SIU Edwardsville Cougars
2023–24 SIU Edwardsville Cougars men's basketball team
UniversitySouthern Illinois University Edwardsville
Head coachBrian Barone (5th season)
ConferenceOhio Valley
LocationEdwardsville, Illinois
ArenaFirst Community Arena
(Capacity: 4,000)
NicknameCougars
ColorsRed and white[1]
   
Uniforms
Home jersey
Team colours
Home
Away jersey
Team colours
Away


NCAA tournament Elite Eight
(D-II) 2006[2]
NCAA tournament second round
(D-II) 1986, 1987, 1989, 2006[2]
NCAA tournament appearances
(D-II) 1986, 1987, 1989, 2005, 2006[2]

The SIU Edwardsville Cougars men's basketball team represents Southern Illinois University Edwardsville (SIUE) in the Ohio Valley Conference of NCAA Division I basketball. The Cougars play their home matches at the Sam M. Vadalabene Center located in the SIUE core campus in Edwardsville, Illinois.

History

The SIUE basketball program first entered competition on November 23, 1967, under the leadership of Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame coach Harry Gallatin. The newborn program had no scholarships, inadequate facilities, and very little money to work with. Home games were played at the Shurtleff College gymnasium in Alton, usually with crowds of fewer than a dozen fans in attendance.[3] Gallatin departed as the program's coach after three years (while remaining as athletic director and golf coach for many years) with a record of 19–31.[4]

Gallatin was succeeded by Jim Dudley, who would head the program for eleven years, compiling a 146–143 record.[4] During Dudley's tenure, home games moved to the gymnasium at Edwardsville High School (now Lincoln Middle School) which was located a short distance from the SIUE campus.

Dudley was followed by Tom Pugliese, whose two years saw a record of 17–40 and brought about NCAA sanctions, resulting in the university administration's almost unheard of action of suspending of the program for the 1983–84 season.[4][5]

Larry Graham resurrected the program in 1984, as the program finally got a home of its own, moving into the new Sam M. Vadalabene Center on campus. Graham was the most successful of the Cougars' coaches, earning a record of 147–84, with three NCAA Division II tournament appearances in his eight seasons.[4][2]

After Graham, Jack Margenthaler had limited success, achieving a record of 112–150 in ten years.[4]

Success returned to Cougars basketball during Marty Simmons' five years at the helm. Simmons's teams went 88–59, making the NCAA Division II tournament in 2005 and not only returning in 2006, but earning a spot in that season's Elite Eight in Springfield, Massachusetts.[4][2]

When Simmons returned to his alma mater, as head coach at the University of Evansville, SIUE named long-time Missouri Valley Conference assistant coach Lennox Forrester to be the programs' seventh head coach. Following his first season, the Cougars began the transition from Division II to Division I and membership in the Ohio Valley Conference. Although the Cougars had losing seasons during their transition, they have become more competitive with each season. Through Forrester's first five seasons, his teams finished only 50–92, but his contract was extended following the 2011–12 season.[4][6]

On March 10, 2015, it was announced that the contracts of Forrester and his entire staff would not be renewed and that a national search for a new head coach was being launched.[7] On April 3, it was announced that California assistant coach Jon Harris, an Edwardsville native, had been named the 8th head coach in SIUE Basketball history.[8]

On March 11, 2019, SIUE announced that coach Jon Harris' contract had not been renewed after a four-year record of 31 wins and 88 losses.[9] However, Harris' full staff of assistant coaches Brian Barone, Charles "Bubba" Wells, and Mike Waldo and Director of Operations Casey Wyllie were all retained, and Barone was later named as interim head coach.[10]

After serving as the interim head coach throughout the 2019 offseason, Barone was officially named head coach of the Cougars on November 13, 2019, after a 1–2 start to the season.[11]

