Historical Association #1

[Wayne23]

11/13: We finally get a big man, a C, #130. One more to go.

11/20: 1-1 week. We lost our opener, on the road, by 2. I expected D to be our strength, but we let the other team shoot 58.5% in the opener, and that’s what did us in. Having three starters in foul trouble didn’t help either. 20, 6, 3 for SG Wai Clou, 14, 4 for C Ben Crow, an’ 12 for PG Brin Seld.

Then we won by 9 at home, an’ played great D. 14, 10 for Crow, 16 for Clou.

All 4 recruits sign.

12/4: 3-2. One loss by 2 points, one loss by 1 point.

12/22: 6-2 heading for the Hoops for Troops tourney. We’re the #4 seed and play #5 St. Bonnie, 3-5.

Guard Wai Clou leads us with 18.6. Ben Crow is 2nd with 13.6, and 1st in RBs with 7.5. It’s by committee the rest of the way.

12/23: 59-49. Great D. 13, 11 for Crow. 8 players had 5 or more points. +14 TOs.

#1 seed, #5 ranked Kentucky, 8-1. This is a mismatch.

12/24: 67-71. We played as well as we can play. I was very proud of my guys. 21, 7, 5 for Clou, 18, 7 for Crow.

12/25: Heading for Conf. USA play we’re 7-3, RPI #101. +6.7 PPG, +2.1 RBs, +4.0 TOs.

Married life is great. I’d like Maude to quit work but she says she wants to keep working until the first baby is on the way. That hasn’t happened yet but we’re hoping. I think it’s too much to have her working and taking care of our home. She doesn’t agree. She’s young and full of energy, and she’s certainly healthy, so maybe I’m just being old fashioned. But I’m not old fashioned enough to force the issue.

[Wayne23]

(Author’s note: The game crashed irretrievably on 12/30. I am going to try to start a new game with school and coach settings as close to where they were as possible,)

12/25 (revised): In the replay of the crashed association I got here with almost the same record as in the old version. We are 6-3, RPI #188. +5.9 PPG, +5.6 RBs, +0.8 TOs. Things such as job offers will suffer since the game sees this as year one of the association, but I can live with that. Oh, I changed all of the players’ names to those in the old, crashed version.

[Wayne23]

1/1/1878: 1-1 ta start conf. play.

1/15: 10-5, 4-2, RPI #172. In a 2 way tie for 4th in Conf. Big guys Wood and Crow are leading the way. We’re making a few changes. More minutes for Hart at guard. Basically, 3 guards will play, all about equal minutes. Barn for Bach at SF, and Brom with more minutes as well.

1/29: 12-7, 6-4. RPI #177. +5.7 PPG, +3.7 RBs, -0.2 TOs. Alone in 4th, 1 back of 3rd, 2 back of 1st. 8 to play.sl way day.

2/9: Maude tells me there’s a baby on the way! I want her to quit work immediately. She says no. She will have no choice when she begins to show, but she wants to work until then. We don’t need the money, we’re doing fine. We have savings that each of us brought to the marriage, and we live cheaply. It’s more about being overprotective, I guess. But again, I don’t try to force anything on Maude.

2/12: 14-9, 8-6, RPI #160. Alone in 5th. One of our goals was to finish 3rd. It’s an uphill climb with 4 to play.

2/26: 17-11, 11-7, RPI #120. +4.0 PPG, +4.2 RBs, -0.6 TOs. We finish alone in 4th. Crow and Wood continue to lead us, but Hart has responded very well to being given the starting guard spot.

We lost the Bracket Buster again. I still don’t care.

Maude says she feels great. There’s been no morning sickness or anything else. Her energy seems as high as ever.

[Wayne23]

3/6: #12 seed UTEP, 13-15, 7-11, won the play in. They beat us by 11 there.

3/7: 98-85. A real shootout. 28 for SG Hart, 18,8 for Jax, who I just put in as a starter at SF, 14 for Crow, 12, 7 for Wood. We shot 58.3%, 59.4% on threes.

