Historically speaking I was raised as only child in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania by my parents. I loved sports, basketball being the one that captured my attention and passion. My father was Catholic and my mother Presbyterian and they loved me with a sacrificial love. After high school, I attended the University of Pennsylvania, played basketball and graduated with a degree in chemical engineering. Planning to continue my education be acquiring a masters in business administration, I accompanied my college coach, Dick Harter, to the University of Oregon in the fall of 1971. My wife, Carol and I were married in the summer of 1973. At the age of 29, in March of 1978, I was named head coach at Oregon. I would hold that position until March of 1983 when I resigned my position, not winning enough games. (I was blessed to work with wonderful people who continue to excel in the sports world including Jim O'Brien, head coach of the Boston Celtics; Stu Jackson, assistant commissioner of the NBA, Dave Bollwinkel, former head coach at St. Mary's College in California and now, among other duties, a motivational speaker; Ernie Kent, head coach at Oregon; and Greg Graham, head coach at Boise State University.) Anxious to continue coaching, I accepted a position with Larry Brown at the University of Kansas but within two months of arriving in Lawrence, Kansas the course of my life changed significantly when I decided to give up the thought of returning to head coaching and accept an administrative position with the Metro Conference. After short stops with the Missouri Valley Conference and the Big West Conference in June of 1992, I was named the executive director of the NABC. The position I hold today. What thrills me and fills me with thanksgiving is when I look back on my life to see the fingerprints of God on my life. From the days of my youth there was a consciousness of a spiritual world that I could not see but just new existed. Without question the Lord brought my wife Carol into my life early in my senior year of college. Carol grew up in formal structure of the First Baptist Church of Statesboro, Georgia. In 1973 my wife Carol and I were married in an American Baptist church in Eugene. Shortly after being named head coach at the University of Oregon, I received Christ as my Lord and savior at that same church. I came to know the salvation message of the life, death, burial and resurrection of Jesus Christ and the importance of being born-again through our fellowship in that church. During the last 18 months of my head coaching duties, I became acquainted with living in the fire. Not winning with the frequency of the 70's, the criticisms of me seemed to grow in intensity and in frequency during my last two years. As I desperately sought to keep my head up and work positively through a very difficult situation and time, I found myself identifying more and more with Jesus. As I reflected in my mind of how he had been physically beaten, spit upon, degraded, betrayed and crucified, yet how he stood strong and loving in the face of so much hate, anger and malice, I was encouraged and strengthened that I could face the minor adversity that was before me. I resigned my position in mid-February of 1983. Unbeknownst to me at the time, God was opening doors and directing my paths. Shortly afterward the season ended, vice-president of the Dallas Cowboys, Gil Brandt, called to offer me temporary employment for the spring working with the Cowboy management and signing free agents to contracts. For someone whose self-worth was in cardiac arrest, the opportunity with the Cowboys was sweet and timely. Gil Brandt remains a dear friend to this day. Further hope and favor came in the early spring when Larry Brown offered me a position although he was not sure where he was going to be coaching the following year. He was with the New Jersey Nets at the time we spoke but did, in fact, accept the job at the University of Kansas weeks later. After two months as an assistant coach at KU, I was offered a position as assistant commissioner with the Metro Conference. I accepted the job and began to pursue my future in athletic administration. I would work with the Metro Conference for two years. Carol and I both sensed that something was missing in our lives. Several years of soul searching for the answer of what was missing in my life, I realized, as though a light had gone off in my head, that I was missing the intensity of the fiery trial surrounding my coaching performance at Oregon. More specifically, it was the intimacy with and identification with Jesus Christ that I was missing. He had carried me, sustained me and delivered me. (In the book of Daniel, King Nebuchadnezzar has three Hebrew children, Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego thrown in a fiery furnace. The King sees four men walking about in the blazing furnace and declares that the fourth man looks like the son of God. I can identify with being in the fire with Jesus Christ.) As much as I had depended on Him for hope and encouragement my last 18 months at Oregon, once free from the daily anguish and pressure, I returned to being confident in me and my ability to solve my problems and that of my family. Life returned to being all about me. There were problems and challenges that were beyond my ability to solve. In retrospect, He was so gracious, actively at work in our family's lives, leading us to the help we needed despite us not giving Him the credit and all the glory due Him. He prospered us financially, delivered us out of new fiery trials, and gave us favor with people who crossed our path. In May of 1985 while serving as commissioner of the Missouri Valley Conference in St. Louis that Carol and I discovered what we recognized but could not identify as the missing piece of our lives, intimacy with the triune God, the Father, Son and the Holy Spirit. It was during our three years in St. Louis that God revealed Himself to us as the Living Christ, who is constantly at work in our lives transforming us into His image. We would say that we took the picture of God off the wall because the living presence of God was indwelling us by His Spirit and we could get to know Him personally in the present through prayer and reading the Word of God. There was no need for a lifeless picture of what God was in