Joe Foley will coach at the Convocation Center in Jonesboro for the 14th time when his UALR women's basketball team plays at Arkansas State on Friday night.
But if family circumstances had been different two decades ago, that total might be different and the paths of both teams -- UALR and ASU -- could have been drastically different.
As Foley recalled this week, he traveled to ASU to interview with then-athletic director Brad Hovious in spring 1995. Foley remembers enjoying the interview, and his dealings with Hovious, who even offered Foley a chance to stay at his house until his family was settled. At that time, Foley had won 246 games and two NAIA national titles at Arkansas Tech, and was intrigued by a move to NCAA Division I.
But with two young children, Foley said his wife, Chris, stepped on the brakes.
"This sounds like boasting, but I know the guy kept calling and wanting me to take the job," Foley said this week. "But my wife just wasn't interested in going to Jonesboro at that time. We had two young kids. We weren't going to move. I kind of wanted to. She kind of didn't.
"It just wasn't the right time."
Instead, Hovious hired Jeff Mittie, who had been at Missouri Western State. Mittie was at ASU for four seasons, winning 20 games twice before moving to TCU in 1999.
"Mittie's there making $300-$400,000 [at TCU] and I told my wife, 'You see there,'" Foley joked.
Foley doesn't have any regrets, though. He spent eight more years at Arkansas Tech, winning a total of 13 AIC titles, before leaving for UALR in 2003. He's since built the Trojans into the Sun Belt's premier women's program, having reached the NCAA Tournament four times and accumulating 738 career victories, 11th among active coaches.
"A few years after that, I wished I would have gone to Division I," Foley said. "But, that's part of it. Even today, if I was still at Tech, it would have been great. Coaching is coaching. And they had great kids there and great teams and here it's been fun. But, to be able to stay in two places your whole career, that's pretty phenomenal in coaching.'
UCA MEN
Important road tests
Central Arkansas men's basketball team is on its longest winning streak in four years and as it stands, has a good enough record to qualify for the Southland Tournament.
Have the Bears (8-18, 7-6) finally turned the corner in Coach Russ Pennell's third season?
"I think I'll be able to answer that in three weeks," he said.
Three weeks is the start of the Southland Tournament in Katy, Texas. The Southland takes the top eight teams to its tournament, and UCA is currently tied with Houston Baptist for sixth place.
The Bears have won consecutive games against Northwestern (La.) State, Southeastern Louisiana, Abilene Christian and Nicholls State. But now they turn their attention toward three road games starting today at Nicholls State, before going to league-leader New Orleans and Southeastern Louisiana.
"I think the ramifications of winning these games is pretty evident," he said. "You win one or two and you're probably locked in."
UCA has been ineligible for the Southland Conference Tournament the last two seasons because of low Academic Progress Rate scores.
"I think we're better than we were last year by leaps and bounds," Pennell said. "If we can win a game or two and close out well at home, I would feel like we've closed the gap considerably. I think we're really advancing, and it's Year 3, we should."
ASU MEN
Simms adjusting
Sometime last month Deven Simms started trying to get into Coach Grant McCasland's ear.
The Arkansas State junior has been one of the Red Wolves' most consistent scorers and defenders all year, but he had come off the bench every game. Simms was wondering if he'd get a chance to crack the starting lineup.
"I would tell them every day," he said, "'Coach, I think it's that time.'"
He's still waiting for that chance and that's become just fine with Simms, who is averaging 13.5 points in 26.3 minutes per game for the Red Wolves. According to ASU, Simms' scoring average ranks fifth nationally among players who have not started a game this season.
What's more, Simms has grown to enjoy the role of coming off the bench. He's typically one of the first substitutes into the game and his average minutes rank fourth on the team. In road losses at Texas-Arlington and Texas State last week, Simms played 30 minutes in each, scoring 17 points and then 9 points with 10 rebounds.
"[McCasland] stuck it out. That's what I like about him. He didn't give up on the starting five that we had," Simms said. "Now, I'm not just OK with it, but if you ask me, I actually like coming off the bench now."
UALR MEN
Johnson's recovery
After another rough weekend, Wes Flanigan and Marcus Johnson Jr. sat down in front of game film on Tuesday afternoon. Flanigan, the Trojans-first year coach, wanted to show the senior guard every shot and every decision made on offense during a 71-55 loss at Texas-Arlington.
Johnson, UALR's leading scorer at 14.0 points per game, made only 3 of 15 shots while scoring 14 points against the Mavericks. That came after he made just 2 of 12 in a Saturday loss to Texas State and 2 for 10 in a Feb. 6 victory over Appalachian State.
"I just thought he was taking some tough shots," Flanigan said. "He just has to do better at picking when to take those and when not to."
Flanigan said Johnson has tried to do too much at times this season while trying to fill in at a point guard spot after player shooting guard last year. His scoring average is up from 12.5, but his field-goal percentage is down to 37.9 from 47.3 and his three-point percentage is down to 32.3 from 46.6
"A lot of times he has to feel like he has to go do some things," Flanigan said. "I was just like 'relax, and read the game. A lot of times you're trying to go make some plays. His first thought should be a facilitator. If you can loosen up the defense, maybe things will open up for you.' "
Sports on 02/16/2017