#1 seed, #25 ranked La. Tech, 24-7, 16-2, in the semis. They beat us by 13 there. On paper we’re in trouble.

3/8: 84-61. Best we’ve played all year, from start to finish. 26, 10 for Crow, 27, 5, 3 for Hart, 10, 9, 4 for Wood. +14 RBs. Great win!

#2 seed, #22 ranked Southern Miss, 25-5, 15-3, for the title. They crushed us by 26 there. Good team, especially inside. Whatever we found today, I hope we find it tomorrow.

3/9: 89-80 and the title! We led most of the way, but they got close several times. Every time that happened we had an answer. 19, 10 for Crow, 17, 7 for Wood, 12 each for Hart and Clou. +8 RBs.

We got hot at the right time, that’s for sure. We probably will get a tough seed, given our RPI, although that could take a big jump considering we just beat 2 ranked teams back to back.

Got a great surprise. Dad was in town with the railroad and he got to the game. He has rarely had the opportunity to see my teams since I left town, so this was nice. Especially given the outcome!

Maude would have loved to have come but the doc said no. She’s fine, but they don’t advise pregnant women to travel.

3/12: 20-11, 11-7, RPI #107.

#13 Midwest. We play #4 seed, #7 ranked, Gonzaga, 27-6. #6 RPI and they’re a 4 seed. Insane! Actually, we don’t match up all that badly with them. That’s not to say this won’t be a tough game.

3/16: 1-92. It was not to be. They were a very good team tonight. 14, 13 for Wood, 15, 5, 4 for Crow, 17, 5 for Hart.

4/3: 36 Louisville won it all.

4/4: Awards: Ben Crow is named Conf. USA POY and 1st team. Art Wood joins him on 1st team.

4/9: I am shocked at the number of offers I get. Sevearl are just too good to pass up. I visit Charlotte, Miami (FL), Wisconsin, but I accept an offer from Utah. Never expected this. Maude is a little apprehensive but completely supportive. She (and I) hadn’t expected to leave so soon.

4/12: Just arrived in Salt Lake City. Maude will be here in a bout a week. She’s seeing to finishing packing (with help), and finishing up at work. We’ll stay in faculty housing- same deal here as in Bowling Green. I’m at the dorm 2 nights a week here, and our apartment is a little bigger.

Great coaching staff. I’m keeping them, and I hope I can extend them all.

4/20: Maude is here, with her mother, who will help us get settled. That doc who said she couldn't travel got overruled. The trip didn't seem to hurt her any.

4/23: I ask for a budget increase. Same old story, it’s not in the budget.

20-12. Overall, I’m 174-82, .680, after 8 years.

A new beginning, but here, the resources are available to take the program a very long way. I expect to either settle here or make only one more stop.

4/27: Maude’s mother has left. Maude is not working, and she says that’s good. She can get everything the way she wants it, get the baby’s room ready, and take her time about all of it.

[Wayne23]

5/1: We buy West Gold, national and international basic.

6/5: (Author’s note: Due to a glitch I cannot do anything with transfers. The game crashes. If I hit “Skip Sessions” I can proceed. 1.4 seems unstable. We’ll see.)

6/26: 5 scholarships. We need more 3 and 2 either way.

We’re settled in ta our new home an’ we like it. It’s a little further from the athletic department, but the walk will do me good.

There’s three bedrooms. Interestingly enough, of the two other bedrooms, one is blue and one is pink. Maude is setting up the pink room. We tease each other about whether the baby will be a boy or a girl. I keep telling her she’s gonna have to move everything.

The neighbors are nice. Most everybody here is Mormon. They wanta talk to us about it, but we keep the conversations brief. We’re really not interested in what they’re pitchin’. So far it ain’t really a problem.

8/21: We offer ta 3 PGs, a PF, an’ a C.

Maude has had an easy time of it. She thinks the baby will come in mid-October, an’ she really hasn’t had much trouble. She’s getting big an’ that slows her down some, but she says she feels good. She spends time at the school library. She loves ta read, an’ it’s a little cooler there with the high ceilings an’ all. Summer is hot in these parts. If ya leave the windows open the flies get in, so she just goes ta the library.

