University of Evansville - LinC Yearbook (Evansville, IN)

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LinC 77 University of Evansville 1800 Lincoln Avenue edited by r.a. Hoffmann UWiVLr oil V Of EVANi ViLL£ LIBRARIES

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Big Mac retires on It may not be much for a man who has won virtually every award possible for a small college basketball coach, but the 1977 Line is dedicated to Arad McCutchan. McCutchan didn ' t become a college basketball coach until he was 34 years old, but in the next 31 years, his Evansville College and University of Evansville teams won 514 of the 828 games they played and dominated the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) College Division (now Division II) in a way it may never again be dominated - winning five national championships in a span of 13 seasons . McCutchan ' s association with UE began when he was a star basketball player from 1930 through 1934, leading the Aces in scoring three straight years and acting as team captain his senior year, when the team had a 15-4 record. After coaching in high schools for nine years (seven at Evansville Bosse), McCutchan spent three years in the Navy during World War II before taking over as Aces ' head basketball coach in 1946. Evansville helped form the Indiana Collegiate Conference (ICC) in the early 1950 ' s, then won or shared 16 basketball championships . McCutchan was named ICC Coach of the Year 12 times, roughly every other year. his night Evansville won national championships in 1959, 1960, 1964, 1965 (with a 29-0 record) and 1971. McCutchan was College Division Coach of the Year in 1964 and 1965. McCutchan was active with national teams, helping coach U.S. teams in the World Games in 1971 and Pan-American Games in 1975. He also coached teams for the U.S. Olympic try-outs in 1960 and 1968. He was elected to the Indiana Basketball Hall of Fame in 1973 and became the 14th coach in the history of college basketball to win 500 games , which he achieved in late 1976. McCutchan was never afraid to do something a little different. His teams wore orange uniforms (not the school color but easier to see); wore robes instead of warm-ups (easier to get off); wore T-shirts instead of tank tops (since it ' s more similar to practice garb); never cut a player for lack of talent. But he was more than a coach of winners on the basketball court. He coached IQ All- Americans , two who became All-Pros , but pointed with more pride to the fact that only four players who completed a fourth season of eligibility on his teams did not eventually earn a degree .