Lees McRae College - Ontaroga Yearbook (Banner Elk, NC)

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Carlisle Hostetter, Lees-McRae's winningest basketball coach, has re- tired from the wars of the round ball arena but will continue in the position of Director of Athletics at the Banner Elk junior college. Hostetter, whose team captured the regular season championship this year, surpassed the legendary Fred I. Dickerson as the winningest coach in Lees-McRae's basketball history. Dick- erson, in his 15 years at the helm of the Lees-McRae Bobcats, won 281 games THE SULTAN OF SLOW DOWN while losing 140, for a .667 winning percentage. Dickerson-coached teams captured seven conference champion- ships. Hostetter won his 200th game of his career at Lees-McRae this season and has posted a 214-101 record since com- ing to Lees-McRae in 1975. He has a .680 percentage. His teams averaged better than 19 wins a season and advanced to post- season play eight times during Hostet- ter's eleven-year tenure. The Bobcats The man who 'beat the clock' this year, in more ways than one, retired and brought the curtain down on his career at Lees-McRae by being named 'Coach of the Year' in the WCJCC. Hostetter turns the reins over to Keith Walker who will capably bring a new and fresh approach to the Bobcat basketball program. Carlisle Hostetter discusses strategy with Lees-McRae assistant Rob Gardiner. Hostetter contemplates the Bobcats' next move. Hostetter encourages Bobcats during 200th win. 98 Basketball f Q - N recorded their fourth consecutive 20- win season, having marked the sixth time in seven years in which the Bob- cats hit the magical 20-win season. His teams have been perennial lead- ers in team defense and in the last five years have given up 65 points or less per game. The 1985 team placed ninth nationally in team defense. Hostetter, often assailed by his op- ponents for his slowdown tactics and deliberate offense, won the conference championship this year under a shot clock. Had I known the shot clock was going to work to our advantage, I would have been in favor of putting it in much earlier, the amiable head coach stated. 'I still like the option of pulling the ball out and making them come after it when they pack back in the zone. But you have to adjust to any new situation and the new :45 second clock made me change my philosophy and strategy, Hostetter quipped. Those coaches who wrote us off be- cause of the shot clock were a little surprised this year? Jim Rice of the Anderson Indepen- dent stated: When the :45 second clock was added to NJCAA basketball, everyone thought Lees-McRae College was jin- ished. Lees-McRae Coach Carlisle Hostetter didn't say anything to con- test those thoughts. With the time put on every possession, Hostetter, the sul- tan of slowdown, had lost his biggest ally. It was during the semi-finals in the 1983-84 Region Ten Tournament in Chowan when Hostetter used his slow- poke strategy to upset favored Ander- son College. A year later, during the opening of the tournament at Ander- son, he shocked number one seed Chowan with the same formula. Never again, the coaches said. The :45 sec- ond clock would put an end to Lees- McRaes winning ways. It didn 't work that way. The Bobcats, despite the mandate that they had to shoot at least once every :45 seconds, prospered. In fact, instead of entering the Region Ten Tournament with their customary un- derdog tag, Lees-McRae came to An- derson as the number one team from the WCJCC.

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if 0 .1 y -I am Photo By Darrell Hoemann Basketball 97

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STEPS DOWN Hostetter accomplished his goals by constantly switching defenses from man-to-man to zone, or from one zone to an- other. Closeness obviously counts, stated Hostetter. The Bobcats won nine games that were decided by four points or less this season. l think it adds up to a total of 23 points in nine victories. Our ability to win the close ones, of course, has been the major thing Qthroughout the yearsjf' Hostetter was labeled by a basketball magazine as one of the outstanding recruiting gurus in the college ranks. He has turned out several outstanding Division I players at Lees-McRae and had three All-Americans under his tute- lage. With Hostetter's removal from the basketball scene at Lees-McRae and in the Western Carolinas Junior College Conference and Region Ten, the curtain comes down on another era at the tradi- tionally strong basketball school. John Mackorell had a .628 winning percent- age in the late 1930's and early '40's, and in the late'60's George Litton, in two years, directed the Bobcats to 51 wins and 29 losses for a .605 record and one conference championship. Jack Lytton, in three years, directed Lees-McRae to 59 wins and 36 losses for a .604 winning percentage and one championship. Both George Litton and Jack Lytton brought their teams to the finals of the region championships and Dickerson made eight playoffs without success. Hostetter's teams were in the regional -4 -sr . fy 1 i . 'Q' . l ey . 3 ' X finals twice, but came away the losers. No team at Lees-McRae has ever won the regional championship and gone to the nationals, so there are records wait- ing to be broken by newcomer Keith Walker. Walker had successful high school coaching positions at Stecoah High School Ckobbinsvillej, Mountain Heri- tage fBurnsvilleJ, Erwin QAshevilleD, and Lexington, South Carolina, and took a faltering women's program at Lees- McRae and turned it around in one year. The man who beat the clock this year, in more ways than one, retired and brought the curtain down on his career at Lees-McRae by being named Coach of the Year in the WCJCC. Hostetter turns the reins over to Keith Walker who will capably bring a new and fresh ap- proach to the Bobcat Basketball pro- gram. Walker has big shoes to fill. The Sul- tan of Slowdown has stepped down. Hostetter never tried to fill the shoes of any of the coaching greats at Lees- McRae. He has simply placed his shoes alongside them. Walker will make his own footsteps felt at Lees-McRae and around the league. The Bobcat basketball program is in good hands, Hostetter concluded. When it comes to basketball, the Sul- tan has seldom been wrong. The game of basketball will sorely miss this titan of the hardwood. Basketball 99 1