titles in recent years.

But probably the best and most consistent college athletic program in the state of Oregon has to be the Oregon Tech Men's Basketball Program. The Hustlin Owls, as they are known, have won two NAIA Div. ll National Title in 2004 and 2008. A year ago, OIT made it to the NAIA Div. ll National Tournament for the 11th time in school history. They won their first round game against Iowa Wesleyan before losing to Belleview (NE) in the "Sweet 16". OIT finished the year at 29-6.

Head Coach Danny Miles has won 364 games while at OIT, and is ranked sixth in all-purpose wins (NCAA/NAIA) with 876 wins, which ties him with the late Adolph Rupp of Kentucky. Miles will move a head of Rupp with a win over Corban College on Dec. 30.
Miles ranks second in all time wins in the NAIA and is number one in NAIA Div. ll. He trails Harry Slatham of McKendree College (Ill.), who leads all of college basketball (NCAA and NAIA) with most wins at 995.
Back in 1995, when Miles won his 5ooth game, the President of OIT, Lawrence J. Wolf, proclaimed the basketball court had a new name, Danny Miles Court. Another footnote, Oregon Tech has the most NAIA Div. ll National Tournament wins of any school with 26.

Currently, the Hustilin Owls are off to another great start. They are 11-3 and are ranked #5 in the NAIA Div. ll Top 25 and are led by 6'4 Sr. Guard Justin Parnell. Parnell averaged 15.2 points per game, 4.4 RPG and 4.3 APG a year ago, earning him First Team All-Conference honors. He helped lead the Hustlin Owls to the Sweet 16 of the NAIA Div. ll National Tournament in 2009, and was named NAIA Div. ll All-America Honorable Mention. This year4 so far, Parnell is averaging 17.5 PPG, including a season high 32 points in a 97-71 win over Willamette back on 11/27. Parnell is also averaging 4.6 APG. Oregon Tech is primed and ready to once again win the Cascade Collegiate Athletic Conference Championship and take their 12th trip to the NAIA Div. ll "Big Dance". There is no doubt the Oregon Tech Men's Basketball is the most successful college basketball program in the state of Oregon.

NCAA Volleyball Final Four Featuring a Battle of Coaching Legends

Tonight, the NCAA Div. l Women's Volleyball Final Four will take place at the St. Peterburg Times Forum in St. Petersburg, FL. The semifinalists are Texas, Minnesota, Penn St. and Hawaii.

In this blog, I want to focus on the semifinal match between Penn St. and Hawaii. Penn St. is coming into this match with an undefeated mark of 36-0, while the Lady Rainbow Warriors of Hawaii come in with a 32-2 mark. What is most interesting to me is battle between the coaches. Penn St. Head Coach Russ Rose will earn his 1,000th career victory if the Lady Nittney Lions can win tonight. His counterpart, UH Head Coach
Dave Shoji, already has over 1,000 career wins with a record of 1,016-175 (.852 pct.) record. Rose is currently 999-159 (.863 pct.) in his 31 years at Penn St. Between Rose and Shoji, they have won a combined 7 national championships.

The Lady Nittney Lions have the winningest Senior Class in school history, and maybe in NCAA history. Senior Outside Hitter Megan Hodge is a four time AVCA All-American. Senior Setter Alisha Glass ranks fourth in the NCAA with a 12.02 set assists average. She has an average of 0.89 kills, 466 digs on the season, and an average of 0.85 blocks. Hodge ranks 10th in the nation with an average of 5.23 points, 8th in the country with an average of 4.75 kills, and 8th in the nation with a total of 399 digs. The Nittnery Lions went 38-0 last year on their way to a national title, defeating Stanford in the championship 3 games to 0. If they win tonight and then win the title against either Texas or fellow Big 10 foe Minnesota, they will have gone 76-0 winning two straight national titles without even 1 loss: Absolutely incredible!

Dave Shoji's Lady Rainbow Warriors will try to derail that streak and they will do it with players like Sophomore Outside Hitter Kanani Danielson. Danielson was named First Team All-American this year and was a Third Team All-American selection a year ago as a Freshman. Danielson ranks 29th in the country with a 4.25 kill average. Senior OH Senior Aneli Cubi-Otineru earned Third Team All-America honors this year, having posted an average of 3.88 points, 3.08 kills, .301 aces average (11th in NCAA), and a 2.53 digs average. Senior Middle Hitter Amber Kaufman is ranked 4th in the nation in number of kills (436), an o.38 ace average and an 0.79 block average.

I'm not by any means discounting the successes of Texas and Minnesota, but the coach and player fire power on both of these squads is tremendous. Most likely, the winner of this match will go on to win the 2009 National Title. That's my opinion, and I welcome yours. More info on this article can be obtained at www.ncaachampionships.com.

