Lipscomb from a Bisons' perspective

[NashvilleGuy]

Hey folks, Lipscomb grad / fan here. I hope this isn't out of line posting on shockernet. I come in peace, looking to chat basketball leading up to Tuesday's game. I haven't gotten to watch the Shockers play yet this year, and I'm guessing most of you folks haven't heard much about Lipscomb until a few days ago, so I thought this might be a fun space to swap info. For me, games are always more fun to watch when I'm better informed.

In short, I figured we could do a back-and-forth AMA about each others' teams. If this is against message board decorum, feel free to ignore or delete the post.

I'll start out with a super-quick overview of this team, and I'll skip all of the stuff that's above the fold on Wikipedia about Lipscomb.

We do like to play fast. Most of you probably saw highlights, at least, from the NC State game. The pacing was a bit above average, but not much. We don't normally turn it over that much, but teams that apply pressure and really get into passing lanes can really bother us. We got bailed out against NCSU because Mathews was shooting lights-out.

A quick side-note on Mathews: I'm not sure what got into him, attitude-wise, against NC State. His theatrics to the crowd were atypical. I even noticed our PG, Kenny Cooper, saying some things to the crowd. He's normally the most level-headed, grinning guy on the court. If that had been my first game to see Lipscomb, I'd think he was a pompous jerk. He's not. /end side note.

We have a post presence in Rob Marberry. He's got some great moves, but at 6-8, he struggles against really strong or really long bodies. Against UNCG, Marberry was like 10-10 from the field. Some games we just don't feed him – I guess it's a matchup issue. But you're guaranteed to see at least one up-and-under shot from Marberry that surprises you. He's got great post fundamentals, he just doesn't have the size to be dominant against everybody.

The teams that bother us the most are teams that slow the game down. We don't have enough athletes to create great looks against set defenses – especially if we're cold from beyond the arc. Liberty tried to run with us in conference play at their place, and we ran them out of the gym. At our place, they slowed down the pace, and they nearly ran us out of our gym. Slow, low-scoring games are usually not kind to us.

We also don't have great defense outside of Kenny Cooper at the guard. We get good effort – this team plays really hard – but we're just not athletic enough to hang. You guys saw what Dorn from NCSU did to us. One fun thing to watch out for is our backup post, redshirt freshman Ahsan Asadullah. He has GREAT hands for a big, and in almost every game, he surprises a guard during a ball-screen switch situation. The guard thinks he has an advantage with a big switched onto him on the perimeter, and Asadullah manages to tap the ball away during a crossover.

One more thing: From a Nashvillian's perspective, this team is a joy to watch. They play hard. 3 of our starters are Nashville natives. When shots are falling, their games are more entertaining than you'd expect from a school that can't properly pluralize "Bison."

Enough about us. I'd like to find out from you guys how Wichita State likes to play. What are some fun strengths to watch out for? What makes this year's Shockers fun to pull for?

[SB Shock]

Solid post, thanks for sharing with us.

[shockerfan]

Very good post! Thanks for the info. This will definitely be a game of opposing styles. But I will let someone more well versed break it down for ya. Should be a very entertaining game.

Most of us definitely consider you guys the toughest opponent we will have faced thus far in the NIT.

[jdshock]

their games are more entertaining than you'd expect from a school that can't properly pluralize "Bison."

LOL

[Dan]

I'm sure others will have more to say, but has been covered by the media, we are a young team. We have 10 first year players. Our main guy is stretch forward Markis McDuffie. He's an all-aac type player and a good 3 point shooter. He also can mix it up inside but is more of a slasher than post up player (6'8"). Markis is not real strong and can turn it over if he gets too aggressive and starts hunting his shots. He has a tendency to do this if he feels the team is struggling to score. Markis grew up outside NYC so he will have a large fanbase in the Garden. Our freshman phenom is Dexter Dennis, 6'5" small forward. He will bury the 3s if left open. Very good rebounder and our best defender. We are expecting him to guard Mathews. He is relentless on D. Started the season kinda slow and took him a while to figure out how to play without fouling but he has it down now and is a future star. We have 2 main post players that alternate - Mitgaard and Echenique, both near 7 feet. Ech can shoot the 3 if left open and has better post moves than Mit but he can be weak with the ball. Big Mit is a hoss but has limited range, a nice short hook if guarded lightly. Both guys play good defense. Point guard is our biggest weakness, we use 3 different guys - freshman Burton, senior Jones and Jr Torres. All 3 have are different, Burton big and strong, no outside shot, Jones is a jitterbug and can hit the 3 but is inconsistent and Torres is the 3rd guy, good ball handler/passer good mid range shot, not a 3 point threat. We focus on defense and rebounding, that's our mantra. Expect us to slow it down and get you out of rhythm. We don't want to try to run like NC State did, but we also aren't super slow like Virginia. We'll run if left open but we don't score many fast break points. We started the season slow and had some bad losses early on while the new guys were getting acclimated. We're playing good solid basketball right now. Should be a a good game, as someone said, 2 teams of different styles.

