SIUE – One Brick at a Time

(St. Louis, MO) – Southern Illinois Edwardsville’s Jon Harris is bucking a national trend and is content in doing so. In the instant gratification mind set of most fan bases and university athletic departments, coaches rarely have the chance to build a program the old fashion way.

One brick at a time and emphasizing the recruiting of freshmen is so old school, that you expect to see ‘Chuck Taylor’ High Tops on the Cougar players. But Harris is committed to the big picture and seeing farther down the road than just the coming season.

After 13 years as a college assistant, Harris has experienced the highs and lows of collegiate basketball. He was a high level player at Marquette, played with Dwyane Wade and has coached into the Sweet Sixteen. Though SIUE is his first head coaching job, he is no novice.

Harris also knows the area. He played high school basketball at Edwardsville High and understands the importance of recruiting in a region important to the Cougar fan base. The Southwestern Conference is perhaps the best basketball conference in down state Illinois, and the St. Louis prep scene has a deep pool of talent. If SIUE is going to draw large crowds to the Vadalabene Center they obviously need to win games, but utilizing regionally known players wouldn’t hurt.

The second year head coach really enjoyed his first year in the Ohio Valley Conference and is optimistic about the growth he’ll see in his own team this season. Harris believes if you want to build a program that will last, and one where fans get to know the players, you have to do it the old fashioned way. He speaks often of a ‘Three Year Trajectory.’

 

Ohio Valley Conference teams often find scheduling to be an ingredient that is difficult to master. With friends coaching regionally like Brian Wardle at Bradley, and nationally like Cuonzo Martin at California, some interesting encounters could be arranged. Since there are so many good ‘mid-major’ programs in Illinois, Indiana and Missouri there are ample opportunities to challenge his team with good competition, with the bonus of not having to travel very far.

Harris also gave us a good comparison between the OVC and the Missouri Valley Conference.

 

There are perennial powers in the OVC like Belmont and Murray State, but it seems that every year one or two teams arise to try to slay the giants, but then fall back into the pack. This past season Tennessee State, Tennessee Tech and UT Martin made great progress. Those teams are ‘transfer leveraged’ and so is Morehead State. Can they maintain their ascensions as OVC power teams, or will they decline due to quick attrition?

SIUE won just six games last year and Coach Harris didn’t want to state a number on the amount of games he expected to win this season, but the Cougars should be better and they will be several bricks closer to a strong and solid house.

Do Good