Her mother is coming for the last month or so before the baby comes, an’ a little while after. Then my mama is comin’ for a few weeks.

9/16: Maude’s mama is here. Maude is finally startin’ ta get a little dragged down. She can use the help.

9/18: We get 2, lose 2. We get a PF, #24, and a PG, #45.

We’re going to the NIT vs. conf. rival #16 UCLA. Tough matchup. Kind of a soft schedule, all in all.

9/25: We get one, lose 1. We get a PG, #223.

9/29: Harriet arrived early, about three hours ago. I just saw her for the first time. She was born right here at home, of course. The midwife said it was an easy delivery and both she and Maude seem to be doing fine.

10/2: We got a PG, #79, lost a big. We still need a big.

1st day a practice. Better team than I had last year, but the PAC 12 is a power conf.

We’re picked 9th in the PAC 12. Hope ta do better than that.

Baby’s doin’ great. She cries some at night but that’s ta be expected.

10/9: We got the PF, #648 right now but that’ll change one more time.

11/6: Here’s the lineup:

Senior Nick Ross starts at PG but the position is wide open, with 4 guys getting about 10 minutes each there until someone takes the job. He also backs up at SG.

Senior Joe Con returns at SG and backs up at PG.

Returning junior Vic Murr and frosh Zach More are the other two at PG.

Everything else is more settled. Returnign junior Em Swat starts at SF.

Senior Rob Walk an’ junior Ben Gard start inside.

Soph Will Wats backs up inside. Junior Bry Geer will get minutes when I can give them to him, and could earn more.

Tough start at the Nit, with UCLA. After that we hope to pile up some wins.

Salt Lake City ain’t very modern. It’s only been settled for about 30 years. It’s grown mighty quick but still. There’s still some danger from Indians, though not so much as there was a few years ago. Utah’s still fightin’ with the U. S.
government about practicin’ their religion they wanta, mostly havin’ more than one wife.

But Salt Lake City has less conflict than some other areas, an’ like I said, folks are pretty nice if a bit too religious, an’ a little pushy about it.

I think I've been an above average coach so far in my career but next year is when I will finally have the talent to see if I can be a top flight coach.

[Wayne23]

11/14: 58-68 to #16 UCLA. We had trouble scoring, due mostly to 21 TOs, and poor shot selection. But our D was decent, as was inside play and bench play. It’s a process.

11/20: All 5 recruits sign. I am really confident that all 5 will be good to very good.

11/27: 2 home wins, one against #18 Baylor. Great week! We’re 2-1. More minutes for Murr at SG, and Swat at SF. Next 2 on the road.

The baby is two months old and both she and Maude are doing great. My mama just left, so it’s just the three of us.

12/4: 3-2, but we’re finding our lineup. Murr is now starting at PG, and Geer is getting a lot of the sub time that Wats had.

12/25: 7-2, RPI #22. +3.8 PPG, +2.9 RBs, +1.8 TOs. We seem to have found our lineup. There may be further small adjustments as we move along.

SF Em Swat is leading us with 15.9 per. Inside players Ben Gard an’ Rob Walk are rebounding and scoring. Geer is doing the job as an inside sub.

Our guards are doing less well, but we have three real good looking ones coming in next year. More is getting Ross’ minutes, an’ Murr has done a good job since we put him is as starting PG. Con is an adequate SG.

The PAC 12 looks weak this year, except for UCLA. We'll see.

[Wayne23]

1/1/’79: 9-2, 2-0, RPI #21. We have to be close to being ranked. We just beat #21 Arizona by 18 here.

Been readin’ more an’ more about this telephone thing. What a difference that would make with recruitin’ an’ all sorts a other things. Prob’ly be years before it gets way out here though. The first town just connected, a city in Connecticut.

