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-_ ---- 22 THE NCAA NEWS/March 11,1992 Meyer never warmed to recruiting Ray Meyer’s favorite saying is, “I would like to buy players for what they are worth and then sell them fnr what they think they are worth.” It speaks well to his disdain for recruiting, the lifeblood and. at the same time, the bane of coaches. It’s a Catch-22 of sorts. With- out great athletes, a coach is not going to be successful. If a coach is not successful, he runs the risk of not getting great athletes in his program. If the cycle IS bro- ken, the coach usually ends up looking for other employment. But Meyer says he survived 42 years as head men’s basketball coach at DePaul University without being a good recruiter. “I hated it,” he said. “I always thought I was a teacher. I could never recruit. Whatever success I had came when Joey (Meyer, Ray’s son and current DePaul coach) came as an assistant. He started recruiting and bringing in good ballplayers. Gee, I be- came a great coach when all these ballplayers came in.” From George Mikan to Mark Aguirre and Terry Cummings, Meyer certainly had his share of talented players through the years. He give credit for the latter pair to Joey, and he hardly can take credit for recruiting Mikan, at 6-10 one of the first dominant big men in collcgc basketball. Meyer, who played at the IJni- vcrsity of Notre Dame, was an assistant for the Irish in 1942 when Mikan tried out for the basketball team at Notre Dame. “George Keogan was coach there,” Meyer recalled. “Keogan called him in his oflice and told him he ought to go to a little school where he would get more attention. Little did I know when I came to DePaul about a month or two later that George Mikan would bc thcrc. It was a happy relationship.” That relationship led the Blue Demons to the NCAA tournament in 1943 and the National Invitation Tournament in 1944 and 1945 (which they won in ‘45). In all, Meyer coached De- Paul to the NCAA tournament I3 times. Though Meyer said he didn’t like to recruit and didn’t do a good job, he knew the value of a big man like Mikan. Ray Meyer (center) at DePaul Universiiy, flankedby son Joey Meyer (leff) and Jim Molinati, who now is head coach at Bradley University Basketball Continued from page 1 for a faster pace, increasing the excitement. The basketball used 50 years ago was laced and “had eggs all over it,‘: former DePaul Univer- sity coach Ray Meyer said. “With the ball being molded and round, you can shoot it much better. It’s a little smaller in circumference so that you can dunk it and handle it better with smaller hands. Of course, now these guys have hands like toilet seats; they can handle anything. The ball goes in and they handle it like a little softball.” Fiberglass backboards and break- away rims make the high-flying game much easier to play and watch. The standardization of courts seems a given now, but Jack Gardner, who played at the University of Southern California in the late 1920s and early 1930s and has been involved in the game as a coach or scout for 60 years, recalls playing in gymnasi- ums with stoves in the middle of the court. Players different Despite all the changes in the rules and equipment, the most ob- “How do you stop a big man? With another big man,” he said. “If you don’t have a big one, what do you do? You have to play ‘Chinese defense’ or sink back. But the big man still has a tremendous advantage. And when you throw it in, they all run at him and he can throw it out to get a good shot anyway. The big guy gets more points by accident than the little guy gets on pur- pose.” Meyer took advantage of Mi- kani height by using unusual training methods. He hired a dance instructor to give him rhythm. He had Mikan punch a boxing speed bag to quicken his hands. He had him jump rope to work on his foot speed. And he improved on Mikan’s jumping ability by having him jump over benches. Meyer’s trademark was the ability to change with the times. He succeeded in the 1940s as well as the 1980s. He succeeded with the slow, methodical game as well as with transition. Just the fact that he coached in those two entirely different eras speaks to his ability to adapt. Meyer acknowledges he was offered opportunities to coach in the Big Ten Conference and in the pros for “three times the money as I was making at De- Paul.” So why did he stay? “I was happy hcrc,” hc said. “The grass is always greener someplace else. I knew what I had here; I didn’t know what I was getting into someplace else. So I felt, ‘How many meals can I eat? How many cars can I drive? What do I need the money for‘? I’m never going to be wealthy, but I will always be happy.