The Cougars have improved steadily over the first three years of Barone's tenure as head coach, posting win totals of eight in 2019–20, nine in 2020–21 and 11 in 2021–22. The 2020–21 and 2021–22 seasons were both affected heavily by the COVID-19 pandemic. This began with the team's December 13th game at Northwestern cancelled. The Cougars returned to play with a 69–65 win over Morehead State to open OVC play on December 18, however, it would be the last game SIUE would play for 33 days.[12] Following the game against Morehead State, the Cougars had nine consecutive games postponed due to a COVID-19 outbreak on the team. SIUE would go on to play 18 games in 37 days to finish the season. SIUE qualified for the OVC Tournament, losing their opening round game to Belmont 78-61. The following year, SIUE had five games postponed due to COVID-19 concerns, once again qualifying for the OVC Tournament. SIUE lost its first-round matchup to Tennessee State.

All-Americans

Reference:[13]

While the SIUE men's basketball has not seen the success of some other Cougars programs, two players were honored as NCAA Division II All-Americans:

  • Keith McFarland 1974–75
  • John Edwards 1986–87

Postseason

NCAA Division II tournament results

The Cougars appeared in the NCAA Division II Tournament five times. Their combined record is 6–5.

Year Round Opponent Result
1986Regional semifinals
Regional Finals
Lewis
Wright State
W 70–61
L 73–77
1987Regional semifinals
Regional Finals
Southern Indiana
Kentucky Wesleyan
W 88–82
L 86–89
1989Regional semifinals
Regional 3rd-place game
Kentucky Wesleyan
Ferris State
L 87–100 OT
W 102–92
2005Regional QuarterfinalsWayne StateL 55–56
2006Regional Quarterfinals
Regional semifinals
Regional Finals
Elite Eight
Grand Valley State
Quincy
Southern Indiana
Virginia Union
W 65–61
W 80–69
W 64–60
L 58–60

Record By Year

Reference [14][15][16]

Statistics overview
Season Coach Overall Conference Standing Postseason
SIU Edwardsville (Division II Independent) (1967–1995)
1967–68 Harry Gallatin 5–5
1968–69 Harry Gallatin 7–10
1969–70 Harry Gallatin 7–16
Harry Gallatin: 19–31 .380
1970–71 Jim Dudley 15–11
1971–72 Jim Dudley 5–21
1972–73 Jim Dudley 16–9
1973–74 Jim Dudley 19–7
1974–75 Jim Dudley 18–8
1975–76 Jim Dudley 12–15
1976–77 Jim Dudley 13–14
1977–78 Jim Dudley 11–14
1978–79 Jim Dudley 13–14
1978–80 Jim Dudley 13–14
1980–81 Jim Dudley 11–16
Jim Dudley: 146–143 .505
1981–82 Tom Pugliese 9–16
1982–83 Tom Pugliese 8–24
Tom Pugliese: 17–40 .298
1983–84 ---Program Suspended---
1984–85 Larry Graham 7–21
1985–86 Larry Graham 23–7NCAA Div. II 2nd round
1986–87 Larry Graham 23–7NCAA Div. II 2nd round
1987–88 Larry Graham 19–9
1988–89 Larry Graham 23–7NCAA Div. II 2nd round
1989–90 Larry Graham 21–8
1990–91 Larry Graham 16–12
1991–92 Larry Graham 15–13
Larry Graham: 147–84 .636
1992–93 Jack Margenthaler 14–12
1993–94 Jack Margenthaler 13–13
1994–95 Jack Margenthaler 10–16
SIU Edwardsville (Great Lakes Valley Conference (Div. II)) (1995–2008)
1995–96 Jack Margenthaler 10–157–138th
1996–97 Jack Margenthaler 11–165–1510th
1997–98 Jack Margenthaler 18–911–7t-5th
1998–99 Jack Margenthaler 13–1412–10t-5th
1999–2000 Jack Margenthaler 9–175–1510th
2000–01 Jack Margenthaler 7–194–1611th
2001–02 Jack Margenthaler 7–193–1711th
Jack Margenthaler: 112–150 .42747–93 .336
2002–03 Marty Simmons 9–185–15t-8th
2003–04 Marty Simmons 16–1211–9t-5th
2004–05 Marty Simmons 23–915–52ndNCAA Div. II 1st round
2005–06 Marty Simmons 25–814–5t-1st (West)NCAA Div. II Elite Eight
2006–07 Marty Simmons 15–1210–95th (West)
Marty Simmons: 88–59 .59955–43 .561
2007–08 Lennox Forrester 17–1110–92nd (West)
SIU Edwardsville (Division I Independent) (2008–2010)
2008–09 Lennox Forrester 10–20
2009–10 Lennox Forrester 5–23
SIU Edwardsville (Ohio Valley Conference) (2010–present)
2010–11 Lennox Forrester 8–21Not eligibleNot eligible
2011–12 Lennox Forrester 10–176–109th
2012–13 Lennox Forrester 9–185–11t-4th (West)
2013–14 Lennox Forrester 11–207–9t-3rd (West)
2014–15 Lennox Forrester 12–168–84th (West)
Lennox Forrester: 85–146 .36836–47 .434
2015–16 Jon Harris 6–223–135th (West)
2016–17 Jon Harris 6–241–156th (West)
2017-18 Jon Harris 9-215-13t-9
2018-19 Jon Harris 10-216-12t-7
Jon Harris: 31–88 .26115–53 .221
2019-20 Brian Barone 8-235-13t-10
2020–21 Brian Barone 9-177-128th
2021–22 Brian Barone 11-215-138th
2022–23 Brian Barone 19-139-96th
Brian Barone: 47–7426–47 .356
Total:652–814 .445

