Dave Magarity -- Tribute to Jim Phelan

Here is a trivia question: Who is the only coach to win as many as 800 games and not be in the basketball hall of fame? The answer should be very obvious. Of course it is Jim Phelan.

Phil Martelli, Lute Olson, Bo Ryan and Kelvin Sampson each wrote tremendous columns on the career of Jim Phelan. Their essays on the man who has coached for 49 years pointed to his lofty accomplishments and the first class manner in which he handled himself.

Each one of their columns was very eloquently written. But as I gathered my thoughts and sat down to write my own column on the subject, I found myself in a less than eloquent mood.

As I began to put together my column there were two questions that puzzled me.

1. Why the hell isn't this man enshrined in the hall of fame?

2. What the hell are they waiting for?

It's a travesty that Coach Phelan has not yet been honored in Springfield, MA.

Actually, it's not just a travesty, it's an absolute joke!

It's absurd, but some will point out that the majority of coach Phelan's wins came at the division II level. It's a fact that Mount St. Mary's did not join the ranks of division I until 1988, but it's also a fact that the man has amassed over 800 wins. He is the active wins leader and ranks third all-time.

Let me point out that Mount St. Mary's was one of the dominant programs in the decade of the 1980's. Jim Phelan and the Mount were to the 80's what Mike Krzyzewski and Duke were to the 1990's.

Sure he won the majority of his games outside the more publicized division I borders, but 800 wins is still 800 wins. Since when was the value of a win diminished because of the NCAA division?

Aside from Clarence "Big House" Gaines and Jim Phelan how many coaches have eclipsed the 800-win plateau, outside the ranks of division I?

How about NONE!

And NONE of his 800 plus victories was of the "buy-game" variety.

By no means is that an indictment on Bob Knight, Adolph Rupp or Dean Smith, as each coach never shied away from any challenge, playing some very daunting non-league schedules throughout their careers.

But coaches like Jim Phelan never had the luxury of getting those "guaranteed" games placed on their schedule. The only thing guaranteed about a game that Jim Phelan coached was that his team would play hard for forty minutes. And over 800 times the result would favor Mount St. Mary's.

Let me state that again. Over 800 TIMES the result would favor Jim Phelan.

What more does the man have to do?

I was fortunate enough to compete against Coach Phelan and the Mount, when Marist was still a member of the Northeast Conference. Through the years I was always thoroughly impressed with how well-coached his teams were.

In 1996, we had a very good team at Marist and our chief rival was Mount St. Mary's. We began the season 14-1 and were a perfect 10-0 in the NEC. We were unbeaten until Jim Phelan came to town.

Later in the season we journeyed to Emmitsburg, MD are were beaten again. That season we broke new ground at Marist, as we were invited to the National Invitation Tournament. The NIT selection committee also called Jim Phelan and invited the Mount to the NIT.

From the time they entered the league to the time we left for the Metro Atlantic Athletic Association, the Marist-Mount St. Mary's battles were second to none.

I knew when we moved to the MAAC that we would face some extremely difficult opponents, but I was glad that I didn't have to coach against Jim Phelan any longer. I thoroughly enjoyed coaching against such a first-class individual, but I didn't enjoy getting beat.

As was pointed by Martelli, Olson, Ryan and Sampson, Jim Phelan is one of the best people you are ever going to come in contact with. You would be hard pressed to find anyone that had anything other than warm and kind words to describe the man.

This coming weekend that kind and gentle man will be honored like no other coach has ever been honored by his piers. Coaches from coast to coast will be sporting bow ties to say thank you to a man that has brought so much to our game.

I have to commend CollegeInsider.com's Angela Lento who, just three short weeks ago, launched a massive campaign to get coaches to sport a bow tie. Jim Phelan Bow Tie Day has become the most talked about topic among the coaching ranks.

Her efforts will be visible this weekend when coaches like Rick Barnes, Bobby Huggins, Kelvin Sampson and me are working our trade with a bow tie. Mike Jarvis and his entire coaching staff will be donning red bow ties when they face Duke in a nationally televised game, Sunday at Noon (EST) on CBS.

That is tremendous!

I speak for all coaches when I thank Ms. Lento for getting KottyDesign.com to supply us all with very stylish neckwear.

Coach Phelan, who has outlasted seven College Presidents and ten United States Presidents, deserves nothing less.

I hope that Jim and his lovely wife, Dottie, enjoy the time with their five children and eleven grandchildren. College basketball will miss the man with the bow tie.