Success Through Coaching

(St. Louis, MO) – What is the secret to the growing basketball success of the Missouri Valley Conference teams? Long known as a ‘coaches league’, Valley members have taken that reputation to a much higher level. The nation’s eighth ranked conference consistently does more with less and half of the MVC teams played post season basketball.

Alumni

How good is the coaching level in the Valley? First look at the coaching alumni. Bruce Weber at Kansas State, Cuonzo Martin at California, Wake Forest’s Kevin Stallings, Matt Painter from Purdue and Maryland’s Mark Turgeon are all ‘money conference’ coaches with Valley roots. St. Louis University’s Jim Crews, Jim Les at Cal-Davis and Kareem Richardson at UMKC are performing well at ‘mid-major’ leagues.

Head Coach Respect

Wichita State’s Gregg Marshall is putting together a record that any college coach would love to copy. His .729 winning percentage with the Shockers (204-76) and .715 overall (398-159) is stunning. But let’s look beyond his accomplishments. Former assistants Steve Forbes (East Tennessee State), Dana Ford (Tennessee State) are current Division 1 coaches, and had it not been for one bad mistake at a bar, Chris Jans would be a rising star at Bowling Green.

Marshall is in the mix for every major coaching opening each season. He won FOUR national coach of the year awards in 2014 when Wichita State went 34-0 in the regular season, and he took his 2013 team to the Final Four.

If it wasn’t for Marshall, Northern Iowa’s Ben Jacobson would be the     hands down coaching star in the Valley. His winning percentage (.652) is spectacular, and in nine years in Cedar Falls his teams have never won fewer than 16 games. Six times the Panthers have won at least 20 games. This past season UNI rose to a program record 31 wins and a top ten ranking. In 2009 Jacobson’s team went to the   Sweet Sixteen.

After working for Stallings, Illinois State’s Head Coach Dan Muller is building a sweet resume. In three seasons in Normal, Muller’s team has won 58 games in his first three seasons and played post season basketball the past two years.

Porter Moser isn’t doing half bad either. The former Illinois State head coach and St. Louis U assistant seems to be building something special at Loyola. The Ramblers’ College Basketball Invitation tournament championship and 24 wins were a signal of good things to come. Moser is building a talent base and a recruiting ability that is reaching previously untapped regions for the Chicago based university.

And then there is Greg Lansing from Indiana State. In five seasons under Lansing, the Sycamores have had one losing season, and have played post season basketball four times. Lansing runs a program that graduates players and has a touch of class.

Evansville’s Marty Simmons and Southern Illinois’ Barry Hinson have each had some outstanding MVC seasons.

Paul Lusk at Missouri State, Ray Giacoletti at Drake and brand new Bradley Head Coach Brian Wardle are too new at their posts to evaluate.

Quality Assistants

Speaking of Marty Simmons, all the Aces did last season was win the College Insider.com Tournament. Simmons is building momentum in Evansville. The Purple Aces have reached post season four of the past five years. His coaching staff is stellar.

After losing Jimmy Elgas (D2 head coaching job) and Carson Harris from his staff, Simmons made two strategic hires. Lennox Forrester, recently released head coach at Southern Illinois Edwardsville, and long time Nevada assistant Doug Novsek are the replacements.

Forrester was a strong assistant for Simmons at SIUE and had the Cougars headed in the right direction before being released. As a former head coach, and well versed in Simmons’ motion offense, his contributions will be significant. Forrester was an assistant at Bradley prior to his time SIUE.

Novsek spent nine seasons at Nevada and was the Wolfpack’s associate head coach. He helped mentor six NBA draft picks and has Missouri Valley roots. Novsek played at SIUC, and was an assistant at both Indiana State and Illinois State. These two coaches give Evansville the deepest and most experienced staff in the Valley.

The staff’s at Missouri State, Southern Illinois, Northern Iowa and Indiana State are deep and experienced. Any number of those coaches will soon be head coaches.

Why do talented players come into the MVC, and why do Valley teams continue to take down ‘money conference’ teams? The MVC has outstanding head coaches and as deep a coaching talent base as any league in the nation.

Do Good