      National champion         Postseason invitational champion  
      Conference regular season champion         Conference regular season and conference tournament champion
      Division regular season champion       Division regular season and conference tournament champion
      Conference tournament champion

References

  1. "Ohio Valley Conference Style Guide" (PDF). June 20, 2022. Retrieved November 13, 2022.
  2. 1 2 3 4 5 http://fs.ncaa.org/Docs/stats/m_basketball_champs_records/2014/d2/champs.pdf
  3. Personal recollection of editor.
  4. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 "SIUE Men's Basketball – Coaching Records". siuecougars.com.
  5. "SIUE Archives – SIUE 50th Anniversary Historical Timeline". siue.edu.
  6. "Men's Basketball Celebrates Season; Forrester's Contract Extended". siuecougars.com.
  7. "MEN'S BASKETBALL: Search for next SIUE coach is under way". The Intellegencer. March 11, 2015. Retrieved March 12, 2015.
  8. "SIU-Edwardsville hires Cal assistant Jon Harris to be new head coach". NBCSports.com. April 4, 2015. Retrieved June 8, 2015.
  9. "COLLEGE MEN'S BASKETBALL: Harris out as SIUE coach; Simmons interested in job". The Telegraph/Hearst Newspapers. March 11, 2019. Retrieved 11 March 2019.
  10. "Brian Barone Named SIUE Men's Basketball Interim Head Coach". Southern Illinois University Edwardsville. March 12, 2019. Retrieved 12 March 2019.
  11. "SIUE Extends MBB Head Coach Brian Barone". Southern Illinois University Edwardsville. November 13, 2019. Retrieved 11 November 2022.
  12. "Cougars Continue Trip at UT Martin". Southern Illinois University Edwardsville. January 29, 2021. Retrieved 11 November 2022.
  13. "SIUE Men's Basketball – All-Americans/All-Region". siuecougars.com.
  14. http://www.siuecougars.com/sports/m-basketball/index%5B%5D
  15. "Great Lakes Valley Conference". glvcsports.com.
  16. "OVCSports.com – Men's Basketball Archives". ovcsports.com.
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