[JVShocker]

We may be one of the best teams in the country at finishing a fast break in unorthodox fashion or just plain bungling it up. And we are among NCAA leaders in airballs. Hopefully the Bison will recognize this from game tape somewhere and choose to watch the entire game from the sideline. I call it "winning ugly." We do laugh quite often watching the road games on TV - no lie.

[NashvilleGuy]

Thanks for the breakdown, Dan! I like the "different styles, different strengths, different parts of the country" storyline that comes out in March/April. Makes this stuff a ton of fun to watch.

It occurs to me that our two fanbases will have totally different perspectives on this game. For us, we've seen these guys play together for 3-4 years now. As a senior-laden bunch, there's part of me that's already mourning not getting to watch this group next year. It seems like you guys have a few really great years in front of you – that's gotta be exciting.

Here's just how senior-laden we are: I think our group has the most active career points in the NCAA. I remember hearing we were ahead of the #2 team by, like, 1500 career points. Of course, with varying levels of competition, that doesn't mean much, but it does show how long we've gotten to watch these guys play together.

Speaking of career points, here's another couple of weird Lipscomb facts: We have the #1 and #2 all-time career scoring leaders in college basketball. It was from our NAIA days, and they were both post players. #2 is now our AD (Philip Hutcheson), and #1 (John Pierce) started as a freshman the year Hutcheson left. That was a fun 8 years of basketball for me as a kid. Pierce had 4,230 career points! The NAIA didn't regulate how many games could be played in a season, and we would play 40+ games every year.

We also played LIGHTNING fast back then. In 89-90, we AVERAGED 110 points per game. Man, those games were fun to watch.

Needless to say, the transition to NCAA D1 was painful, ha!

[pie n eye]

I think maybe our biggest defensive weakness overall this year and maybe every Marshall coached team is when the opponent spreads the floor and goes one on one, especially if they’re quick. That being said I think we’ve improved on that immensely down the stretch of the season.

Markis McDuffie usually makes a couple WTF shots each game. He’s a really talented scorer and gets to the line but not a guy who will put the ball on the floor more than a few dribbles.

Dexter Dennis has turned into our lock down defender and most accurate three point shooter. He doesn’t force much on offense so can disappear at times on that end but he can also catch fire like he did in the second half against Indiana.

Two pretty solid post guys with Midtgaard and Echinique. Echinique is the more skilled guy but he has a tendency to commit sillly fouls and can be a little soft at times. He’s a great shot blocker and has tons of low post moves and great footwork. Midtgaard is a giant human being who is still improving his game on both ends but he plays really hard, dunks evehthing he can, and has surprisingly good touch. If both guys get in foul trouble you might see Poor-Bear Chandler who is a promising freshman with some size, skill, and athleticism but is being held back by a lack of understanding the game plan and poor defensive fundamentals, IMO.

Samaje Haynes-Jones is the guy we go to when we need someone to get a bucket. He’s very quick, gets the to rim, has a good floater, and is a good enough shooter. He makes questionable decisions and isn’t the best passer but he’s our best (only?) shot creater.

Erik Stevenson has had an up and down freshman season. He does a lot of the little things well and best personifies the “play angry” mentality. You’ll probably most likely to see him diving on the floor for a loose ball, etc. He actually has a good all around game but he hasnt been a consistent enough shooter, makes some questionable turnovers, and struggles to stay in front of quicker players. Probably had one of his best game of
the year @ Indiana. When he’s hot he’s hot, if not he can throw up some nasty bricks and air balls.

Jamarius Burton is a pass/drive first point guard who is also a solid defender. Unwilling shooter. Same for Ricky Torres (less so defenseivey, but he’s improved) but Torres is pick and roll wizard at times.

