March 2, 2001

By Chuck Mistovich

Cottrell's Young Huskies in NAIA Tourney 4th Straight Year

You wouldn't guess it, but only 11 years ago Coach Ron Cottrell was wondering "what the heck am I doing here," or something like that as he stepped into the head coaching job at Houston (Tex.) Baptist University.

"I had one player on campus when I arrived," said the coach. "I had no office and no basketballs. It was definitely the biggest challenge of my life."

He was starting from scratch in a program that had dropped basketball in 1989 for financial reasons. He was still wondering the same thing when his club finally heard the final buzzer on a 7-23 season in his first collegiate head job.

But, that was 11 years ago. Today, Cottrell has the Baptist team ranked fourth in the nation and he will win his 200th collegiate coaching victory in the first days of March. The Huskies are already assured of a third straight berth in the NAIA I national tournament, thanks to its 28-4 record and national ranking.

The former assistant for Coach Nolan Richardson at Arkansas has it clicking now, saying, "This is truly a team. Everybody plays together. The bench has developed as we've gone through the year. It's been one of the most fun teams we've had here. This is a good time for us right now." And the times should continue to be good for Cottrell. He has only one senior on this great team, 6-7 Eric Meche, who averages 13.3 points per game. His lineup features 6-8, 235-pound Charles Fordjour who transferred in from Houston two years ago. The guy is one of the best in NAIA basketball, averaging 15.8 points and 9.9 rebounds per game, and 56 per cent field shooting.

The talent goes on and on with 6-5 guard Jeff Carroll (13.8 ppg, 4.2 rpg), 6-5 Kendrick Bridges (10.9 ppg), 5-10 Ben Karam (10.0 ppg, 4.4 assists per game) and Bryce Burch (8.5 ppg, 5.3 rpg).

Cottrell has his Huskies playing on both ends of the court. They score 90.1 ppg, making 48 per cent of their action shots, and they hold foes to 78.4 ppg off 42 per cent field shooting. They grab nine more rebounds a game than the opponents.

All of this balance has brought together a team that started out 1-3. They have now won 27 of their next 28 games. Sounds like a great time to head into the tournament, right?

One of the truly rewarding accomplishments in the athletic director segment of his job is that the women's basketball team also is having a record year. The ladies have been nationally ranked this season under coach Shane Brown. Cottrell said, "It's exciting...to have men's and women's basketball both doing very well." And this is only the second season of women's basketball at the school...both producing more than 20 wins each season.