“’ Especially now, since he no longer has to recruit. vious change may be the players themselves. “Those guys are getting so big that you could put a lantern on their heads, and they could be beacons at the airport,” Meyer said. Wooden says players have become so athletic that team play may have suffered. “As the players have improved and become acrobatic showmen, I think the team play as a whole has been hurt,” he said. “As a result, coaches have tended to let players do more on their own rather than working out of the team con- SW Bask cl hall. pup 23 Oklahoma State’s Iba taught game with respect Some are known by their first and last names. Others are known as Coach Whatsisname. A few are known simply as “Coach.” And then there is Mr. Iba. More than 20 years after retir- ing as men’s basketball coach at Oklahoma State University, Henry Iba is known to former players and assistants, as well as other coaches across thecountry, as Mr. Iba. “I guess all the players who played for him still refer to him as Mr. Iba,” said Eddie Sutton, who played for Ibafrom 1955-58 and currently is the men’s basketball coach for the Cowboys. “We had great respect for him. He taught us not only how to be winners on the court but how to be winners off the floor as well.” Iba wasn’t fancy. He didn’t have elaborate offensive systems that were designed to trick opponents. He simply tried to out- prepare his opponents. Jack Hartman, who played tor Iba in the 1950s and later coached Southern Illinois Uni- versity at Carbondale to the Na- tional Invitation Tournament championship in 1967 and Kan- sas State University into the NCAA tournament seven times, said: “He had a system, and the system was adhered to at all times. There wasn’t a great deal of room for freelance play. De- fense was the basis of his system dedication, discipline and defense.” homa State (then Oklahoma A&M), defense consisted of put- ting Bob Kurland under the hoop and watching him swat away shots. But his attention to defense didn’t end when that techniuuc was outlawed. Dean Smith, head men’s basketball coach at the University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill, who never played or coached under Iba yet credits Iba with molding his coaching style, said: “Iba was one of the great teachers of defense. People are still using some of the principles he brought about regarding defense.” Sutton said approximately 75 percent of what his team does came from what he was taught as a player. “Nobody worked harder as players than we did,” John Wooden UCLA’s Wooden stayed close to home For all the accomplishments graduating seniors each year who in .John Wooden’s basketball ca- are going to meet your entrance reer such as IO national cham- requirements, then you are going pionships in I2 years, 620 wins to have the type of team that is and an NCAA-record (shared going to do well. When you do with Dean Smith) 47 victories in well, you attract attention from the Division I men’s basketball athletes in other areas and they tournament -the most rcmark- will be in contact with you, either able may be that he did it all with directly or through their coach, a rccruitmcnt pattern that would principal, counselors or people astonish most coaches today. of that sort.” Wooden never initiated con- Wooden said his assistants tact with a potential recruit out- sometimes wanted him to initiate side the state 01 Calitornia. Fven contact with out-of-state recruits. I,ew Alcindor (now Kareem Ab But he didn’t give in. “There dul-.Jahbar), who was from New were many players I would have York, was referred to Wooden liked to have had,” he said. “But by his high-school coach. Also, it just wasn’t my policy or my Wooden says in 27 years as coach philosophy, so I didn’t do it. IO at the University of California, say I was tempted, I don’t know. Los Angeles, he probably didn’t I was never tempted enough to visit more than a doren potential ’ do it.” recruits in their homes before The nucleus of possibly the they signed with the Bruins. greatest class in college basketball Wooden regularly picked the history was from Southern Caliplayers hc wanted from among fornia. Bill Walton of San Diego, the best in Southern California. .Jamaal (then Keith) Wilkes of And the best in the rest of the Santa Barbara and Greg Lee of country regularly picked IJCLA. Reseda came to IJCLA together “I don’t think it is ncccssary, in the fall of 1970. “They are even today, at UCLA or say at three individuals who were all USC (to initiate contact with a tremendous, outstanding sturecruit outside your area),” he dents,” Wooden said of the three said. “I think it would be neces- who were academic all-Amerisary had I taught at Eugene, cans in each of their three years Oregon, or in Idaho or Arizona of playing for the Bruins. “Beor many other places. sides their playing abilities, they In Southern California, I think had the academic ability to do if concentration is made just on well anywhere. And they were getting two or three of the top 10 all outstanding players.” the‘lron Duke of Basketball.’ He taught us discipline learning one’s weakncsscs, one’s strengths and knowing what you can and can’t do. Discipline was a maior Dart of what allowed him to be’successtul.” What Iba taught the most, however, may have been respect. Sutton believes the reason so many of Iba’s former players and assistant coaches have succeeded is because they were treated with such respect when they were under him. Hartman sums it up this way: “He was the most influential person I have ever been around. He gave me the toundation that I used throughout my career. He didn’t teach anybody to be a coach. He worked with us be- Early in Iba’s career at Okla- Sutton said. “They called him cause we were his players “Several of us revered him so strongly we wanted to emulate him. He represented all those things we found appealing and desirable.”