EMU Basketball Off To Great Start

The Eastern Mennonite University Men's Basketball Team is off to one of the best starts in school history. The Lions have an overall 8-1 record and are undefeated at 2-0 in the Ole Dominion Athletic Conference.

The early success of the Lions is an entire team effort, but much of the credit can go to Jr. Wingman Todd Phillips. The Waynesboro, VA native is averaging 19 points per game. Already twice this season, Phillips has scored over 25 points. He had 29 against Shenandoah University and pumped in 34 against Virginia Wesleyan, thus breaking his game high record of 20 points against Lynchburg last year. Phillips was named ODAC Player of the Week back in November and was named to the BC/Don Glick Basketball Classic All-Classic Team.

Another player who has been a major factor for the Lions in the 2009/10 campaign is Jr. Wingman D.J. Hinson. The native of Newport News, VA is averaging 13.4 points per game, and poured in a game high of 34 against Wesley earlier this year. The Lions were undefeated at 8-0 until they locked horns with Southern Virginia last Saturday. Up until that game, EMU was averaging 90.6 points per game and Southern Virginia was averaging 82.5 points per game. Southern Virginia prevailed 92-79 largely to shooting 45% from the field for the game including 9-18 from beyond the arc and converting 12 of their final points from the free throw line. Southern VA also out rebounded EMU 42-34.

Despite the loss, Eastern Mennonite should have a good shot at winning the ODAC Title and a trip to the Div. lll NCAA Tournament in March. Of course, they will have to contend with the favorite to win the conference, Randolph Macon, who is also ranked #5 in the nation.

Big Boys Without Big Names

Last Sunday, the participants in the BCS were announced. I was hoping that TCU and Boise St. would each play one of the "Big Name" teams from the BCS conferences. I was disappointed to find out that they would be playing each other. I thought that neither school would get the credibility and respect they so richly deserve. I wanted to see if they could beat an Iowa, GA. Tech or Florida. We will never know.

However, perhaps we are too hung up on the "name". Perhaps the Horn Frogs and Broncos ARE the Big Boys. They are both undefeated and both teams ran through their conference foes like a knife through butter. Also, they both beat quality BCS teams. TCU defeated Clemson, who almost knocked off Georgia Tech in the ACC Championship , and Boise St. beat Oregon, the PAC-10 Champs who will be playing Ohio St. in the Rose Bowl. TCU and Boise St. are Big Boy teams without Big Boy names. I honestly think TCU would give Alabama stiff competition if the two teams were playing for the National Championship. Boise St. would probably beat Iowa and go toe to toe with the likes of Alabama, Florida and Texas.

So when you watch the Fiesta Bowl and you see two non-BCS schools playing against each other, remember that they are big boy teams without big boy names. As one blogger put it, it is the "other national championship game". I will watch it, as I will watch as many of the other bowl games as I can. It should be a great game!

Bowdon And FSU Both Must Move On

Bobby Bowdon will go down as one of the greatest coaches in all of sports. DAH!, of course you know that. After all that he has done for Florida St., building a football program that didn't have much of a football tradition, winning 2 national championships, putting tons of players into the NFL, and most importantly, impacting the lives of hundreds of young men for eternity, it's unfortunate that he was forced out before he really wanted to go, but that is what happened.

The truth is, both Bowdon and FSU have to move on. The football program has been on a steady decline the past few years. There comes a time when a new and fresh voice must be heard. Coach Bowdon is now 80 years old. He can now spend more time with his family and do things he wanted to do but was unable to because of his duties as the Seminoles' Head Football Coach. He really loved coaching football at FSU. In his press conference announcing his retirement, he said "I will now have to go out and get a job". He didn't see coaching at FSU as a "job". The transition will take some getting use to, but again, for both parties, especially for Coach Bowdon, it is necessary.

The concept of "Coach in Waiting" works only if you are winning. That is the case at Texas, where Defensive Coordinator Will Muschampe is waiting in the wings to take over for Mac Brown when he retires. Who knows when that will be. In the case of FSU, this is a disaster because recruits want to know who is in charge. Is it Bowdon or Jimbo Fisher. There can be only one Commander and Chief. Now that Bowdon is retiring, prospective recruits know who their coach will be. This is a huge reason why it was good for Bowdon to step down. Jimbo Fisher is more than capable of returning Florida St. back to the championship level that Bobby Bowdon once had it at. He'll get the top recruits in Florida and probably some from Georgia as well.

As Bobby Bowdon said in his press conference, nothing lasts forever. The inevitable was going to occur either now or a year from now. Better for both Bowdon and Florida St. that it happen now than for the program to go through another year of mediocrity and possibly worse than that. A new voice is needed to relate to young men, and Head Coach Jimbo Fisher is that new voice. Bobby Bowdon will always be the greatest head coach in Florida St. history and among the very best in the history of college football surpassed only by Penn State's Joe Paterno. Eventually, even Paterno's reign in Happy Valley will come to an end. The torch must eventually be passed.