[Mick]

D2 coach?  The national search ends at Northwest Missouri State (Bearcats) with Ben McCollum.

14 seasons
365-86 record (221-61 conference)
2023-24 Bearcats are 29-4 and 20-2 in conference, now on an 18 game winning street. Four losses are by a total of 24 points
5-time NABC Division II National Coach of the Year
2019 John McLendon National Coach of the Year (all divisions)
12 MIAA regular season titles (2012, 2014, 2015, 2016, 2017, 2018, 2019, 2020, 2021, 2022, 2023, 2024)
7 MIAA tournament titles (2016, 2017, 2018, 2019, 2022, 2022, 2023)
30-6 NCAA D2 tournament record
NCAA National Champion in 2017, 2019, 2021, 2022
9 time MIAA Coach of the Year (2012, 2015, 2016, 2017,2019. 2020, 2021, 2023, 2024)
2012 and 2020 Clarence "Big House" Gaines National Coach of the Year (seals the deal for me)

Seriously, why is this guy not in D1 yet at Rolla or even Columbia?  Mizzou is mired in mediocrity.


Send the private jet once he wins another title (they are in their 12th NCAA Elite Eight at the moment).  Maryville, MO has a regional airport (EVU) I'd rather hire this guy than a Randy Bennett or a Chris Mooney. Or even some Ivy coach.....because Ivy?

I don't want any ivy coach.

I agree. Even the best of them, arguably Mitch Henderson, who assisted Bill Carmody at Northwestern for 11 years, is both unlikely to leave a cushy gig and not prepared to compete at an ACC level. Henderson was a four-year starter at Princeton, he lives in Princeton, has a wife and three kids. He isn't going anywhere.

Henderson played professionally in Europe and left Euroball to coach with Carmody at NW where he would frequently participate in the practices. Carmody joked in a Sports Illustrated article: "I don't mind that Mitch is cagier and smarter than all those guys on the court. The thing that bothers me is that he's faster than all of them."

Anyway, he got Princeton to the Sweet 16 two years ago. Probably not the right guy for Stanford.

[Mick]

D2 coach?  The national search ends at Northwest Missouri State (Bearcats) with Ben McCollum.

14 seasons
365-86 record (221-61 conference)
2023-24 Bearcats are 29-4 and 20-2 in conference, now on an 18 game winning street. Four losses are by a total of 24 points
5-time NABC Division II National Coach of the Year
2019 John McLendon National Coach of the Year (all divisions)
12 MIAA regular season titles (2012, 2014, 2015, 2016, 2017, 2018, 2019, 2020, 2021, 2022, 2023, 2024)
7 MIAA tournament titles (2016, 2017, 2018, 2019, 2022, 2022, 2023)
30-6 NCAA D2 tournament record
NCAA National Champion in 2017, 2019, 2021, 2022
9 time MIAA Coach of the Year (2012, 2015, 2016, 2017,2019. 2020, 2021, 2023, 2024)
2012 and 2020 Clarence "Big House" Gaines National Coach of the Year (seals the deal for me)

Seriously, why is this guy not in D1 yet at Rolla or even Columbia?  Mizzou is mired in mediocrity.


Send the private jet once he wins another title (they are in their 12th NCAA Elite Eight at the moment).  Maryville, MO has a regional airport (EVU) I'd rather hire this guy than a Randy Bennett or a Chris Mooney. Or even some Ivy coach.....because Ivy?

I don't want any ivy coach.

I agree. Even the best of them, arguably Mitch Henderson, who assisted Bill Carmody at Northwestern for 11 years, is both unlikely to leave a cushy gig and not prepared to compete at an ACC level. Henderson was a four-year starter at Princeton, he lives in Princeton, has a wife and three kids. He isn't going anywhere.

Henderson played professionally in Europe and left Euroball to coach with Carmody at NW where he would frequently participate in the practices. Carmody joked in a Sports Illustrated article: "I don't mind that Mitch is cagier and smarter than all those guys on the court. The thing that bothers me is that he's faster than all of them."

Anyway, he got Princeton to the Sweet 16 two years ago. Probably not the right guy for Stanford.