Thursday, February 10, 2000
For NKU, 20-win vision is a reality
BY NEIL SCHMIDT
The Cincinnati Enquirer
Ken Shields averaged 20 victories a season in 23 years as a high school coach, so the fact he's now doing so at Northern Kentucky University doesn't overwhelm him.
Don't take this for granted. When NKU (19-3) again reaches 20 victories — perhaps tonight at Missouri-St.Louis (11-8) — it will be for just the sixth time in school history. Five of those will have come in the last six years.
“It's a program now, not a one- or two-year wonder,” fifth-year senior Kevin Listerman said. “The athletic program as a whole is putting the university on the map.”
NKU began men's basketball in 1971-72, but it reached 20 victories just once in its first 23 seasons — going 20-8 in 1977-78. Even Shields struggled: He went 17-11 with his first team but then endured five consecutive losing seasons.
“It was a slow, arduous process,” he said.
Shields initially had just one part-time assistant. After he was able to add a full-time assistant, Dave Bezold, NKU's recruiting picked up. In the 1994-95 season, the Norse crested the hill with a stunning 25-4 season.
Beginning with that year, NKU is 138-38, failing to reach 20 victories only last year (16-12).
This is truly NKU's boom time. Consider the embarrassment of riches on the bench alone: Scott Marston (9.3 ppg), a former starter at Division I Virginia Commonwealth; Zach Wieber (6.8), who initially signed with Division I Bowling Green; and Craig Conley (11.0), who started last year.
At 11-2 in the Great Lakes Valley Conference, the 12th-ranked Norse are tied for second with Southern Indiana, a game behind Kentucky Wesleyan. Though NKU lost its only meeting with Wesleyan, it won't concede the conference crown.
“We're approaching the top of the stretch in this race — us, Wesleyan and USI,” Shields said. “Ultimately, it's whoever's got the most horse under them.”
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