MBuck07
February 14th, 2007, 10:22 AM
As I watched the snow fall all of yesterday I decided that I would start a legacy and just simulate and recruit. My ultimate goal was to eclipse Bob Knight. I started off my career at Columbia. The first two seasons were "rebuilding" years (13-45). The next for years I led the bears to 4 conf championships and 4 straight NCAA appearances. Made the 2nd round in of the 4 years. After that last season I decided that it was time to move on. I am from Indiana so it was an easy choice for me to move back home and I chose IUPUI. It was a slow start for me and the Jaguars but together we made it work somehow. In the 13 seasons that I was at IUPUI I made the NIT 8 times and the NCAA 3. Not having a win in the NCAA tournament made me want to move up in the ranks and swith to a bigger school. The Creighton Blue Jays called my name I accepted. This is when the bulk of my achievements started. I landed my first 4 and 5 star recruits here. Won my conference tournament a few times but still couldt win the big game. After a long 10 years @ Creighton, The door opened for the National Champion Miami Hurricanes. I eagerly jumped on it. I spent 6 years here at Miami and began to have great success. Recruiting was a breeze. In my 6th season with them I was ranked 7th in the country and recieved a 3 seed in the tournament. Unfortunatly my ride stopped right there....I lost and the sweet 16 and 4 of my players left for the draft. Now that my head coach was 60 years old I figured that it was time to head home. I picked Indiana State. I was left with a very bad team but still managed to get out of the first season with a .500 record. The next few years I mainly tried to get good recruits. Heading into what I thought was going to be a great season for recruiting and game play, I got a message at the beginning of my season that said...." After 40 years in your legacy you will be retired from college hoops. This will be your last year and this is your swan song." The season was up and down all year. I scheduled to play at all of the schools that I had preiously coached for just for a last farewell. Defeated IUPUI and Creighton twice. Lost to Columbia and Miami. My boys fought hard against the #1 ranked Hurricanes but it wasn't enough. Little did I know that It wouldnt be that last time I saw them this year. The season sucked the rest of the way I finished the regular season at 12-16. I was for sure that my career wasmost likely going to end in the first round of the NCAA tournament. After 4 hard fought games in the conf tourney my boys had pulled off the impossible for me. MVC Champs. I watched the selection show and was amazed when I heard Greg Gumble announce.....#1 Miami Hurricanes will take on #16 Indiana State Sycamores. It was a hard fought game but my boys lost 74-68. My final career record was 691-491. 40 Seasons of hard work and I was still shy og Bob Knight by 200 games. I know its just a video game but It really did make me realize what an amazing coach he really is.