the past. It was during this time we were baptized in the Holy Spirit and began to attend churches where the Word of God was preached with power and the presence of the Holy Spirit was encouraged. We found ourselves thirsting for more of God's presence, more of His Word and more opportunities to learn from others who were walking with God in their daily lives. Along with about 50 or so other Christians we began to attend a weekly meeting with a young preacher named Joyce Meyer. She now speaks to millions upon millions of people around the world at conferences as well as by radio and television. Among the messages of God that we heard revealed to us through Joyce Meyer was that God wants us healed of sickness and delivered from every yoke of bondage that would enslave His children including drugs, alcohol, pornography, anger, gossip, unforgiveness and every besetting sin. Furthermore, He wanted to personally and progressively transform us by His Spirit and through His Word into the image of Christ, the Word of God. There were plenty of tests and trials in our life but we learning to lean on Him and His Word based on the promises of God for those who receive Christ as Lord and Savior through His redemptive work fulfilled at Calvary's cross. In 1986 the Lord showed me in a dream a vision that would come true some six years later. I saw what appeared from a distance the silhouette of a huge shade tree against a gold, pastel colored sky. I then found myself moving toward the tree and then standing next to the tree in a garden. There was a stone fence in the background. The tree was beautiful with an old twisted trunk and long, strong limbs full of leaves. And there was fruit on the tree and fruit on the ground and the fruit was basketballs. At the time I recognized that the Lord was showing me a dream of future significance and that the fulfillment of the dream involve basketball and me. The beginning of the fulfillment of that dream was realized when in May of 1992 when I was hired to be executive director of the NABC. God provided another opportunity to move. After three years in St. Louis, in the spring of 1988 I was named commissioner of the Big West Conference. We moved to Irvine, California, and joined a small church. In St. Louis we sat and learned about God and the things of God. In Irvine, we began to serve the body of believers within the church and share what God was accomplishing in and through our lives. It was a time of growth to witness God working through us to meet the needs of others. The Bible states, "many are the afflictions of the righteous but the Lord delivers out of them all." Once again our family faced adversities and challenging circumstances but we began to discover that the Lord was meeting our need and revealing Himself to us in each situation we faced as our Provider, our Deliverer, our Healer, our Shepard and our Friend. Despite the dream of the Tree of Life with the fruit of basketballs in 1986, I did not make any connection between the NABC and myself. In 1992 executive director for seventeen years, Joe Vancisin, decided to retire. George Raveling, then coach of USC, was the obvious choice to replace to be the next executive director. I bumped into George on the streets of Minneapolis in March of 1992 during the Final Four. It was during our brief conversation that he mentioned that he wanted to continue coaching at USC and was not going to take the position. A few moments later and for the first time, I realized that the NABC was in my future. Weeks later, after a number of candidates had been interviewed by members of the Board of Directors, NABC President Johnny Orr contacted me and offered me the position as executive director. The NABC position would pay me less salary than what I was making with the Big West and require moving from Southern California to Kansas City. Once again God was again asking us to move, and for less money, if we wanted His will to be fulfilled in our lives. We moved to Overland Park, Kansas during the summer of 1992. We have lived in the Kansas City area for ten years (moved twice more within that time) serving the NABC. The tests, trials and tribulations that accompany life whether related to the NABC, or family or marriage continue but the grace and love of God continue to overcome every one of them. During the past ten years, the NABC Board of Directors, member coaches and NABC staff have truly had an impact. For me it is not an accident or happenstance, but the Lord. I bear witness to His blessings, protection, and favor daily. I have seen Him do what people have said is impossible. I have seen doors open that were closed permanently. I watch Him reveal Himself and touch the lives of people through the many accomplishments of the association. They include: Coaches vs. Cancer I believe the best days are ahead for the NABC and its member coaches. I believe that God is going to reveal Himself to our member coaches in dramatic ways and through our coaches people' lives will be impacted in a very positive way. Having been a coach and having walked through the fire of fighting to keep ones' job, I can identify with our coaches. As many as are successful and rooted in their jobs due to post season accomplishments, there are many more coaches, head and assistant coaches, who are on the edge yearly trying to breakthrough to security and stability in their jobs. My wife and I pray daily for our coaches and their families that God would meet their every need whether that need is physical, emotional, mental or spiritual for themselves, their wife and children. We recognize the very public existence that the entire family lives each day and the pressures that derive from being in the public eye. We can identify with the fear that can arise when one's job is in jeopardy and the future is in doubt. We can understand the strain that coaching can place on marriages and family relationships. We also recognize that one's "friends" may be there during the good times but absent when success is fleeting. We also have empathy for each coach and family member, who looking for relief from the stress can seek comfort in alcohol or drugs or other outlet provided by the world. In the end we know the answer for every situation is Christ and the hope for each coach, spouse and child is found in developing a personal relationship with Jesus Christ.