Jan. 17, 2003

By Chuck Mistovich
Basketball Times

Coach Harry Statham is rewriting the history book...and it isn't just for NAIA basketball coaches. In his 37th season as bench coach at McKendree (Ill.), he has crushed the all-time NAIA record in coaching victories with 829, topping the 816 wins compiled by legend Clarence "Bighouse" Gaines.

The milestones don't stop there. Statham passed Gaines' mark of 828 wins (NAIA and NCAA wins) and just sprinted past coach Jim Phelan of Mount St. Mary's (Md.) who owns 824 victories and is still an active coach, but recently announced his retirement at the end of this season.

What's next for Statham? Well, he doesn't want to talk about his historic pace but next on tap are Dean Smith with 879 wins and Adolph Rupp with 876 wins. If we look at the calendar, Harry could be closing in on the all-time greats at the end of next season if he continues his 30-wins-a-season pace.

Statham seems almost embarrassed by all the attention, saying, "Milestones like this are a result of longevity, consistency and good players - we have a lot of all three."

We think it took a little coaching and recruiting too!

The Bearcats own a 16-2 record this season and are ranked third in the NAIA I poll. The lone two losses came to number-two ranked Oklahoma Baptist and number-22 ranked Oklahoma City.

McKendree was ranked No. 1 and Baptist No. 2 when they met in early December. The Oklahoma team ran off with an 85-68 win, and have rocketed to a 15-1 record to date.

In the pre-game, Oklahoma Baptist Coach Doug Tolin said, "That's a program with 1,300 wins and he's (Statham's) got about 830 of them. It's going to be a lot of fun to play in a game like that."

Tolin is doing quite well too, piling up a record of 72-15 in only his third collegiate coaching season.

Statham's team was anxious to get out of Oklahoma and the Capital City Classic, as it lost the next night to Coach Win Case's Oklahoma City club, 65-62.

Statham bounced back from the two Oklahoma losses to win six straight. The club is noted for its balanced play, averaging 88.2 ppg and allowing only 66.2. Statham teams play defense...just ask the opponents who average only 36.8 per cent field goal shooting.

The ace for Statham is 6-11, 275-pound Matt Laur with 22.3 points, 12.8 rebounds and 4.8 blocked shots per game, besides shooting 61 per cent from the field.

Who's Coaching Hope? Glenn Van Wieren or Tim Sweeney?

Yikes, it came as quite a surprise in November when the Associated Press' college update noted that Tim Sweeney was named head coach at Hope (Mich.). What the heck happened to NCAA III coaching legend Glenn Van Wieren who has a 486-170 record in his 26th season at the Michigan school?

Well, it all became clear shortly after...the news report should have listed Hope INTERNATIONAL, not Hope. There's a huge difference!

Hope, an NCAA III top-10 team this season, has collected a 12-2 record this season and hopes for its 17th NCAA tournament berth under Van Wieren.

It's a different story at Hope International from Fullerton, Calif. Coach Sweeney was put in quite a quandary when Harvey Tidwell retired in November. He didn't have the talent to match up with anyone in the rugged, Golden State Athletic Conference.

In fact, the International team has limped to an 0-17 record...and it doesn't look too good for the second half of the season as four league teams are ranked in the top 25 of the NAIA I rankings.

Hope International is struggles on both ends of the court, averaging only 62.3 points per game...but that's not the worst of it. The 97.9 ppg defense is a real problem.

Coach Sweeney can look to the future, however, as this is a young, young team with only two seniors. Things will get better.

Cottrell Guides Houston Baptist to 47 Home Wins

Coach Ron Cottrell has built a nifty, 215-129 record in his 12th year at Houston Baptist, which is quite an accomplishment after he started his Baptist career with a 7-23, debut season. Cottrell, who is most proud of his program's 94 per cent graduation rate, has one of the most exciting venues anywhere. His Huskies score 101.4 ppg, shooting 51 per cent, and allow 86.l. They are as brutal on the boards with a 50-35 per-game average. The club has an amazing home winning streak of 47 straight. The ace of the program is 6-6, 235-pound Rod Nealy, most recently at NCAA I Baylor, with 32.3 points and 11.3 rebounds per game.

Golden State Sends Four Teams into NAIA Top 25

The Golden State Conference is as good as they get in NAIA basketball. Golden State owns four top-25 ranked teams. League teams own an 81-31 non-league record. The most exciting event in the league might be the arrival of Ken Ammann as first-year head coach at the NAIA's fourth-ranked 15-1 Concordia (Calif.), winning his first 15 games of the season. His first loss? A 97-86 loss to fifth-ranked Azusa Pacific (Calif.) where he served as assistant coach to coach Bill Odell the last two years. Everyone can learn a thing or two from Odell (320-79 career record in his 12th season). Another big win for AP was by 69-64 over league rival Biola (Calif.), ranked 17th in the NAIA with a 12-3 record for coach Dave Holmquist, (591-167 record in his 23rd season). The other high-flying Golden State team in the NAIA is 24th ranked Westmont (Calif.) with an 11-4 record for coach John Moore (198-100 record in his 10th season). Not far off the national top-25 list is The Master's (Calif.) under coach Bill Oates who had back-to-back .500 seasons but has roared to a 12-4 mark this year to up his 10th season career mark to 224-88.

Other Really Interesting Facts!

Defending national champion Oklahoma Science and Arts is 11th in the NAIA I rankings, joining Sooner Conference foes Oklahoma Baptist and Oklahoma City in the top 25. S&A has had an awesome run under coach Brisco McPherson who guided the club to the national tournament runnerup spot two years ago and then won it all last year. Leading the way again is Michael Williamson with 22.6 ppg.

Mike Wells wasn't on the Who's Who of College Coaches when he was an assistant coach at Mount Vernon (O.) Nazarene, but he has done quite well for himself as he enjoys his ninth season on the coaching staff for the NBA's Houston Rockets. He started out with the Rockets with an internship, then graduated to assistant video coordinator, then head video guy. Today he is assisting head coach Rudy Tomjanovich on the bench and handling game preparation details.

Jeff Britt has had a real roller-coaster ride as he enters the halfway point of his third season as head coach at Bethel (Tenn.) team. He launched his coaching career with an 8-26 record, and then exploded for a 24-11 mark last year to reach the NAIA tourney Sweet 16. This year the club has a 11-7 record, and hopes for a huge finish to get back into playoffs. But Britt is still quite proud of his team, including its immense community efforts. "It gives us the chance to give something back to our community," he says, referring to his players' work in area elementary classrooms in a reading program. The players get as big a kick out of the program as do the eight-year-olds, who keep it pretty interesting.