Smith cites need for perspective “If you make every game a life-and-death propo- sition, you’re going to have problems. For one thing, you’ll be dead a lot.” Dean Smith said that several years ago as a joke. But he also still believes it. “I want my players to have other things they’re intcrcsted in during their college expenence,” he said. “1 want them to be a part of the student body. I think our players have done a pretty good job of it here.” A “pretty good job” may be an underestimation. Through Smith’s 30 years as the head men’s basketball coach at the llniversity of North Carolina, Chapel Hill, approximately 96 percent of his players have graduated. While it is safe to say that Smith doesn’t live and die with basketball, he has been able to mix the game into the recipe. He has led North Carolina to the NCAA tournament 21 times, including each of the last I7 years. The Tar Heels have been among the final 16 teams for I I consecutive years. All of those marks are NCAA records. His 47 tournament wins ties him with John Wooden as the most successful coach in tournament history. And, if he continues to pile up the victories at his career rate of 23.9 per season, some time in the 1996-97 season, Smith will become the all-time leader in victories, passing Adolph Rupp at 875. While he said he has no plans to retire “I take a year at a time; I have said that for about I5 years” achieving coaching records is not one of his goals. “That certainly never has been a goal, nor is 11 today,” he says. “1 think too much is said about coaches’ records. I want to be a teacher. Each year, Basketball Continu4vifiom page 22 cept.” While team play may have been hurt by the individual exploits of players, the sport’s popularity continues to rise. The NCAA regularly receives far more ticket applications than it has seats available for the Final Four. For example, for the 1991 Final Four in Indianapolis, Indiana, 143,000 applications (usually for two tickets apiece) were received for the 24,000 tickets available to the general public. So the game has changed dram matically. The game of the high- flying, rim-rattling, fast-breaking, ball-palming behemoths bears little resemblance to that of their CC)UII- terparts a century ago, right’? Not if you listen to the same coaches who discussed the differ- ences. Three basics “I think there arc three basic Jack Gardner things that were true when I played and all through my days of active coaching (and that) remain the same, and will continue to remain the same,” Wooden said. “Those three things are getting in the best possible condition, properly and quickly executing, and (learning) the importance of team play.” Even more basic in his assessment of the similarities of the game was former California State University, Chico, coach Art Acker. Acker was taught the game of basketball at the age of 8 by James Naismith, the inventor of the game, fewer than IO years after Naismith nailed the first peach basket to the wall. Shortly before his death in December 1990, Ackcr summed up his 91 years of basketball this way: “It’s a game of pass, pass, pass. Basketball was invented as a passing game. It hasn’t changed one particle since the day it was invented. Good I try to have the team do the best it is capable of doing.” Those opponents waiting for Smith to get out of the game may have to be patient. He still ef?lOys basketball. In fact, he said the worst part of hIsJob is dealing with tasks unrelated to basketball. He said the growth of the game is both great and not in the best interests of the student-athletes. “We have become the national game because of television,” he said. “The biggest change in my 3 l years of coaching has been the interest in the Final Four. We went four out of six years 1967, ‘68, ‘69 and 72. Then we didn’t go back until 1977, and I couldn’t believe the change. It has to be from television. It was a media event. In 1972, we played Florida State. I don’t even think it was televised in every market. And then in 1977, it looked like a Super Bowl weekend. “Television makes basketball almost too big. We arc still colleges and universities. But we (basketball programs) have become the public relations arm of the university without meaning to.” Despite the new lines on his job description, Smith said he would not choose a different career if he had the opportunity. His father was the person who encouraged him to go into coaching. His college coach, the legendary Forrest “Phog” Allen of the University of Kansas, who was a doctor of osteopathy besides being a coach, told Smith to go mto medicine. “He said coaching had too many heartaches, too many ups and downs,” Smith said. For Smith, it has been mostly ups. For the fans of North Carolina, too. Dean Smith shooters are nothing but good passers to the backboard or the basket. You’ll notice, the good shooters are good passers, too.” What about the defenses? Nortlh Carolina coach Dean Smith said those who think unrelenting full-court pressure is a recent phenomenon are wrong. “The pressure man-to-man defense wa:s started by Dick Harp and Forrest “Phog” Allen (at Kansas, where Smith was a player in the early 1950s): Smith said. “You play between the ball and your man instead