Back in the late 1980s and early ‘90s, there was a legend going around Lipscomb University. Don Meyer, the men’s basketball coach at the Nashville, Tenn., school, tried to schedule a game against the University of Oklahoma.
“Anytime, anywhere,” the legend had Meyer saying.
The Sooners boasted the NCAA’s most potent offense. The Bisons were the best in the NAIA. As the story went, OU coach Billy Tubbs declined the offer.
The tale wasn’t completely true — mainly just fodder for a newspaper article — but anyone who knows Don Meyer will tell you that none of that would be shocking.
Meyer, who spent 24 years at Lipscomb before going to Northern State University, an NCAA Division 2 school in South Dakota, isn’t known as someone who backs down from challenges.
In fact, a quote Meyer has preached to his players: “Sometime, somewhere you must meet someone who expects greatness from you.”
On Saturday night, Don Meyer cemented his name among college basketball’s greatest when his Northern State Wolves defeated the University of Mary Marauders 82-62 in front of more than 6,500 people on the NSU campus in Aberdeen, S.D.
Win number 903, making Meyer the NCAA’s all-time winningest coach.
“Well, if you coach enough games, either you’re going to win some or you’ll get fired,” Meyer quipped on the phone Monday. “I’ve been lucky enough to win some. That’s all. It’s a test of time.”
With the victory, Meyer passed Bob Knight and now sits alone with a record that Dean Smith and Adolph Rupp each held, also.
In journalistic fairness, I should state that I’ve known Meyer since my days at Lipscomb. First, when I was the radio sideline reporter on the basketball broadcasts, listening during each of Meyer’s timeouts. Then, as a play-by-play announcer. Meyer was the coach I used for my TV stand-up demo. Eventually, he was one of the reasons for me writing my first book, “Behind the Stats: Tennessee’s Coaching Legends.”
None of that should taint his story, though. In basketball coaching circles, Meyer is extremely respected. His friends include Knight, Mike Krzyzewski, Tubby Smith, Pat Summitt and John Wooden. He puts on one of the best coaching clinics each year, and tens of thousands of kids have attended his summer basketball camps.
And then there’s Saturday night’s victory. The fact that Meyer reached win 903 is a miracle. Not in the sense of how he should’ve been fired along the line. Or, how he was lucky to get his first job. Or, how he could’ve ended up in his dream career of professional baseball (he was 22-2 as a pitcher in college at Northern Colorado) instead of basketball coaching.
Truthfully, Meyer probably shouldn’t even be alive after what happened last September.
The details of the Sept. 5 accident remain sketchy to Meyer. But, he was leading a caravan of vehicles, taking his team to a bonding retreat at a hunting lodge. While looking for the exit off of South Dakota’s Highway 20, Meyer fell asleep. His Toyota Prius crossed the center line and an oncoming semi-truck loaded with grain rammed into the driver’s side of Meyer’s car.
“All I remember is a big white bag in front of me and wondering what happened,” said Meyer, “and then players trying to keep me awake. After that, I don’t remember anything. ... And I’m glad I don’t. I wouldn’t be able to handle it. I’m not that tough.”
Not many are.
Meyer suffered multiple life-threatening injuries. As he puts it of those first few hours, “Just keeping me breathing was (the doctors’) first concern.” His left side was crushed. He suffered multiple compound fractures in the lower part of his left leg, and all of the ribs on his left side were broken. Doctors removed his spleen and part of his intestines.
Remember his toughness? During his 55-day hospital stay, which included eight surgeries, Meyer’s left leg was in such pain that he eventually told the doctors to amputate it. They did, below the knee. So far this season, he’s been coaching from a wheelchair until the leg heals enough to be fitted for a prosthetic.
In an odd sort of way, though, the other part of the miracle actually happened
because of the accident. While removing his spleen, doctors discovered carcinoid cancer in his liver and intestines. Carcinoid is a slow-growing cancer that eventually can affect the heart and lungs. (It’s since been found in his abdomen, also.)
Before the accident, Meyer doesn’t remember feeling bad. He didn’t have any early signs that cancer was invading his body. So, chances are, without the accident, the doctors wouldn’t have found the cancer in time to even consider any type of treatment plan.
“It was (a blessing), no doubt about it,” says Meyer, who has not started cancer treatment. “It may be inoperable, but at least we’ll know that there are some things we can do, maybe to extend life or to take care of it better or whatever. ... It’s definitely better to know than to not know.”
Meyer’s determination, Christian faith and, of course, basketball team, are what have helped him get through the past four months and back onto the court.
“I think being able to keep a Bible in front of me and studying it,” he said first, when asked how he has coped. “And I think, obviously, being able to coach so you don’t think about your problems so much. You’re thinking about your team and helping them get better.”
On day 56 after the accident, the morning after his hospital discharge, Meyer was back at school, ready to coach. See, for Meyer, it comes back to being a coach and helping his players on and off the court. And they’ve performed exceptionally well in all three places he’s coached — his first job was at Hamline University.
His Lipscomb teams, in addition to winning the 1986 NAIA national tournament in Kansas City, put together a remarkable 41-win season in 1989-90 and became the winningest program in college basketball during 1986-95 with an astonishing 212-23 record. His teams also produced several individual record holders, including the top two scorers in college basketball history, John Pierce and Philip Hutcheson.
And, his past seven Northern State teams have reached the 20-win mark. Last season, the Wolves went 29-4 and lost only two conference games — both to the eventual Division 2 national champs, Winona State.
Along the way, Meyer has taught his players three-ring binders full of life lessons. The main one is simple.
“If you give 100 percent, you won’t be upset with yourself no matter where you finish,” Pierce told me several years ago. “I know it’s a cliché, but it’s not the winning or losing that matters, but whether you gave 100 percent or not.”
As I mentioned, Meyer was one of the reasons I wanted to write my first book in 1995. When he signed my personal copy, he ended his inscription with: “It’s a very good start. Now finish. You never do.”
Although that might sound like an indictment of my work habits, it’s more of Don Meyer being, well, Don Meyer.
But the same words hold true for him now. Even with the distinction of Saturday’s record-breaking win, Meyer is long from being finished.
“We’ve got a season here to take care of with this team,” he said when I read that inscription and suggested it applies to him. “If we’re fortunate, we’ll have another team next year and on down the line. You’re never done. It’s never over. You just gotta keep trying to get better.”
To listen to more of Matt Fulks’ interview with Don Meyer, visit BehindTheStatsRadio.com.