IMO, if we’re going to win it will be due to our defense and post play. A first to 80 points type of game will probably not favor us.

Looking forward to the game. I have a lot of respect for teams like Lipscomb because of our history in the Valley and just recognizing that good teams don’t always have the name brand recognition. The game against N.C. State was incredible and we will have to play really well to get this one.

[RoyalShock]

Hey folks, Lipscomb grad / fan here. I hope this isn't out of line posting on shockernet. I come in peace, looking to chat basketball leading up to Tuesday's game. I haven't gotten to watch the Shockers play yet this year, and I'm guessing most of you folks haven't heard much about Lipscomb until a few days ago, so I thought this might be a fun space to swap info. For me, games are always more fun to watch when I'm better informed.

In short, I figured we could do a back-and-forth AMA about each others' teams. If this is against message board decorum, feel free to ignore or delete the post.

I'll start out with a super-quick overview of this team, and I'll skip all of the stuff that's above the fold on Wikipedia about Lipscomb.

We do like to play fast. Most of you probably saw highlights, at least, from the NC State game. The pacing was a bit above average, but not much. We don't normally turn it over that much, but teams that apply pressure and really get into passing lanes can really bother us. We got bailed out against NCSU because Mathews was shooting lights-out.

A quick side-note on Mathews: I'm not sure what got into him, attitude-wise, against NC State. His theatrics to the crowd were atypical. I even noticed our PG, Kenny Cooper, saying some things to the crowd. He's normally the most level-headed, grinning guy on the court. If that had been my first game to see Lipscomb, I'd think he was a pompous jerk. He's not. /end side note.

We have a post presence in Rob Marberry. He's got some great moves, but at 6-8, he struggles against really strong or really long bodies. Against UNCG, Marberry was like 10-10 from the field. Some games we just don't feed him – I guess it's a matchup issue. But you're guaranteed to see at least one up-and-under shot from Marberry that surprises you. He's got great post fundamentals, he just doesn't have the size to be dominant against everybody.

The teams that bother us the most are teams that slow the game down. We don't have enough athletes to create great looks against set defenses – especially if we're cold from beyond the arc. Liberty tried to run with us in conference play at their place, and we ran them out of the gym. At our place, they slowed down the pace, and they nearly ran us out of our gym. Slow, low-scoring games are usually not kind to us.

We also don't have great defense outside of Kenny Cooper at the guard. We get good effort – this team plays really hard – but we're just not athletic enough to hang. You guys saw what Dorn from NCSU did to us. One fun thing to watch out for is our backup post, redshirt freshman Ahsan Asadullah. He has GREAT hands for a big, and in almost every game, he surprises a guard during a ball-screen switch situation. The guard thinks he has an advantage with a big switched onto him on the perimeter, and Asadullah manages to tap the ball away during a crossover.

One more thing: From a Nashvillian's perspective, this team is a joy to watch. They play hard. 3 of our starters are Nashville natives. When shots are falling, their games are more entertaining than you'd expect from a school that can't properly pluralize "Bison."

Enough about us. I'd like to find out from you guys how Wichita State likes to play. What are some fun strengths to watch out for? What makes this year's Shockers fun to pull for?

I don't know what kind of crowds Lipscomb is used to playing in front of, but I can't help but wonder if the NC State fans (probably the students) were getting mouthy, prompting a reaction from Mathews and Cooper, particularly with the intensity and how well they were playing. It happens. No biggie.

It sounds like our half-court style, focus on defense and size in the post could be problematic for Lipscomb, especially if our ball-screen offense continues to be effective.

[molly jabali]

Hey folks, Lipscomb grad / fan here. I hope this isn't out of line posting on shockernet. I come in peace, looking to chat basketball leading up to Tuesday's game. I haven't gotten to watch the Shockers play yet this year, and I'm guessing most of you folks haven't heard much about Lipscomb until a few days ago, so I thought this might be a fun space to swap info. For me, games are always more fun to watch when I'm better informed.

In short, I figured we could do a back-and-forth AMA about each others' teams. If this is against message board decorum, feel free to ignore or delete the post.

I'll start out with a super-quick overview of this team, and I'll skip all of the stuff that's above the fold on Wikipedia about Lipscomb.