Still telegrams an’ letters for us. I write to my folks every week, never miss. Maude does the same with her folks. People write to friends regular, an’ of course there’s business letters. In our business that means letters ta recruits an; their families. If we’re lookin’ ta hire an assistant or someone else it starts with a letter. Might end there too, if they’re far away. Sometimes ya hire somebody sight unseen an; only meet ‘em when they get ta campus. Goin’ through the mail, which comes twice a day, takes up a lot of time, an’ it’s important.

On a personal level telegrams are for special events an’ emergencies. They’re quick, but ya can’t say much. In business they might say more. That weekly basketball newspaper gets all its information by telegram, some real, long telegrams, but if they’re gonna get the paper out in a timely fashion, that’s the only way.

1/15: 12-3, 5-1, RPI #20. Tied for 1st with UCLA. We fell behind early in the road loss, and didn’t shoot well or defend the three. Otherwise we’re looking great. Our attack is so diverse it’s difficult for the opponent to focus on any one guy. 14.7 for Swat, 13.5 for Gard, 13.0 for Con, 9.5 for Walk, so we get points inside and out. Murr has done great since moving into a starting role. The bench is two guys, Bry Geer and Zach More, and they’re both doing great.
This team is way better than I expected.

1/29: 15-4, 8-2, RPI #22. +7.1 PPG, +4.1 RBs, +1.6 TOs- 13.1, which ain’t where I wanta be, but not all that bad. Tied for 1st with Arizona, with UCLA an’ Arizona ST 1 back. 8 ta play, but 2 are against ranked teams on the road- both in our next 3 games, all of which are on the road.

We lost a damn home game to a lousy team. I was more than hard on my players, and practices have been tougher than usual. They lost focus and lost a game they shoulda won. Unacceptable!

Lots of Indian trouble all over the West. The Nez Perce are the most trouble right now. Glad ta say none of it is too close ta here.

That Edison fella is sure busy. I just read about somethin’ called a phonograph that supposed ta be able ta record and then play human voices or any other sounds. Sounds far fetched but his other stuff seems ta work so maybe not. I’m not sure what it would be good for but time will tell.

Baby Harriet is 4 months old. She reacts to us, laughs, and is very alert. She’s not a great sleeper. I’ve asked Maude if we should get someone to come in to help so that Maude can get a nap during the day. She said no, but I’ll ask again.

2/5: We are really playing well. Beat #17 UCLA by 3 there, then beat Oregon by three there. 17-4, 10-2, tied with Arizona for 1st, and they’re next. Still not ranked. I think we should be.

2/12: Arizona beat us by 13. Can’t decide whether we played poor D or if they were just that much quicker. I think it’s the 2nd one. We could have been more aggressive on D. We only committed 12 fouls. I will keep that in mind, and in my notebook, for the postseason. Then we beat third place (tie) Arizona ST easily here. It’s always great to bounce right back from a loss.

18-5, 11-3. We’re alone in 2nd with 4 to play. The schedule is very favorable, 3 at home, and the other with a bottom team away.

2/19: Colorado beat us there by 7. We’ve played better. 19-6, 12-4, RPI #24. Still 1 back of Arizona, one up on UCLA. It’s going to be hard NOT to be the #2 seed in the tourney.

2/26: We end the regular season at 21-6, 14-4, RPI #23, still not ranked. We finish tied for 1st with the #1 seed, somehow. I’ll take it! +7.0 PPG, +2.7 RBs, +2.5 TOs.

We play 7 guys, 3 of them (Con-13.8, Gard- 13.3, and Swat, 13.0) lead us, but 4 others are in the 7.0 to 8.4 range, and two of those are doing much better than that since they got additional minutes. Great balance on this team.

We’re down to 12.5 TOs per, the best any team of mine has ever done.

Hayes is not a popular President. Many people still believe he stole the election. He is not expected to run for reelection next year, and if he does run he won’t win.

[Wayne23]

3/9: #8 seed Colorado, 16-14, 7-11, won the play in. We won by 10 here, lost by 7 there. We don’t match up well with them.

3/10: 86-74. We played well. 29, 8 for Gard, 18 for Geer. +9 TOs.

