No matter what you do, it will never be enough.

As a sports writer, I have the privilege of hearing every would-be Pat Reilly’s thoughts as to why a team did or didn’t win and how stupid the coach is for letting it happen that way.

That’s the toughest part of coaching; if you win, the players did great; if you lose, the coach is an idiot.  You never come out on top.

It really is a thankless job, but it is one that two men at Tech have excelled at on the basketball court over the past few months.

At this time last year, the Lady Techster basketball team held a season record of 20-10, with five losses in the WAC, including a 20-point defeat in the tournament, and finished second in the conference.

They squeezed into the NCAA tournament as an underdog 11th seed, and saw an early exit with a 66-61 loss to Temple.

Enter Chris Long.

Long, the first-year head coach for the Lady Techsters, is currently riding a 15-game win streak and has led Tech’s women to a 26-4 record, conference regular season and tournament titles and a top 20 national ranking.

In one season, Long has elevated his squad back into the position among the country’s elite that we have come to expect from Techster basketball.

With the exception of one player added to this year’s roster, Long accomplished all of this with virtually the same roster that Kurt Budke struggled with last season.

Then, there is Keith Richard.

Richard, in his eighth season as head coach for the Bulldogs, has been under scrutiny for the better part of his tenure at Tech, despite the success his teams have seen on the court.

Like Long, Richard’s team has made a significant turnaround from last year to now.

Last season’s Bulldogs went 13-14, 8-9 in the WAC, and failed to qualify for post season play or even the conference tournament.

One year later, Tech is sitting on a 20-win season, finished second in the conference, and received a bid to the National Invitation Tournament.

Richard brought nine new Bulldogs to the roster this season including six junior college transfers, five of which saw playing time regularly during the year. A fact suggesting that Richard has talent when it comes to recruiting and that new players see something in his system they like.

Although the new additions were certainly a plus for the program, none of them were program-changing All-Americans, leaving Richard with a team very similar to last years.

So what did Richard do to make the turn around?

Defense.

Richard has preached defense all season long, and it has paid off.

Tech led the conference this year is scoring defense and rebounding margin, and was in the top three in virtually every other defensive category.

Another reason for Tech’s success is in the numbers.

Ten different players have seen regular playing time this season, giving the Bulldogs more depth than most teams in the WAC and even the country. Giving so many players experience this season will also benefit the Bulldogs next year, as Tech will be losing three seniors at the conclusion of the season, and will likely lose junior Paul Millsap to the NBA draft.

Even with the loss of key players, I expect that Richard will continue to raise the bar for Tech basketball, will bring in more big time recruits, and will continue to succeed in the midst of nay sayers.

As if he hasn’t done enough to silence his critics.

 

Matt Dearman is a junior journalism major from Baton Rouge and serves as sports editor for The Tech Talk. E-mail comments to mwd004@latech.edu.