The rise of IPFW: Part 3

Joe Pechota kind of gets lost in the transition of things with the program. Gangster Joe, with his gold bracelet, nice suits and slicked back hair, was a total change from Noll. At this point, I was totally engrained in the story of it all, getting whatever info I could whenever I could. I was at every game and the change that came in Pechota’s first game, a win against Youngstown State was not just crystal clear, it screamed at you. ‘Coach P’ as they called him, brought out the best in his players and their personalities. During that Youngstown State game, they all seemed looser, more jovial, and happier.

It is amazing what a different atmosphere will do for a team. The Malone brother (Jason and Byron) were hustling, Simon was light on his feet and in his head and Pete Campbell broke out and showed that he was clearly the heir apparent to Simon’s reign.

Did they win a lot? No. They won just three more games, all against fellow Independents, all while Pechota was embroiled with a tough head coaching national search.

Joe Pechota did a great job. When we, at The Communicator, found out the final four candidates, I did my homework. All of us doing sports at the paper did. The pros and cons were debated often.

Joe Pechota, the current interim head coach who had a golden report with his players. He proved he could win some; can he win more with a full team back? After all, he was losing just Simon and adding red shirt guards Brad Pompey and DeWitt Scott, who was a D1 transfer.

Tracy Dildy, the unproven Ole Miss assistant coach who was a world class recruiter. Once recruiting the likes of future NBA prospects Bonzi Wells and Quentin Richardson to their respective schools. Who could Dildy bring in to IPFW? Could he make his whole thing blow up in a positive way? Can he win games at all?

 

At the time, Fife seemed like
an odd choice over (from left to right)
Dildy, Pechota and Dement.

Mike Dement, the former Southern Methodist (SMU) coach who had gone through the find-a-conference transition before at UNC-Greensboro. After all, this was the thing on the top of Athletic Director Mark Pope’s list: get IPFW to a conference. Mid-Continent Conference, Horizon League – he, as an AD, needed to be one of these places to sustain the school’s D1 status. And he can win; he was 138-120 in seven-plus seasons at SMU.

Dane Fife, the Indiana University video coordinator with no head, or really any, coaching experience on any level. Dane would bring a youthful exuberance and an ability to relate to the young players, he was young himself, shortly out of a brief pro career with Gary in the CBA. Not to mention he led IU on the court to a National Title game a few years earlier. So he had been there, and was going to put butts in the seats in the pro-IU area. But not only could he win, but could he even coach?

I had my opinion then and I won’t be shy about it. I talked to three of these four guys briefly about the search. Coach P was as he always was, candid and hopeful but didn’t go to deep. Dement was very PR-motivated and gave copy and paste answers. Dildy was full of conversation. We had multiple hour-long or so phone conversations, he was personable and polite. Dane Fife did not answer the phone, he did not return calls.

When it was time to make the decision, my opinion was clear: hit reset and take the chance on Tracy Dildy. When he withdrew his name about a week before the decision was made, there was only one answer: ride it out with Joe Pechota. Imagine my surprise when the name that came back was Dane Fife.

The rise of IPFW: Part 2

Say what you will about any coach during IPFW’s 12-plus year tenure as Division I program, but this very season is a testament to them all. The rise of IPFW has been a visionary one. Different visions? Sure. Always correct visions? No way. But they have climbed to get here. Every coach, with the exception of one year…the worst year, has avoided a back slide from their previous year.

There should have been no D1 program in 2001-2002, but yet there was. Doug Noll was not a D1 coach and Mark Pope was not a D1 Athletic Director. But I will be damned if they didn’t strap on their boots and get to work. 7-21 in the program’s first year as a D1 Independent, 9-19 the following season.

Doug Noll was the first, but not last, highly polarizing head coach in the Mastodons’ D1 era. Anyone who watched games or covered games was critical of him at times, myself included. It comes with the territory, something I am sure he was and is aware of. But he was handed a losing desk and made the best out of it those first two seasons. He also signed an Indiana All-Star in Beau Bauer and found a diamond in the rough in Loyola volleyball player David Simon.

Then came 2003-2004. There is no official name, no real long standing nightmare, but it was the start of the ‘dark years’ for the program. They went 3-25, the second worst record in the program’s history while losing leading scorer and team leader Terry Collins along the way. Despite all of that, they had a guy who averaged 18 rebounds per game, and that guy, David Simon, was widely considered the second best center in the country behind eventual top draft pick Emeka Okafor. David went on to declare for the NBA Draft, and while it was an awesome thing for the program, as was the attention he was getting, it hinted at the cracks.

 

David Simon

I interviewed both David and Coach Noll on the day that the IPFW student newspaper, The Communicator, found out about his decision. It was a day before his press conference and the two were far apart on their idea of what the plan was. For David, this was his time and he planned to go all out with it. For Noll, it was just to take a sampling and David was absolutely returning to school. The decision, lost in translation between head coach and star player, showed that there was no foundation to build on anymore.

Sadly, David Simon never went to the NBA. Invited to the prestigious pre-draft camp in his native Chicago, the IPFW center tore his ACL at camp as was never the same in my opinion. He came back the following year and the disconnect was clear.

The next year, they were worse, even with a better record. Noll was out midseason, replaced by Joe Pechota and ultimately replaced in the offseason by Dane Fife. The team showed signs of life early in 2004-2005 and won their, then biggest, game in their short D1 history beating Utah State at home. But after the win, the squad lost eight in a row, finalized by a 100-59 loss at Wyoming.

The Rise of IPFW: Part 1

I haven’t been to an IPFW men’s basketball game in years. And that is sad.

These games, at my college, were once a staple of life, as a fan or as a writer. I saw them all, I witnessed some crazy moments at the Memorial Coliseum, in the cozy confines of the Gates Center and on the road with rabid home crowds at Oakland, Purdue and Notre Dame.

And as we sit today, IPFW is atop of the Summit League. That, in itself, is somewhat shocking when you have see all of what I have seen.

The struggles, where a win would be great, let alone a sniff at a sub-winning record.

The coaching swaps, when a mid-season replacement yields happiness but a following off-season swap leaves those in the know skeptical.

The exiles, whose careers at the school ended prematurely, be it at the hands of the old coach, their own doing or one of those aforementioned coaching swaps.

The injuries, which cut down big pieces of the puzzle. As great as it would be to add Justin Jordan to this year’s team, imagine the transition phase with a healthy David Simon. Even more, imagine if he hadn’t been hurt in 2004 and ended up being the first IPFW player to go in the NBA Draft. Sadly, the letters A, C and L stop us from seeing any of those realities.

A healthy David Simon could have gone to the NBA.
And even more, helped IPFW to be better way faster.

Yet here they sit. One year after just missing out on the 12^th winning season in school history, they are kings of their own domain. Humble, fierce, coming into a 2013-2014 season after graduating arguably the best player to ever wear a Mastodon basketball jersey; they lead the Summit League in mid-January.

A school that has just 11 winning seasons, had only won 20-plus games four times and has never hauled in more that 18 wins since becoming a Division 1 program, is currently sitting at 14 wins and sure took shots at Dayton and Illinois, schools who escaped the Mastodons by the skin of their teeth.

And that is magnificent.