After the success of our “Before They Were Coaches” series with football coaches, we decided to dig into the college careers of current basketball coaches in the BCS conferences. And yes, we have some priceless photos along with this series as well. In the first segment of this thee-part series, we take a look at Big Ten and SEC coaches in their first go-round on campus.
Michigan State: Tom Izzo (Northern Michigan)
Izzo played guard at Northern Michigan from 1973-77 and was the team MVP his senior year. He also earned third team Division II All-America honors that year. There he continued his bromance with former NFL coach Steve Mariucci. This photo is from their post-graduation cross-country trip, that included a stop at the Grand Canyon. That’s Tom on the left with the hippie hairdo and the man purse.
Ohio State: Thad Matta (Southern Illinois & Butler)
Thad Matta couldn’t be in the gym enough in high school, but all that work in high school wasn’t enough to make him talented enough to play in the Missouri Valley Conference. After two seasons at Southern Illinois, Thad Matta realized, “I wasn’t good enough” and so he transferred to Butler. There he led the team in assists and 3-point percentage his first season. As a senior in 1990, he was named the team captain.
Purdue: Matt Painter (Purdue)
Matt Painter never got the scholarship to play for Indiana that he wanted. But Bruce Weber, then a Purdue assistant, convinced him to stay in-state and play hoops with the Boilermakers. Painter started 50 games at point guard and helped Purdue make three NCAA Tournaments and an NIT. Weber said Painter “wasn’t athletic” but “was able to survive because he listened and learned.”
Minnesota: Tubby Smith (High Point)
Tubby Smith’s success as a coach is matched by few others, but his playing career didn’t include a lot of Ws. In his four years at the small North Carolina school High Point, his teams never had a winning record although Smith himself was a scoring machine, finishing his career on the top ten career scoring list. He was also an all-conference selection his senior season. And check out that ’stache and those socks.
Illinois: Bruce Weber (Milwaukee)
Weber attended his hometown school, Milwaukee. He wasn’t good enough to play Division I ball in the ’70s and his attempt to walk-on was “fruitless.” But he got a good look at great coaching, as his dad Lou took him by Marquette practices every Friday and Saturday night to look in on Al McGuire at nearby Marquette.
Indiana: Tom Crean (Central Michigan)
At Central Michigan, Tom Crean was torn between two loves: coaching and reporting. He decided to be a reporter and put together his first story on Dow Chemical for the campus TV station. His editors didn’t think much of it and the story never ran. So Crean said “forget it, I’m done” and began his college coaching career at Michigan’s Alma College while earning his undergraduate degree.
Iowa: Todd Lickliter (UNC-Wilmington, Central Florida CC & Butler)
Lickliter was never destined for athletic greatness. While at Butler, a coach once told him he was the worst Division I athlete to ever play basketball. Ouch! And that was after he settled into Butler following transfers from UNC-Wilmington and Central Florida Community College. His lone athletic success was leading his Indianapolis high school (North Central) to a Hinkle Sectional championship in 1973.
Michigan: John Beilein (Wheeling Jesuit)
John Beilein has been nothing less than a head coach for 31 years, but there was a four year period in his life where he was a player. Beilein played ball at West Virginia’s Wheeling Jesuit from 1971-1975 and was team captain for the 1974-75 season, a record-setting year for Wheeling Jesuit. The team won a school-record 23 games and went 10-1 in conference play, the school’s highest finish to that point.
Northwestern: Bill Carmody (Union)
Bill Carmody was a stud while at Union College in the ’70s, leading the Dutchmen to an impressive 59-11 record over three seasons as a starter. In his senior year, Carmody was named captain and earned first-team All-ECAC honors. He was also named Union College’s Most Outstanding Athlete that season.
Penn State: Ed DeChellis (Penn State)
Ed DeChellis played at Penn State Beaver for two seasons before he decided to try and walk-on at Penn State. Then he saw the team practicing. “I said, ‘There’s no way I can play with these guys.’ ” DeChellis decided to go the coaching route, spoke with then-head coach Dick Harter, and became a graduate assistant.
Wisconsin: Bo Ryan (Wilkes)
Little is known of Bo Ryan’s playing career in the 1960s at Pennsylvania’s Wilkes University, but he was a high-scoring point guard and finished his career with two school records: 18 field goals in a game and 28 field goal attempts in a game.
