Bob McKillop

Pablo

Hall of Famer

"McKillop spent a year at Davidson as an assistant to Eddie Biedenbach before returning to New York to coach at Long Island Lutheran High. Twice he was offered jobs close to home — Marist and Hofstra — but turned them down because they didn’t feel like the right fit. Then, in 1989, Davidson offered him the head coaching job.

'I turned it down at first,' he said. 'I knew all about the legacy, all the success Lefty Driesell and Terry Holland had there, but that had been a long time ago at that point. They had been struggling for a while, and there was a good deal of turmoil.'

In fact, the school had gone through four coaches in 15 years — all with losing records — since Holland’s departure for Virginia in 1974. What’s more, the school had formed a committee to study the possibility of dropping down to Division III and follow, as McKillop described it, 'the Amherst, Williams model.'

McKillop wasn’t looking to move away from home to coach in Division III.

It was Holland who changed his mind. He had decided to give up coaching at 48 because of stomach issues. He was planning to return to Davidson as athletic director."

"Holland, who understood Davidson and coaching, stood by McKillop through his first three seasons, which produced a record of 25-60. Things began to get better in the fourth season — 14-14 — and then the breakthrough came a year later when the Wildcats went 22-8 and reached the NIT. From there, they haven’t looked back, reaching the postseason 18 times, with a 19th slot seemingly guaranteed come March.

The highlight of that run came in 2008 when Davidson was led by a sophomore guard named Stephen Curry, who had been overlooked by all the big-time schools.

The 2008 team went into the NCAA tournament as a No. 10 seed. It proceeded to upset No. 7 seed Gonzaga, No. 2 seed Georgetown and No. 3 seed Wisconsin to reach the final of the Midwest Region, where it faced top-seeded Kansas in front of more than 57,000 fans at Detroit’s Ford Field.

The Wildcats, trailing 59-57, actually had the last shot. But Kansas Coach Bill Self smartly double-teamed Curry, who was forced to reverse the ball to Jason Richards. His three-pointer at the buzzer missed, and Kansas went on to win the national championship.

'One shot,' McKillop said with a smile. 'We were that close. I’d love to make one more run like that.'"





 

psyclone

Hall of Famer
Feinstein seems to specialize in columns about non-power 5 teams and their coaches, particularly if they are "old school". In this case, McKillop is very deserving of the accolades.
 
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