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Men's basketball celebrates 100 years Click here to view vintage photos of UD basketball.
The centennial season is being marked with special banners at the Bob Carpenter Sports/Convocation Center. UD basketball fans will see banners bearing the 100th anniversary logo along the driveway leading to The Bob and a large banner hanging near the stairway as they enter the lobby of the building.
Anniversary banners also are hanging near the scoreboard mounted on the arena wall and among the championships banners flying above the fans. In addition, the logo, which was designed by Keith Heckert of the UD Office of Public Relations, is featured on the bases of the basketball hoop stanchions at either end of the court. After one month on the road, the UD men’s team is playing four straight home games in the coming weeks, beginning Monday, Dec. 19, against the University of North Carolina Greensboro. The Hens will then face Central Connecticut State University on Thursday, Dec. 29, Loyola College of Maryland on Saturday, Dec. 31, and Colonial Athletic Association rival the University of North Carolina Wilmington on Thursday, Jan. 5. The UD women’s team will play at home against Georgetown University on Tuesday, Dec. 20, and against CAA rival James Madison University on Sunday, Jan. 8. For ticket information, visit [http://www.udel.edu/sportsinfo/tickets/index.html].
The first UD squad, with Samuel Saunders as head coach and Marcus A. Robin as captain, lost its first game 32-18 to Pennsylvania Medical in a contest played in the Wilmington Opera House and finished the season 3-4-1. With Carleton B. Shaffer as captain, the 1906-07 team enjoyed the first winning season at 6-5 and played home games in the brand-new Taylor Gymnasium adjacent to Frazer Field on campus. The building, near Old College, is now known as Taylor Hall. The Hens christened the new gym with a resounding 52-7 victory over Philadelphia Pharmacy. Later in the season, they suffered back-to-back losses to academic heavyweights Yale and Swarthmore. William J. McAvoy was UD’s first long-term coach, joining the Hens in 1909-10 and guiding the team through 1917-18 before giving way to Howard B. Shipley. McAvoy returned for a second stint, coaching from 1922-23 through 1924-25. Shipley’s 1919-20 team went 13-2, opening the season with a 34-19 victory over a U.S. Naval Academy team that had not lost a game in two years. Still, success for the program really began after World War II, with the completion of the Carpenter Sports Building and the arrival of Fred Emmerson, who went 66-41 from 1949 to 1954, and Irv Wisniewski, who took over in 1954 and led the team until 1966 and became the first coach to reach 100 victories as he went 111-154 during his tenure. Emmerson’s teams won consecutive Middle Atlantic Conference southern division championships in 1951-52 and 1952-53, going a combined 35-13.
One of Wisniewski’s players early in his time as coach was Dallas Green, who went on to fame as manager of the 1980 World Series champion Philadelphia Phillies. Dan Peterson, Don Harnum and Ron Rainey followed Wisniewski, with the Hens moving from Carpenter to the Delaware Field House in January 1967 during Peterson’s stint. NCAA tournament era The NCAA tournament era began with the arrival of Steve Steinwedel, who served as coach from 1985-95 and who compiled a record of 163-121. It was during the Steinwedel era, in December 1992, that UD opened its current basketball facility, the 5,000-seat Bob Carpenter Sports/Convocation Center. The 1990-91 and 1991-92 teams went a combined 49-12, won back-to-back North Atlantic Conference championships and earned berths in the NCAA Division I national championship tournament. The first year in the NCAA tournament, the Hens lost 85-47 to the University of Cincinnati and the second year they fell 76-70 to the University of Louisville. The NCAA teams featured a strong front line with the aptly named center Spencer Dunkley, UD’s all-time rebounding leader with 916, and forward Alex Coles, who is seventh all-time with 711 rebounds.
The popular Mike Brey left his job as an assistant coach at Duke University to take over as UD head coach in 1995 and remained with the Hens until accepting the job as head coach at the University of Notre Dame in 2000. Like Steinwedel, Brey took consecutive teams to the NCAA tournament following America East Conference championships in 1997-98 and 1998-99. Those teams went a combined 46-15, with the first falling 95-56 to Purdue University in the NCAA tournament and the second 62-52 to the University of Tennessee. In his last season at UD, Brey led the veteran Hens to a 24-8 record and a berth in the National Invitation Tournament, where they fell 72-63 to Villanova University. That team featured forward Mike Pegues, UD’s all-time leading scorer with 2,030 points, and fiery guard John Gordon, a fan favorite who is sixth all-time with 134 three-point baskets. Following Brey was another Duke assistant, David Henderson, who in his first season took UD to a 20-10 record and to the America East championship game, where the Hens fell 68-54 to Hofstra University. Henderson oversaw the program’s switch of conferences, from the America East to the highly competitive Colonial Athletic Association, whose champions have often given premiere basketball teams fits in the NCAA tournament.
UD women’s basketball UD women’s basketball did not arrive as a varsity sport until 1971-72, and the first head coach, Mary Ann Hitchens, led the Hens to winning records in six of her first seven seasons. Joyce Perry took over as head coach in 1978-79 and remained at the helm through the 1995-96 season, when current Head Coach Tina Martin took over. Perry finished with a career record of 266-212 and won three straight East Coast Conference championships, in 1988-89, 1989-90 and 1990-91. She was named the ECC Coach of the Year in 1983-84 and 1988-89. Martin took over as head coach as UD switched from the America East to the fierce CAA, which has been dominated for years by a national power in Old Dominion University. Under her leadership, the Hens have enjoyed five seasons out of the last six with 20 or more wins. They went to the NCAA Division I national championship tournament after winning the America East title in 2000-01, and have earned three Women’s National Invitation Tournament bids.
Martin was named America East Coach of the Year in 2000-01 and CAA Co-Coach of the Year last season. Her 2005-06 Hens are led by guard Tyresa Smith, one of the premiere defensive players in the CAA, point guard Alena Koshansky and junior forward Chrissy Fisher. Three Hens have been named conference players of the year, with Sarah Gause the ECC Player of the Year in 1985, Jen Riley the ECC Player of the Year in 1991 and the America East Player of the Year in 1992, and Tiara Malcom the CAA Player of the Year in 2005. Cindy Johnson is UD’s all-time leading scorer with 1,675 career points and Colleen McNamara is the top rebounder with 1,063. Article by Neil Thomas |
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