#4 seed Arizona ST, 19-10, 12-6, in the semis. They won by 7 there, then we won by 11 at our place.

3/11: 73-62. 18, 6, 5 for Walk, 15 for Con. It’s different players every game who do it for us. That makes us hard ta defend.

#2 seed, #15 ranked Arizona, 23-8, 14-4, for the title, as expected. Beat ‘em by 18 here, then lost by 13 there. Expectin’ a war.

3/12: 59-72. They led all the way. We shot 31.1%. And despite my stressing it like mad we weren.t aggressive enough on D, just like last time. We played like we were afraid to foul and they took advantage of it. 25 TOs negated 52 RBs. But it was the soft D, more than anything else.

23-7, 14-4, RPI #23. Can we hope for a #4 seed?

#7 seed, South. 7? A 7 SEED!!! Outrageous. Not an easy bracket either. We play #10 Georgia, 18-11.

3/17: 78-79. They hit a half court luck shot at the buzzer. Terrible way to end a successful season. 27, 15 for Gard, 14, 9, 5 for Con. Once again, we weren;t aggressive enough on D.

4/3: #1 North Carolina beats Arizona for the title.

4/4: Awards: Ben Gard made the PAC 12 1st team.

Harriet has caught a cold. She’s really ill.

4/7: Maude and I took Harriet to the doctor. It’s pneumonia. That is really bad news. There’s very little that can be done. The doctor says in these cases the patient reaches a point of crisis and then either recovers or…

4/8: Our little girl is gone. I can’t even describe how heartbreaking this is. It is no comfort to know that pneumonia ends more lives than any other disease, particularly among the very young and the very old. I just don’t know how we can go on.

4/9: My #1 assistant is acting as head coach for now. He has been told to respond to any job inquiries by saying I’m not interested, which, believe me, I’m not.

4/20: I don’t want to, but I need to go back to work. We’re a mess. Maude says she doesn’t know if she wants more children, given that this could easily happen again. I understand that completely, and, at least to an extent, I feel the same way. I mean we knew this could happen, of course. But it doesn’t hit unless it really does happen.

4/23: I ask for a budget increase. We get $12,100.

23-8, 14-4. Great 1st season here. Overall, I’m 197-90, .687.

[Wayne23]

5/1: I buy the national gold.

Maude is going crazy with nothing to do. I speak to my A.D. and ask if she can come in and work as my unpaid secretary. He says he has a small office vacant, not too far from the basketball office, and she can use it. I buy a typewriter for her. She is glad to have the work and starts immediately. Actually, the assistants, the tutors, and I can find plenty for her to do. It’s a good solution.

6/5: (Author’s note: Still can’t go to Transfers due to a glitch. I zipped and sent to Gary.)

6/26: 6 scholarships. We need at least 4 bigs.

Maude is doing better. The work takes her mind of Harriet for at least part of the day. We walk in to work together and she works until dinner, and for as long after that as I’m working. She always has things to do. In the off season she will do some things for the baseball and football teams with the understanding that the basketball work comes first.

8/21: We offer to 2 PGs, 3 PFs, 1 C.

Life is basketball these days. Maude and I work as many hours as possible, have our meals at the school cafeteria, together whenever I’m on campus, walk home, again, together when I’m on campus, and usually go to bed as soon as we can. We talk, and we’re close, but it’s a quiet kind of close, not at all like what it was before Harriet died. There’s no joy in our lives, just an overwhelming sadness. No one says how long this lasts, and I suppose it’s different for everyone, but I hope it passes at some point.

9/18: Wow! Got 3, 2 PFs, #7 an’ #16, an’ a PG, #30. Lost 2.

Sunshine Shootout vs, St. Joe’s. Decent schedule.

9/25: Got the other 3, PG #33, C, #44, PF #56. A couple are iffy on the SAT score, so we’ll see. Hope they all make it; I’m outta recruitin’ money!

9/29: The toughest day yet. Harriet would have been one year old today.

We talk about having another child but neither of us is ready.

10/2: 1st day of practice. We’re not deep.

