Joe Foley didn't arrive for his Tuesday appearance at the Downtown Tip Off Club with the career milestone he wanted.
Two weeks ago, it appeared all but certain that he would.
There Foley sat at the front of the room inside the North Little Rock Chamber of Commerce amid the usual weekly crowd of club supporters and fans, still stuck on 799 career wins as the club's emcee, Rex Nelson began to introduce the 17th-year University of Arkansas at Little Rock women's basketball coach. Nelson made sure to address the elephant in the room.
"[Foley] was nice enough to put off 800 for us [so we can] build up anticipation for it," said Nelson, sparking plenty of laughter throughout the room and from Foley himself. "He's at 799 -- even though he's been there a couple of weeks. We appreciate you doing that for the club, Coach."
Foley's Trojans have been on a slide as of late. UALR had rattled off five victories in a row from Jan. 18-Feb. 6 to move Foley to No. 799.
Since then, the Trojans have dropped three consecutive games, including back-to-back at home last week. The Trojans' offense has been ice cold, and the team's hopes at a Sun Belt regular-season championship have faded.
With five games left, UALR is 10-14 and sits in fourth place in the Sun Belt at 8-5, which is three games back of first. Seeding in the conference tournament is the biggest focus, with UALR set to face Troy (20-4, 11-2), which is tied for first in the league, on Thursday at 6 p.m. Central in Troy, Ala.
"Some years you're drinking the wine and some years you're picking the grapes. Well, we're picking grapes right now," Foley said, referencing an old quote from legendary college football coach Lou Holtz.
Foley, a five-time Sun Belt coach of the year, has admitted this has been one of the more difficult seasons of his UALR tenure, in large part due to an inexperienced roster that features six freshmen and only two seniors.
He said Tuesday his team is struggling but still learning. In time, Foley believes his squad will get back to being a serious Sun Belt title contender.
"[By the] time they're juniors, there'll be a good chance that there'll be another conference championship, I'll tell you that," Foley said of this freshman class. "They're that kind of players.
"To me, at times, it's real rewarding, but it's always really tough, too. We won there for a little bit, and they thought that it was gonna get easy. It never gets easy. But it all comes down to March. It all comes down to that one week for us."
Foley delved into plenty of other subjects, discussing everything from how he first got into the profession more than 40 years ago, to why he decided to leave Arkansas Tech University for UALR in 2003 after two NAIA national titles, to his own personal coaching philosophy and influences over the years.
But that elusive 800th win loomed large. It is going to come for Foley, though no one knows when.
When an audience member expressed to Foley that his team could be playing "uptight" because of it, Foley agreed.
"There's no doubt," Foley said. "We're real uptight right now."
One thing for certain is that the 33-year women's coaching veteran is tired of talking about the milestone. He said as much Tuesday.
It's one that only 12 coaches all time, six of whom are currently active, in Division I women's basketball history have achieved. Foley's close friend, Texas A&M Coach Gary Blair, is one of those. He got to No. 800 back in December.
When asked by Nelson how many more seasons he'd coach, Foley quipped there'd be only one reason to return.
"Well, if we don't get 800 this week, this year, I'll be back next year," said Foley, which drew more laughter.
"I think you're gonna win a few more this year," Nelson replied.
Foley's next shot comes Thursday night.
Sports on 02/19/2020