of playing between your man and the basket. That man-to-man pressure really began late in the 1952 season and then all of 1953. It is still being done at the college level. “l‘hc four participants in the Final Four last year ~ Kansas, North Car- olina, Duke and Nevada-Las Ve- gas ~ all used pressure man-to-man defense. Even though there have been changes, the idea still is taking away the passing lanes.” Easy but difficult Naismith once was asked by Allen, one of his most famous pupils at Kansas, why basketball was SO popular. Naismith responded, “The appeal of basketball is that it is a game easy to play but difficult to master.” Allen asked, “You mean just like life?” Naismith responded, “Yes, just like life, Forrest.” So what does the future hold for this reflection of life? That is where the veteran coaches differ. Meyer doesn’t believe the game can get much bigger. “Television drew so many fans all over the country,” he said. “But now, every night of the week there are three or four games on TV. People will get tired of watching it all the time. You have ESPN, WTBS, WOR, WGN they are almost all national hookups. It’s amazing how you can Gardner keeps the string alive Every college basketball fan’s dream is to attend the Final Four. And while .Iack Gardner is more than a fan, he has fulfilled his dream 53 straight times. He will make it 54 later this month when he returns to Minneapolis, Minnesota, for the first time since he coached in the 195 I championship game. Gardner believes hc is the only coach-- and perhaps the only person- to have attended all 53 championships. It is an cnviablc streak, although he didn’t intend to start any kind of string when he attcndcd his first in 1939. He just wanted to get his till of basketball. “I was just a basketball nut, and that’s why I did it,” Gardner said. “I didn’t want to miss anything, cspccially since I had just taken a job at Kansas State University. I wanted to pick up and follow the game the best I could.” Gardner got help in extending the string when he attended four Final Fours as a coach. Hc is the only coach to take two different schools to the Final Four twice. Each time he went home without a trophy, and Gardner says his biggest disappointment in coaching was not winning the national title. In 1948, his Kansas State team lost to Baylor University in the semifinals. Three years later, the Wildcats reached the championship game and led THE NCAA NEWS/March II, 1992 23 go down the street, and people will recognize you in the various towns. You have never been there, but through television, they know you. “It is exposure. I don’t know how much bigger the game can get.” Gardner says the National Bas- ketball Association will expand to other countries in the near future. With expansion, Wooden believes everybody soon will be playing by the same rules. Hc sees the use of the trapezoid-shaped lane. rather than the rectangular-shaped lane used in the United States; a 30- second shot clock, and possibly even a change to 12-foot baskets. “There is no progress without change,” Wooden said. “But you don’t make a change just for the sake of change. All change isn’t progress, but there is absolutely no progress, whether it be in sports or business or anything else, without change.” the University of Kentucky, 29-27, at half time, before 7-foot Bill Spivey took over the inside game and gave Adolph Rupp his third championship in four years. Gardner left Kansas State in I953 and moved to the University of LJtah. The Utcs reached the Final Four in 1961 and 1966, losing in the semifinals both times. But Gardner’s memories 01 the Final Four arc not filled with “what-11s.” Fifty-three championship games, 106 scmiflnal games and 36 third-place games run through the still-sharp mind of the 80year-old Gardner. Like any fan, he has his favorites. “I think my favorite Final Four, and certainly it was one of the most exciting, was the one that Michael .lordan won (Jordan hit ajump shot with IX seconds remaining to lift the Liniversity of North Carolina, C‘hapcl Hill, to a 63-62 victory over Georgetown llnivcrsity in 1982):’ Gardner said. “The reason I name that game is because of the closcncss. I love basketball, and it is just a thrill for me to see a game go down to a final shot in the national championship. “As tar as favorite players (in the Final Four), I would have to name Bill Walton. He was 21 of 22 (in 1977 against Memphis State in the final). ‘fhat was a game where you just sat there and said ‘This 15 not possible.“’
Page 1 and 2: Survey shows progress with gender e
Page 3 and 4: Appetite for helping - - - - Rather
Page 5 and 6: THE NCAA NEWS/March 11,1992 5 At le
Page 7 and 8: Division I I I champions State Univ
Page 9 and 10: Division I women’s basketball Vir
Page 11 and 12: Raphael Wilson (top) of Augustana (
Page 13 and 14: ACC, Big Ten and Pat-IO rank as top
Page 15 and 16: Men’s Division ll individual lead
Page 17 and 18: Administrative 3, Repnrc of art~ons
Page 19 and 20: Institutional secondary C‘onrinud
Page 21: Subcommittees general was establish
Page 25 and 26: The Market Readers of The NCAA News
Page 27 and 28: The Market year plur a wawer of up

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