We do like to play fast. Most of you probably saw highlights, at least, from the NC State game. The pacing was a bit above average, but not much. We don't normally turn it over that much, but teams that apply pressure and really get into passing lanes can really bother us. We got bailed out against NCSU because Mathews was shooting lights-out.

A quick side-note on Mathews: I'm not sure what got into him, attitude-wise, against NC State. His theatrics to the crowd were atypical. I even noticed our PG, Kenny Cooper, saying some things to the crowd. He's normally the most level-headed, grinning guy on the court. If that had been my first game to see Lipscomb, I'd think he was a pompous jerk. He's not. /end side note.

We have a post presence in Rob Marberry. He's got some great moves, but at 6-8, he struggles against really strong or really long bodies. Against UNCG, Marberry was like 10-10 from the field. Some games we just don't feed him – I guess it's a matchup issue. But you're guaranteed to see at least one up-and-under shot from Marberry that surprises you. He's got great post fundamentals, he just doesn't have the size to be dominant against everybody.

The teams that bother us the most are teams that slow the game down. We don't have enough athletes to create great looks against set defenses – especially if we're cold from beyond the arc. Liberty tried to run with us in conference play at their place, and we ran them out of the gym. At our place, they slowed down the pace, and they nearly ran us out of our gym. Slow, low-scoring games are usually not kind to us.

We also don't have great defense outside of Kenny Cooper at the guard. We get good effort – this team plays really hard – but we're just not athletic enough to hang. You guys saw what Dorn from NCSU did to us. One fun thing to watch out for is our backup post, redshirt freshman Ahsan Asadullah. He has GREAT hands for a big, and in almost every game, he surprises a guard during a ball-screen switch situation. The guard thinks he has an advantage with a big switched onto him on the perimeter, and Asadullah manages to tap the ball away during a crossover.

One more thing: From a Nashvillian's perspective, this team is a joy to watch. They play hard. 3 of our starters are Nashville natives. When shots are falling, their games are more entertaining than you'd expect from a school that can't properly pluralize "Bison."

Enough about us. I'd like to find out from you guys how Wichita State likes to play. What are some fun strengths to watch out for? What makes this year's Shockers fun to pull for?

In the very small world department, my brother used to work Lipscomb camps with the incomparable Don Meyer. Love your campus...played there two times as an undergrad tennis player.

[Rocky Mountain Shock]

Hey folks, Lipscomb grad / fan here. I hope this isn't out of line posting on shockernet. I come in peace, looking to chat basketball leading up to Tuesday's game. I haven't gotten to watch the Shockers play yet this year, and I'm guessing most of you folks haven't heard much about Lipscomb until a few days ago, so I thought this might be a fun space to swap info. For me, games are always more fun to watch when I'm better informed.

In short, I figured we could do a back-and-forth AMA about each others' teams. If this is against message board decorum, feel free to ignore or delete the post.

I'll start out with a super-quick overview of this team, and I'll skip all of the stuff that's above the fold on Wikipedia about Lipscomb.

We do like to play fast. Most of you probably saw highlights, at least, from the NC State game. The pacing was a bit above average, but not much. We don't normally turn it over that much, but teams that apply pressure and really get into passing lanes can really bother us. We got bailed out against NCSU because Mathews was shooting lights-out.

A quick side-note on Mathews: I'm not sure what got into him, attitude-wise, against NC State. His theatrics to the crowd were atypical. I even noticed our PG, Kenny Cooper, saying some things to the crowd. He's normally the most level-headed, grinning guy on the court. If that had been my first game to see Lipscomb, I'd think he was a pompous jerk. He's not. /end side note.

We have a post presence in Rob Marberry. He's got some great moves, but at 6-8, he struggles against really strong or really long bodies. Against UNCG, Marberry was like 10-10 from the field. Some games we just don't feed him – I guess it's a matchup issue. But you're guaranteed to see at least one up-and-under shot from Marberry that surprises you. He's got great post fundamentals, he just doesn't have the size to be dominant against everybody.

The teams that bother us the most are teams that slow the game down. We don't have enough athletes to create great looks against set defenses – especially if we're cold from beyond the arc. Liberty tried to run with us in conference play at their place, and we ran them out of the gym. At our place, they slowed down the pace, and they nearly ran us out of our gym. Slow, low-scoring games are usually not kind to us.

