NAIA coach on verge of record

Harry Statham needs one win to become the leader in career wins as a coach.
ASSOCIATED PRESS
Harry Statham thought he was making a temporary stop when he took over as McKendree College's basketball coach in 1966.
His dream was to win a state high school championship, but jobs at the premier high schools were hard to come by, especially for a young coach. Statham figured if he could put a few successful seasons together at McKendree, his alma mater, he'd be able to land a better job.
Almost 40 years later, Statham is still at the small NAIA school in Lebanon, Ill. He never did win that state championship, but he's poised for an even greater milestone. With 878 career wins, Statham is one victory shy of Dean Smith's total. And he could match the famed North Carolina coach, who holds the NCAA record, as early as tonight.
"If you coach long enough, those things happen," said Statham, whose Bearcats play tonight and Saturday afternoon at the Union University Tournament in Jackson, Tenn.
"I just look at it as an event that's going to happen because I've been here for 39 years and we've had a consistent program with success," he said. "And we've had just great kids in our program."
The school
McKendree is a small liberal arts college with 1,500 students, about 25 minutes east of St. Louis. The National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics is a rung below the NCAA, but Statham's numbers speak for themselves.
He's topped 20 wins in 29 of his 38 seasons at McKendree and probably will do it again this year, with his team already 7-1. He's averaging 27 wins over the past 15 years. He's made it to the postseason 33 times and took the Bearcats to the semifinals of the NAIA national tournament two seasons ago.
He was the NAIA coach of the year for 2001-02, set that level's career wins record the next season, and is already a member of the NAIA Hall of Fame.
"When I look at our players, that's what makes me proud," Statham said. "It's not one game, it's kind of the compilation of the big events. We did it right. I'm proud to say we didn't bend the rules. We've proved you can do it the right way."
Whether players are wearing short shorts or those baggy ones that droop below their knees, cutting their hair short or growing it long, Statham has always looked for the same kind of kid.
He wants players who are good people, good students and good players -- in that order.
"He cares about you as a person before a player," said Chad Storck, a co-captain this year.
Priorities in place
Dennis Korte, who played on Statham's first four teams at McKendree, remembers all but two of the nine Bearcats making the dean's list his freshman year, and McKendree's graduation rate is about 85 percent. You'll never see the mug shot of a McKendree player, and phenoms looking for a place to put up stats for a year or two before cashing in on a big-money NBA contract aren't welcome.
"The razzmatazz and flash-and-dash, we don't recruit those kids," Statham said.
"The pool of those players is smaller than before, but they're still out there."
And after last weekend's ugly NBA brawl in Detroit and the increasingly corporate nature of NCAA athletics, Statham's philosophy is refreshingly old-school.
"He always stressed, 'Be proud of the college and they should be proud of you,"' Korte said. "A lot of his lessons, the organization, the working hard, did carry over in many of us. A lot of his players have been very successful in life, whatever they've gone into."
The way Statham's teams play hasn't changed much in 40 years, either. Oh, sure, he's tweaked his offense and defense, adding a twist here and there as the game evolved. And he now recruits foreign players and junior-college transfers.
Idolized Rupp
But the Bearcats are still primarily a fast break team, just like Adolph Rupp's running Wildcats that Statham followed.
"Coach Rupp was an idol of mine as a youngster," Statham said. "I loved how [Kentucky] played basketball. We always played fast break and that was primarily why, because I liked his teams so much."
Now Statham has more wins than his idol; Rupp won 876 games, second to Smith in NCAA history.
"As far as trying to overtake any individual coach, that was never my goal," Statham said. "I just figure that we're at 800 (wins) and counting. Between 800 and 900, 880 happens to fall in there."
Statham might not be the highest-paid coach or the most well-known. He doesn't have a shoe contract, and he doesn't command big fees for speaking engagements. But he's happy he stayed at McKendree, where he's also the athletic director, even though he had plenty of chances to leave over the years.
"I'm still very satisfied I made the right choice," he said. "I realized I was in a good secure place, I liked what I was doing and the kids I was recruiting."
And, at 67, he has no plans to retire.
"If I can still recruit and relate to my players and win, then I'll keep coaching. I hope it's a long time because I enjoy it," he said. "I do know that when it's all over, I'll look back and really be proud of everything."
But, he added, "I want to be sure all our players get credit for this. It's the Bearcats, '66 through 2004 -- that's who's done it. Every kid who has worn the uniform is part of this thing."
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