MAC Coaches with NCAA Experience

Rollo83 · Post by **Rollo83** » Fri Apr 06, 2007 6:25 pm

"He walks in with that instant credibility of having been a head coach in the NCAA tournament," athletic director Greg Christopher said. "I don't think there are too many coaches in the Mid-American Conference that can say that right now."

Actually Greg, half of the current MAC head coaches have taken teams to the NCAA Tournament:

Charlie Coles - Miami
Jim Christian - Kent State
Tim O'Shea - Ohio
Steve Hawkins - Western Michigan
Ricardo Patton - Northern Illinois (Colorado)
Lou Orr - BG (Seton Hall)

h2oville rocket · Post by **h2oville rocket** » Fri Apr 06, 2007 6:53 pm

This has been bandied about on other boards as well- I think he is saying that not many MAC coaches walked into their MAC positions having been in the NCAA-and from your list looks like only two. Obviously in an auto bid conference there will be coaches who got there after they were hired.

Strouse · Post by **Strouse** » Fri Apr 06, 2007 11:52 pm

h2oville rocket wrote:I think he is saying that not many MAC coaches walked into their MAC positions having been in the NCAA...

That's what I thought of when I first read that in the notes from the press conference.

JoeFalcon · Post by **JoeFalcon** » Sat Apr 07, 2007 12:37 pm

Strouse wrote:
h2oville rocket wrote:I think he is saying that not many MAC coaches walked into their MAC positions having been in the NCAA...
That's what I thought of when I first read that in the notes from the press conference.

Exactly, and by that criteria, only Coles (CMU) and Patton (Colorado) qualify.

Getting a coach last seen leading a Big East school to the NCAA tournament is a phenomenal accomplishment for BG and the MAC. Many of our conference brethren have acknowledged that it's quite a coup.