Jim Phelan | ZOOM |

Mount St. Mary's coach Jim Phelan announced last week he would retire at the end of this season, his 49th at the Emmitsburg, Md., school. Phelan, known for his trademark bow tie, has won 824 games at the Mount, which places him third on the NCAA Division I career wins list behind Dean Smith (879) and Phog Allen (876) . He has coached an NCAA-record 1,339 games.

Phelan, 73, answered five questions from the Enquirer's Bill Koch:

Q: How do you know after 49 seasons it's time to retire?

A: The thing that really brought it home was all the extensive summer recruiting that I felt I no longer wanted to do. One thing that put me over the top was when one of my assistant coaches received a list of the top 200 seventh-graders. ... The lists keep accumulating. That wears you out.

Q: Why the bow tie?

A: It came from my college coach (at La Salle), Ken Loeffler. Ken always wore bow ties. Our opening game was against St. Francis of New York when I got here in 1954. My wife said, "What kind of tie do you want to wear?" She said, "Ken Loeffler always wore bow ties." I tried a bow tie and we won. The second game was against St. Francis of Pennsylvania. They had (future Cincinnati Royal) Maurice Stokes. I wore the bow tie and we won again, so I continued to wear the bow ties.

Q: You're the only coach with 800 wins who is not in the Basketball Hall of Fame. Does that bother you?

A: That's a great trivia question. Nobody would ever get that answer. I've been nominated three or four times but never got selected. When they started putting women and foreigners in, that expanded the pool. People in situations like mine got passed over. It doesn't bother me. I don't miss something I never had. At this point, it doesn't mean a thing to me. I guess it would be nice, but I've had enough recognition over the years to satisfy that urge. Pete Rose should be in the Hall of Fame. If you've got a Hall worth having, he ought to be in it.

Q: How much has the game changed since you started coaching?

A: The evolvement of the game is not as radical as people think. The major difference is a little size, a little more bulk and a little more speed. That's all attributable to diet, nutrition and weight training. But you can look back, and they certainly don't shoot any better today. They don't pass any better. They don't defend any better. They do jump higher and they are bulkier than they were.

Q: In what way has the game changed for the worse?

A: The worst thing is the glorification of the players, which is a trickle-down from the pros. You've got that out there in Ohio with LeBron James. Somebody had a good line the other day. He said I came in with (trumpet player) Harry James and I'm going out with LeBron James.