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THE FIVE MUSKETEERS
Six years ago the NCAA reorganized into 22 conferences of 16 teams each. After each season within each conference the four teams with the best record are promoted to the next higher conference and the four teams with the worst records are relegated to the next lower conference. Additionally 6 independent teams play 15 games against Division I opponents with the team with the best record in those games being moved up into the lowest prestige conference to supplant the team with the worst record which drops down into Independent status.
In that initial season new coaches were hired at 5 of those initial Independent teams. None of these coaches had prior head coaching experience in Division I basketball. These five coaches became known as The Five Musketeers. Ken Yamoto was hired at Tarleton State, Mike McMillan became the new coach for MD-Eastern Shore, Ramon Martinez was the new head coach at Alcorn State, Terry Morillo was brought aboard by Dixie State, and Dontell Spencer took over the reins at Arkansas-Pine Bluff.
During the succeeding six seasons these five head coaches have grown close…to a degree where the term “Five Musketeers” apply fits. While occasionally their teams compete on the court, the five coaches are supportive of each other and communicate frequently. “Sometimes it feels like we’re true brothers,” said Ramon Montez. “We get together in the off-season and have a great time together.” Ken Yamoto added, “I’ve learned a lot from each of the other four guys. We bounce ideas and suggestions off each other. Since we all came into our head coaching jobs with different strengths and weaknesses, this has really helped round each of us out and become better coaches.”
Things weren’t each for the five during their early years as head coaches. Their teams were initially very weak, win-loss records weren’t impressive, and getting out of Independent status was a huge challenge. The teams of three of the coaches were promoted into Division I after the first three seasons. The first to make the jump to Conference V was Ramon Montez at Alcorn State for the 2031-32 season. Then in the 2032-33 season Mike McMillan got his MD-Eastern Shore squad into Division I. The next season (2033-34) saw Dontell Spencer and his Arkansas-Pine Bluff move from being an Independent to becoming part of Conference V. That left Ken Yamoto and Terry Morillo still out of Division I and mired in the depths as Independents.
“When we got together right after the conclusion of the 2032-33 season, Ken and I were strongly encouraged by Dontell, Ramon and Mike to see what jobs at other schools were coming available and to jump ship,” said Terry Morillo. Dontell Spencer added, “Yeah we could see that the administrations at Dixie State and Tarleton State just weren’t supportive enough of their basketball programs that Terry and Ken were likely to be able to get their teams promoted in the foreseeable future. And that’s been confirmed by the fact that both those teams have continued to be unsuccessful the past 3 seasons as well. So it was good that Ken left Tarleton State and got hired by UC-San Diego and Ken went from Dixie State to Western Illinois.” The validity of those statements is that both Yamoto and Morillo have been able to develop rather moribund basketball programs at UC-San Diego and Western Illinois into successful ones in the space of 3 seasons.
Arguably Dontell Spencer could be viewed as the most successful of the five. But let’s look at how each of the Five Musketeers has done in their 6 years since first getting hired:
Dontell Spencer, Arkansas-Pine Bluff, Overall Record: 96-51 (.653); Season records: 6-10, 9-7, 11-8, 25-6, 24-10, 21-10. 4 NIT and 1 NCAA appearances In the past 4 seasons with advancement to the Semifinals one year and to the Championship game another year in the NIT, and ranked in Top 25 one season, 4 promotions to higher conferences.
Ramon Montez, Alcorn State, Overall Record: 101-66 (.605); Season records: 8-7, 14-14, 14-16, 18-14, 24-7, 23-8. 1 CIT and 1 NCAA appearance, and 4 promotions to higher conferences.
Mike McMillan, MD-Eastern Shore Hawks, Overall Record: 79-69 (.534); Season records: 8-7, 6-9, 12-17, 12-17, 20-9, 21-10. 1 NIT and 1 NCAA appearances, 3 promotions to higher conferences.
Ken Yamoto, UC-San Diego, Overall Record: 56-75 (.427); Season records: 3-12, 2-13, 6-9 at Tarleton State and 10-17, 15-13, 20-11 at UC-San Diego. 1 CBI appearance, 1 promotion to a higher conference.
Terry Morillo, Western Illinois, Overall Record: 59-73 (.447); Season records: 4-11, 7-8, 4-11 at Dixie State and 13-16, 15-15, 16-12 at Western Illinois. 1 promotion to a higher conference.
This past season the Five Musketeers’ teams combined for 100 wins and just 52 losses and all 5 got their teams promoted to the next higher conference. Coaches Yamoto, Montez and McMillan were named their individual conference’s Coach of the Year. Ramon Montez said, “Great season by all 5 teams! The five of us are going to party when we get together in early May. Then it’s on to preparing for even better records next year.”