11/6: 8 man rotation to start:

Soph Zach More starts at PG and supports at SG. Frosh Jake Six is at SG. Senior Vic Murr will battle for the starting spot at PG.

Senior Em Swat is back at SF.

Inside are senior Ben Gard an’ junior Will Wats. Two very good looking bigs, senior Bry Geer, an’ frosh Amir Jax, get back up minutes. Frosh Carl Coll should get minutes inside, but for now I have none to give him. Let’s see what happens.

We’re picked to finish 10th in conf. I hope they’re wrong!

[Wayne23]

11/20: 2-0 to start. Two good home wins, but the next two are on the road.

Drat! My 2nd highest recruit won’t hit the SAT score, and I have no money left. I’ll need to take a shot in the dark at a big man in the spring. In the meantime all I can do is call potentials.

We almost look forward to the road in some ways. We have made the train ride fun in lots of ways. The food is good, an’ there’s plenty of it, which is important to my players. They need to study, but the two hour study hall is in the comfort of the dining room, an’ we now bring along 2 tutors, so that’s not bad. The free time is spent in games, treasure hunt type puzzles that my assistants put together, cards, music (There’s a piano, and most everyone plays an instrument, which they bring with them), and whatever novelties we can come up with. We give them some free time to just relax, write letters, read, socialize, or whatever. This is so much better than the cheap, often bug ridden hotels I stayed at when I was at GCU.

12/4: 4-1. No real lineup changes at this point. We’re playin’ well.

One more on the road, then at the Sunshine Shootout.

12/9: St. Joe’s, 2-3. We’re the #3 seed, they’re #6.

75-62. Our inside guys were huge tonight. 18, 11 for Gard. 17, 3, 4, 2, 2 for Wats, 18, 5 for Swat. +18 TOs, so the guards did their job as well.

#2 seed Texas, 5-2 in the semis. Good team, especially outside. This could be a tough one.

12/10: 82-71. 23, 6 for Swat, 11, 16, 4 for Wats, 16, 6 for Six, 13, 8 for Gard, 13, 7 for Geer. +20 RBs.

A real challenge in the title game, #1 seed, #2 ranked North Carolina, 8-0. One tough team from what we saw today an’ yesterday.

12/11: 62-81. I can only dream of coaching a team that good! We stayed with ‘em for almost 30 minutes, an’ we never quit.

We made the top 25 for the first time, comin’ in at #22, but we won’t stay there after this loss. Still, progress! We’re 7-2.

12/25: 9-2, #17, RPI #9. +.7 PPG, +4.5 RBs, +2.5 TOs. We just beat #11 GA Tech by 15 here. This is a good team! 4 guys getting’ 10.1 or more, solid reboundin’, two terrific guys comin’ off the bench. I think we’ll do jus’ fine in the PAC 12! Toughest game will be at #8 Arizona next week, but I could see us going 14-2 in conf.

Not a good Xmas present. We were visited by a committee of Mormon elders. They informed us that they had been patient regarding our joining the congregation- that’s not what they called it, but their patience had about run out.

We explained that we had a great deal of respect for them and for their religion, but we practiced our own beliefs.

That wasn’t good enough. They said Utah was a Mormon state and Salt Lake City was a Mormon city, and we had to join or leave.

I explained that I did everything I could to respect my players’, assistant coaches’ and other staff and co-workers beliefs. I switched practice days an’ times to accommodate their needs- everything.

Not good enough.

The very, very worst part was when they said that Harriet’s death was a judgment on us for not joining the church. It was all I could do to keep myself from startin’ ta swing at people when they said that. I managed ta restrain myself, but barely.

I mentioned that I should have been told all of this when I was hired. They said a non-Mormon should never have BEEN hired.

I told them jobs came open in April and I would do all that I could to move on.

Next day I went to my A. D. and told him all about the “visit.” He was clearly embarrassed. He said he didn’t think this would happen. He then said that it would be best if I could move on. Dang! I’m buildin’ somethin’ here. I am NOT pleased.