Underhill
Mar 6, 2007 1:29:29 GMT -5
Post by raiderrunt on Mar 6, 2007 1:29:29 GMT -5
Tom Archdeacon: Underhill still popular as ever
By Tom Archdeacon
Dayton Daily News
Tuesday, March 06, 2007
FAIRBORN — One by one — in a pilgrimage that lasted through two Horizon League tournament games and after — they made there way to the tanned man wearing a beige sports coat and a cherished basketball ring.
There were current Wright State students, longtime Raiders fans and even a few of his former players, guys such as Eric Ellis, who brought along his two young sons so they could meet the man who led him to a national championship.
The most famous coach in the house Saturday night was not WSU miracle-worker Brad Brownell or even Butler's Todd Lickliter, the Horizon League Coach of the Year.
For just the fourth time since he was forced from his WSU job 11 seasons ago, Ralph Underhill was back at the Nutter Center or — as his pal, local real-estate agent Jim Coyle put it — "The House That Ralph Built."
Although late industrialist Erv Nutter put up much of the money, Underhill laid the cornerstone upon which the building was built.
"There wouldn't be a Nutter Center if not for Ralph," said Coyle. "The success of his 1980s teams provided the impetus to build it."
The 65-year-old Underhill, who's in the school's Athletic Hall of Fame, had 16 winning seasons in 18 WSU years, 10 seasons with 20 or more victories, won the NCAA Division II national title in 1983 — when he was voted National Coach of the Year — and in 1993 led the Raiders to their only D-I NCAA tournament berth.
Just before the 1996-97 season, he was fired after being accused of shoplifting vitamins from a Meijer store. He claimed absent-mindedness, and after a dead-locked jury trial, the case was dropped. He got some modest out-of-court settlements, but while later coaching in Europe and with minor U.S. pro teams, he's never returned to the college game.
Through it all he, arguably, has remained the most famous face of Wright State basketball.
That may well change with Brownell — whose Raiders face Butler tonight for the Horizon title and an NCAA tournament invite — and, in fact, Saturday night felt a little like a passing of the torch.
As Brownell worked the bench, a smiling Underhill — wearing the ring his team got for making the 1993 NCAA tournament — sat three rows behind him.
"I've got a lot of good memories here," Underhill said. "Sure I had strong feelings when I left, but I don't hold anything against anyone now. I'm proud of all we did here. My two daughters graduated from here. I spent 18 years here."
While Underhill lives in Northern Kentucky, where he's a caregiver to his aging parents, he said he'd still like a shot at college, if not as a coach, then as a talent scout: "I still could be a good recruiter."
He proved that at WSU, where he landed backwoods and big-city kids, as well as several from Europe, including 6-foot-10 Ukrainian Vitaly Potapenko.
Underhill went to Kiev, where he handled the language barrier, the gun-toting Ukrainian mafia — which wanted to make money off Vitaly — and even crafty street thieves.
"As soon as we parked in Kiev, the guy driving me took off the windshield wipers and locked them in the trunk," Underhill said with a laugh. "He told me, 'If it rains, the first thing they steal is your wipers.' "
The guy shouldn't have worried. When Underhill was the Raiders coach, the program mostly was bathed in sunshine.
www.daytondailynews.com/s/content/oh/story/sports/college/wsu/2007/03/05/ddn030607arch.html
By Tom Archdeacon
Dayton Daily News
Tuesday, March 06, 2007
FAIRBORN — One by one — in a pilgrimage that lasted through two Horizon League tournament games and after — they made there way to the tanned man wearing a beige sports coat and a cherished basketball ring.
There were current Wright State students, longtime Raiders fans and even a few of his former players, guys such as Eric Ellis, who brought along his two young sons so they could meet the man who led him to a national championship.
The most famous coach in the house Saturday night was not WSU miracle-worker Brad Brownell or even Butler's Todd Lickliter, the Horizon League Coach of the Year.
For just the fourth time since he was forced from his WSU job 11 seasons ago, Ralph Underhill was back at the Nutter Center or — as his pal, local real-estate agent Jim Coyle put it — "The House That Ralph Built."
Although late industrialist Erv Nutter put up much of the money, Underhill laid the cornerstone upon which the building was built.
"There wouldn't be a Nutter Center if not for Ralph," said Coyle. "The success of his 1980s teams provided the impetus to build it."
The 65-year-old Underhill, who's in the school's Athletic Hall of Fame, had 16 winning seasons in 18 WSU years, 10 seasons with 20 or more victories, won the NCAA Division II national title in 1983 — when he was voted National Coach of the Year — and in 1993 led the Raiders to their only D-I NCAA tournament berth.
Just before the 1996-97 season, he was fired after being accused of shoplifting vitamins from a Meijer store. He claimed absent-mindedness, and after a dead-locked jury trial, the case was dropped. He got some modest out-of-court settlements, but while later coaching in Europe and with minor U.S. pro teams, he's never returned to the college game.
Through it all he, arguably, has remained the most famous face of Wright State basketball.
That may well change with Brownell — whose Raiders face Butler tonight for the Horizon title and an NCAA tournament invite — and, in fact, Saturday night felt a little like a passing of the torch.
As Brownell worked the bench, a smiling Underhill — wearing the ring his team got for making the 1993 NCAA tournament — sat three rows behind him.
"I've got a lot of good memories here," Underhill said. "Sure I had strong feelings when I left, but I don't hold anything against anyone now. I'm proud of all we did here. My two daughters graduated from here. I spent 18 years here."
While Underhill lives in Northern Kentucky, where he's a caregiver to his aging parents, he said he'd still like a shot at college, if not as a coach, then as a talent scout: "I still could be a good recruiter."
He proved that at WSU, where he landed backwoods and big-city kids, as well as several from Europe, including 6-foot-10 Ukrainian Vitaly Potapenko.
Underhill went to Kiev, where he handled the language barrier, the gun-toting Ukrainian mafia — which wanted to make money off Vitaly — and even crafty street thieves.
"As soon as we parked in Kiev, the guy driving me took off the windshield wipers and locked them in the trunk," Underhill said with a laugh. "He told me, 'If it rains, the first thing they steal is your wipers.' "
The guy shouldn't have worried. When Underhill was the Raiders coach, the program mostly was bathed in sunshine.
www.daytondailynews.com/s/content/oh/story/sports/college/wsu/2007/03/05/ddn030607arch.html