We also don't have great defense outside of Kenny Cooper at the guard. We get good effort – this team plays really hard – but we're just not athletic enough to hang. You guys saw what Dorn from NCSU did to us. One fun thing to watch out for is our backup post, redshirt freshman Ahsan Asadullah. He has GREAT hands for a big, and in almost every game, he surprises a guard during a ball-screen switch situation. The guard thinks he has an advantage with a big switched onto him on the perimeter, and Asadullah manages to tap the ball away during a crossover.

One more thing: From a Nashvillian's perspective, this team is a joy to watch. They play hard. 3 of our starters are Nashville natives. When shots are falling, their games are more entertaining than you'd expect from a school that can't properly pluralize "Bison."

Enough about us. I'd like to find out from you guys how Wichita State likes to play. What are some fun strengths to watch out for? What makes this year's Shockers fun to pull for?

Congrats to Lipscomb on the great season. I watched your game against NC State and was very impressed. Frankly, I'd rather have played NC State than you guys--NC State is just another overrated P5 that we would have stomped. You guys are legit and you scare the hell out of me.

I like that both our teams won three games on the road to get to New York. As others have pointed out, that's about where our similarities end. We have two totally different styles and completely different make ups--you're fast, we're slow, you're seniors, we're freshmen. It is a very intriguing match up and should make for an entertaining game.

Thanks for joining us over here on ShockerNet. You're welcome anytime. Good luck on Tuesday--but not too much!

[shockerfan]

Thanks for the breakdown, Dan! I like the "different styles, different strengths, different parts of the country" storyline that comes out in March/April. Makes this stuff a ton of fun to watch.

It occurs to me that our two fanbases will have totally different perspectives on this game. For us, we've seen these guys play together for 3-4 years now. As a senior-laden bunch, there's part of me that's already mourning not getting to watch this group next year. It seems like you guys have a few really great years in front of you – that's gotta be exciting.

Here's just how senior-laden we are: I think our group has the most active career points in the NCAA. I remember hearing we were ahead of the #2 team by, like, 1500 career points. Of course, with varying levels of competition, that doesn't mean much, but it does show how long we've gotten to watch these guys play together.

Speaking of career points, here's another couple of weird Lipscomb facts: We have the #1 and #2 all-time career scoring leaders in college basketball. It was from our NAIA days, and they were both post players. #2 is now our AD (Philip Hutcheson), and #1 (John Pierce) started as a freshman the year Hutcheson left. That was a fun 8 years of basketball for me as a kid. Pierce had 4,230 career points! The NAIA didn't regulate how many games could be played in a season, and we would play 40+ games every year.

We also played LIGHTNING fast back then. In 89-90, we AVERAGED 110 points per game. Man, those games were fun to watch.

Needless to say, the transition to NCAA D1 was painful, ha!

Just to give perspective on what kind of year this was. This was one of the most inexperienced teams in all of NCAA at the beginning of the season.

Wichita State had 9 of 13 scholarship players new to the program and Division 1 ball. WSU also had 2 new assistants.

They returned just 11% of their minutes from the season before.

Throw in the fact they had one of the harder non-conference schedules in the country and there is no wonder why WSU struggled for the better part of the season. These guys seriously had baptism by fire.

Something started clicking at the end of January and now the Shockers have won 14 of their last 17 games and won their final 7 road games.

They have bought into defense, rebounding and toughness. They dont win pretty but they have been finding ways of grinding it out. They will be physical and really like to push the other teams offense out of their comfort zones. They will press at times, but not something they usually do the whole game. They typically do it to really throw an opponents offense off track.

I expect WSU to try and slow Lipscomb down and turn it into a half court game. But as others have said, they will look to run on misses.

WSU has also gotten pretty good at defending at the rim. Several guys are capable of blocking shots down there.

This is a pretty big and long team with some good athletes.

Weakness for this team is fast break defense (at times). Also our 1 on 1 defense. Sometimes we have a hard time staying in front. But they have gotten quite a bit better at this. If you dont let our defense set up you have a better chance. Another weakness is perimeter shooting. Pack it in and play zone. Make us use clock and beat you from the 3 point line. Our guards dont have the greatest court vision and dont look to the post a ton if you pack it in. Deny the entry pass and your chances improve.

[Dan]

On that note, we came very close to not even making the NIT. We went on a little winning streak at the end of the season, but then won 2 games in our conference tourney that probably punched our ticket. The 2nd game was against NCAA participant Temple. We then lost to Cincy by 2 or 3 points in the semifinals.