SEC
John Calipari (UNC-Wilmington & Clarion)
Calipari spent two years with the Seahawks before dropping down to DII to run the point for Clarion University in Pennsylvania. He led the team in assists in 1981 and ‘82 and guided them to the DII Tournament as a senior. He’s still remembered for fracturing his cheekbone and using a mask loaned by the wrestling program to continue playing.
Billy Donovan (Providence)
After barely playing his first two years, Donovan exploded onto the scene as a junior under head coach and fellow Long Island-native Rick Pitino, averaging 15 PPG. “Billy The Kid” became a Providence legend by leading the Friars all the way to the ‘87 Final Four, capped by a stunning 15-point win over Georgetown in the Elite Eight.
Anthony Grant (Dayton)
Grant rode the pine as a freshman during Dayton’s miraculous 1984 run to the Elite Eight. The Flyers, a No. 10 seed, knocked off LSU, Oklahoma and Washington before falling to eventual national champion Georgetown in the Elite Eight. The 6-5 forward went on to average nearly 12 PPG and 7 RPG during his career and was named team MVP as a senior in ‘87. Oh yeah, and he could throw it down.
Bruce Pearl (Boston College)
The Boston-native served as BC’s team manager after getting cut as a freshman walk-on. The closest he got to playing was subbing as team mascot Eddie the Eagle for two games 30 years ago. Said Pearl: “All I did was flap my wings and run around the court, anything I could do to get close to the cheerleaders. I never went to mascot school.” Obviously his enthusiasm hasn’t died down over the years.
Trent Johnson (Boise State)
He was recruited to Boise by former Broncos assistant and current Cal coach Mike Montgomery, who uncovered a star. Johnson finished in Boise’s top 10 for points and rebounds. The Broncos won the 1976 Big Sky Tournament and advanced to the NCAAs, where they were crushed by UNLV. Johnson (middle of the bottom row) was named team MVP in 1977.
Andy Kennedy (NC State & UAB)
The 6-7 wing began at NC State under Jim Valvano, but transferred to UAB after one season due to a lack of playing time behind none other than Vinnie Del Negro. He headed to Birmingham, where Kennedy remains the second-leading scorer in school history. He led the Blazers to the 1990 NCAA Tournament, continuing his career in the NBA and overseas until an ACL injury sidelined him for good in 1994.
Mississippi State: Rick Stansbury (Campbellsville)
Rick Stansbury played four years at Kentucky’s Campbellsville University and led the Tigers to the 1979 KIAC Tournament championship and the regular-season league title the next year. In his senior season, he averaged 12 points a game and got won the school’s first District 32 title – which included an appearance in the 1981 NAIA Tournament.
South Carolina: Darrin Horn (Western Kentucky)
Darrin Horn played at Western Kentucky from 1992-95, where his teams went to three NCAA Tournaments and one trip to the Sweet Sixteen in 1993. He was named Western Kentucky’s Athlete of the Year in ‘95 to go along with his All-Sun Belt honors. So it was a Cinderella story when he led WKU back to the Sweet Sixteen in 2008 – until he bolted for South Carolina after the season.
Vanderbilt: Kevin Stallings (Belleville JC & Purdue)
Kevin Stallings took Belleville Junior College to the 1979 National Junior College Tournament during his freshman season and was named an All-American in the process. From there he transferred to Purdue where the Boilermakers reached the postseason in all three of his seasons there.
Arkansas: John Pelphrey (Kentucky)
John Pelphrey was one of four seniors-along with Sean Woods, Richie Farmer and Deron Feldhaus-named “The Unforgettables” by fans. The seniors remained at Kentucky despite a probation that banned them from postseason play. In their first chance to play in the NCAA Tournament, Pelphrey and the Unforgettables went 29-6 and lost in the East Regional Final to Duke on Christian Laettner’s shot.
Auburn: Jeff Lebo (North Carolina)
Lebo was a four-year starter at North Carolina and ran point for two Sweet Sixteen teams and two Elite Eight squads from 1986-89. He also won two ACC regular season championship and an ACC tournament championship. Afterward, Lebo went against his father’s advice to forget coaching and go into sports writing because “that’s where all the money is.” Thanks dad.
Georgia: Mark Fox (Garden City CC & Eastern New Mexico)
Mark Fox spent two seasons playing for Garden City Community College before transferring to Eastern New Mexico for his final two years of eligibility. While in New Mexico, Fox received first-team Academic All-Lone Star Conference honors.
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3 Comments
Holy moly, luv that pic of Tubby
H to the Izzo
Is it me or has Cal not aged one day?