PAINTING A NEW PICTURE

Kyle Macy was an All American at Kentucky and a member of the Wildcats' 1978 national championship team. He starred for seven seasons in the NBA and played three more overseas. But the son of a coach, with a wealth of round ball experience, could not even land a job as an assistant coach.

Nobody was interested in hiring this household name in the state of Kentucky.

In 1997 Morehead State made the decision not to bring back head coach Dick Fick. Macy, despite the advice of friends, submitted his resume and six years later the once lowly Eagles are again flying high in the Ohio Valley Conference.

"A lot of people thought I was crazy," says Macy, "but I always wanted to be a coach. I never thought my first job would be as a head coach, but I was thankful that Morehead State gave me an opportunity. I knew it would be a challenge to return the program to the level of success it enjoyed in the mid 1980's, but the University and community were committed to winning."

The Kentucky school had fallen on hard times in the 1990's and was thirteen years removed from its last NCAA tournament appearance in 1984. And in Macy's rookie season the Eagles won just three games and were ranked dead last in the RPI.

The commitment was there, but one needed binoculars to see the upper half of the OVC. Morehead State needed a new coat of paint and Macy, with brush in hand, began the process of making over all aspects of the program.

"The arena had literally not been touched since the mid 80's," says Macy. "There were so many different shades of blue from various touch-up jobs. It was time to repaint and build some new facilities."

Macy, who painted lines on the court himself, called just about everyone he knew in the hopes of raising money for the basketball program. Mark Miller of "Sawyer Brown" fame pitched in with a benefit concert on campus, which helped to raise enough money to refurbish the deteriorating facilities.

But while Johnson arena now actually looked like a place where basketball could be played there was still a lack of talent to put on the court.

Macy was able to bring highly-touted Eric Brown to Morehead State and things quickly changed. In Macy's second season the Eagles finished third in the OVC and it appeared that the turnaround was ahead of schedule.

However Brown, who led all freshmen in America in scoring in 1998, left after his first season, transferring to Louisville.

"That set us back," says Macy. "We improved so much from year one to year two, but Brown's transfer really hurt us, but I still felt we were headed in the right direction."

But in 1999 the direction was south for Macy and his Eagles, once again falling near the bottom of the OVC. Just two years removed from a three-win season and one of the bottom five budgets in all of division I college basketball, one would have to think that Macy was either a true optimist or in over his head.

Macy, who spent one year at Purdue before transferring to Kentucky, never got caught up in the limelight of stardom. And it was that humble approach that probably kept the flickering light on at Morehead State.

"There is a perception that college players, especially at a place like Kentucky, are spoiled," says Macy. "That really wasn't the case with me. I always appreciated everything about my opportunity to play at Kentucky and my years in the NBA. I never took anything for granted when I was given the job at Morehead State. My dad [Robert] was a high school and college coach [Indiana Tech] for 38 years. I grew up with the game and I knew I could coach."

After his final season playing in Europe, Macy spent seven seasons behind the microphone providing color commentary for college basketball, the first three years as a freelancer and the final four as part of the Kentucky radio network with the legendary Cawood Ledford.

Macy believes that it was those final four years with UK that helped him to land a coaching job.

"I had a chance to talk basketball," says Macy. "I would try to break down what was going to happen following a timeout and fortunately I was right most of the time. For me it was just a matter of applying that to day-in day-out process of being a coach."

Macy is not one to set timelines as to where he wants his program to be in one, two or five seasons. Knowing all to well that things have a way of suddenly changing, Macy has always just concerned himself with moving forward. As Macy would admit, change is inevitable.

And change came in 2000 with the recruitment of Ricky Minard.

While Minard did miss the final six games of his freshman season, of which Morehead State lost five, the Eagles improved dramatically. And in each of Minard's seasons, the Eagles have continued to improve.

Macy has recruited more talent to compliment his star player and a program that not long ago struggled to qualify for the OVC tournament has now advanced to the semi-finals three times.

"We want to take that next step," says Macy. "We have been close to reaching the NCAA tournament, but we have come up short each time. We are almost there."

The paint that Macy applied to the court in 1997 is dry now, but the former All American continues to work his canvas. Six years after being last in the RPI, Morehead State finished ahead of the likes of UCLA in the ratings power index last season.

He entered this season seventeen games under .500, but numbers don't always tell the whole story. Kyle Macy can coach and he can also paint a little.