[MadDog]

So it was a long time ago, and I probably don’t remember this right, but didn’t Randy Smithson go to Lipscomb after he got fired here? I’m sure one of the other old timers can help me out with...

[NashvilleGuy]

In the very small world department, my brother used to work Lipscomb camps with the incomparable Don Meyer. Love your campus...played there two times as an undergrad tennis player.

I went to those camps, and man, they were fun. My father-in-law was an assistant under Meyer, and man, he has some stories. One includes Larry Bird making an appearance and playing H-O-R-S-E against him.

So do you guys run pretty deep on the bench? It sounds like it. That's been a strength of ours all year – it's an 8-9 guy rotation – but it doesn't count for as much when the other team is running fresh bodies on, too.

As to the crowd-size perspective from RoyalShock, you're probably on target, there. The ASUN crowds usually leave a lot to be desired, with a few exceptions. I would say, without a doubt, that our guys hadn't played in front of a crowd as loud as NC State all season.

I think your slashers will be our biggest problem. Asadullah can protect the rim a bit, and we always get a surprise block or three out of our perimeter players every game, but there's no consistent defensive presence inside (Asadullah comes off the bench). We'll take charges all day if someone drives with their head down, but if the slasher has good body control and a ready euro-step, or if the refs get tired of calling charges, we give up layups and 10-foot jumpers.

The commentators will spend a lot of time talking about Garrison Mathews, and he's earned that. But he's streaky, for sure, and he disappears at times. In ASUN play, other guys would step up – it wasn't unusual for us to have 5 players in double digits. But not everyone else's game translates as well to this level of competition. We're probably at our best when playing inside-out. Our post players are good passers, and would often draw double teams (again, in ASUN play, ha). Our posts were good at kicking out opposite to the open shooter, or whipping it around the perimeter. But it sounds like y'all won't need to send those double teams.

One other thing to watch for from Lipscomb is backdoor cuts. Especially after one of our shooters (Mathews, Rose, Buckland) hits a couple of threes, we love to call sets designed to punish overplaying the passing lane. That might only happen two or three times per game, but it's fun to watch.

[Dan]

I would expect us to approach this game like we did against Furman. Your post player will have to beat us one on one. We will not leave your shooters open to double down in the post. Furman's post player had a big game against us but we chose to give up the 2s instead of the 3s.

[NashvilleGuy]

Makes sense. Our guard can get to the rim, and for being 6', he finishes well in traffic. But your bigs will make that really tough. Mathews can go one-on-one fairly well. After that, we don't have a ton of dynamic playmakers in iso-ball. Good sets can make up for that at times, but you guys have a lot of tape on us now, so that'll be tough.

I have a feeling it'll be a close game if we're hitting enough from the perimeter to push the score into the 70s. If we're cold from outside, it might be a long night for us.

[NashvilleGuy]

They will be physical and really like to push the other teams offense out of their comfort zones. They will press at times, but not something they usually do the whole game. They typically do it to really throw an opponents offense off track.

This worries me more than anything else. I haven't liked how we've handled in-your-face, physical defense. It was weird to watch some of the turnovers NC State forced with their pressure – just not something that happened to us in ASUN play. A good remedy for that is to have a guy hit contested 3's with a hand up his nose, but that is not a fun thing to rely on.

Pack it in and play zone. Make us use clock and beat you from the 3 point line. Our guards dont have the greatest court vision and dont look to the post a ton if you pack it in. Deny the entry pass and your chances improve.

This is an interesting thought to me. We didn't play much zone this year that I saw (I probably caught half of the games). We did briefly break it out against NC State. They picked it apart for a couple of possessions, and we went back to man. I wondered then if a team that's used to seeing Syracuse 2 times a year just isn't fazed by that switch, or if we just play poor zone defense.

But I'd rather lose by guys getting hot from outside than from getting beat 1-on-1 over and over again.

[NashvilleGuy]

So it was a long time ago, and I probably don’t remember this right, but didn’t Randy Smithson go to Lipscomb after he got fired here? I’m sure one of the other old timers can help me out with...

If you're talking about head coaches, it would have had to have been before 1975. We've only had 3 coaches since then – Don Meyer, Scott Sanderson, and Casey Alexander.

... that's kind of crazy, now that I'm saying it out loud. 3 coaches in 43 years.