SPRINGFIELD, Ohio - Landmark wins like the one that Wittenberg
University Men's Basketball Head Coach Bill Brown (pictured at
left) earned Saturday night against North Coast Athletic Conference
rival Hiram are nice. Championships come and go. But it's the
people that Brown says he has met along the way - student-athletes,
community members, university officials, fellow coaches, etc. -
that come to mind first when reflecting upon winning 200 games in
nine years at his alma mater.
"I so enjoy the guys who I get to be around every day," said
Brown, a native of West Liberty, Ohio and a 1973 Wittenberg
University graduate. "I don't base the success of this programs
solely on wins and losses. I look at it from the aspect of what do
the student-athletes who played for me do after they leave
Wittenberg and how they continue to interact with the program and
its current members even after they graduate.
"Two hundred wins is nice, but what I like best is the
people."
The 103-66 win over Hiram improved the 2001-02 Wittenberg team to
20-3 overall and, coupled with a loss by Wooster earlier in the
day, put the Tigers in sole possession of first place in the NCAC
at 13-1. Wittenberg has not had a losing season since 1955-56, and
under Brown the Tigers have put together nine consecutive
outstanding seasons. His teams have won at least 18 games every
year, they have claimed four NCAC regular season titles and one
NCAC tournament crown, and the Tigers have made the NCAA Division
III Championship tournament five times.
Among the highlights during the last nine years were a 26-0 start
in 1993-94 en route to a third-place finish in the nation and last
year's 24-4 record that included an NCAC regular season
championship and an NCAA Division III Sweet Sixteen appearance.
Brown won his 100th game at Wittenberg on March 6, 1997 in the
first round of the NCAA tournament against John Carroll University.
A significant career milestone arrived when he won his 200th career
game on Nov. 24, 1999 against Wilmington. He won 60 games in his
career before arriving at Wittenberg in 1993.
All today's world wins are expected of college basketball coaches,
especially at a place like Wittenberg, which has six national
semifinal appearances to its credit and has had five coaches go
straight from the school to Division I coaching positions since
1962. Brown says he has enjoyed carrying on such an impressive
tradition, and it has been a privilege to be a part of the program
both as a student-athlete in the early 1970s and now as a
coach.
"Wittenberg has such a great basketball tradition," said Brown,
who has a phenomenal winning percentage of .800 at Wittenberg
(200-50). "It just happens to be me sitting in this seat right now.
It could just as easily be someone else. It makes me proud to be a
part of a program with such a great tradition.
"I get to work with athletes who are out on the court because they
like Wittenberg and the game of basketball."
Brown's next milestone victory figures to come sometime in the
2003-04 season. With a career mark of 260-149, he needs 40 more
wins to reach the 300-win plateau, a figure that just 50 active
Division III coaches have previously reached. But making it into
such select company is hardly the most important thing to
Brown.
He's more interested in upholding the Wittenberg men's basketball
tradition. And that means more than just defeating opponents on the
court.
Much more.
Men's Basketball Head Coach Bill Brown Wins 200th Game at Wittenberg
Posted: Feb 09, 2002