Jay Spoonhour is Latest NCAA Division I Coach From Junior College Ranks

Jay Spoonhour, commencing his major-college head coaching career similar to his respected father (Charlie Spoonhour), was hired by Eastern Illinois after guiding a pair of junior colleges. Jay and Charlie both coached Moberly Area (MO). Recently-deceased Charlie also coached Southeastern IA. Jay directed Wabash Valley (IL) to the 2001 NJCAA Tournament title before replacing his father on an interim basis with UNLV in 2003-04. Jay will need to win as many games as Charlie did (373) in order for them to crack the Top 10 of all-time winningest father-son head coaching combinations.

There are usually about 40 to 45 active Division I head coaches who previously served in a similar capacity at a junior college. Jay Spoonhour doesn't expect to take EIU to an NCAA Tournament championship like former J.C. coaches Denny Crum (Pierce CA), Lute Olson (Long Beach City CA), Nolan Richardson (Western Texas) and Jerry Tarkanian (Riverside and Pasadena CA) did for more prominent universities.

But it would be a monumental achievement if Jay could duplicate what his dad did along with the following former major-college mentors who guided teams to the NCAA Tournament after coaching at the J.C. level: Mike Deane (Delhi A&T NY), Benny Dees (Abraham Baldwin GA), Bobby Dye (Santa Monica CA), Jack Hartman (Coffeyville KS), Maury John (Moberly MO), Gene Keady (Hutchinson KS), Jim Killingsworth (Cerritos CA), Dick Motta (Weber UT), Ted Owens (Cameron OK), Roy Skinner (Paducah KY), Eddie Sutton (Southern Idaho), Stan Watts (Dixie UT) and Jim Williams (Snow UT).

Hartman had two of his J.C. stars (Paul Henry and Lou Williams) tag along with him to Southern Illinois, where he toiled eight years before becoming Kansas State's all-time winningest coach. Keady, a football player for K-State, signed three J.C. recruits, a high number by a Big Ten Conference institution, for his final season with Purdue in 2004-05.

Ex-juco coaches currently at the DI level who have won multiple NCAA playoff games include Dana Altman, John Beilein, Cliff Ellis, Dick Hunsaker, Kevin O'Neill, Dave Rose and Bob Thomason. Following is an alphabetical list of active major-college coaches who previously held a similar job in junior college:

*Attended junior college along with other active Division I head coaches such as Arkansas' Mike Anderson, Saint Mary's Randy Bennett, Texas-Arlington's Scott Cross, Navy's Ed DeChellis, SIU-Edwardsville's Lennox Forrester, Georgia's Mark Fox, Texas Tech's Billy Gillispie, San Diego's Bill Grier, Florida State's Leonard Hamilton, Northern Colorado's B.J. Hill, Sam Houston State's Jason Hooten, UCLA's Ben Howland, Stephen F. Austin's Danny Kaspar, Texas A&M's Billy Kennedy, Utah State's Stew Morrill, Mississippi Valley State's Chico Potts, UNLV's Dave Rice, Alcorn State's Luther Riley, Prairie View A&M's Byron Rimm II, Washington's Lorenzo Romar, Vanderbilt's Kevin Stallings, Fairleigh Dickinson's Greg Vetrone, Cleveland State's Gary Waters and Marquette's Buzz Williams. Pittsburgh's Jamie Dixon, North Florida's Matthew Driscoll, Southern Mississippi's Larry Eustachy, Nebraska-Omaha's Derrin Hansen, Hill, Hooten, Tennessee-Martin's Jason James, Missouri State's Paul Lusk, D. Rice, Riley, Idaho's Don Verlin and Buzz Williams served as assistant coaches with junior colleges.