When you work in college athletics for a half-century you develop a pretty impressive resume, which is exactly what Bill Bibb did: all-state high school basketball player, member of Kentucky’s only undefeated team in 1954, AP All-American at Kentucky Wesleyan in 1957 after participating in the NCAA’s 1st-ever D-2 Championship Tournament, 2-time conference COY during a 15-year run as head coach at Mercer, almost a decade as Mercer’s Director of Athletics, and ASUN Commissioner for 15 years. After all of his success it came as no surprise when he was inducted into the ASUN Hall of Fame in 2016. HoopsHD’s Jon Teitel got to chat with former Mercer AD/radio play-by-play man Bobby Pope a few ago about Coach Bibb’s life/legacy. Both Bobby and Coach Bibb died last year, and since today marks the 1-year anniversary of the latter’s passing we take this time to remember them both.
Bibb was an all-state high school basketball player in Kentucky: why did he decide to become a Wildcat? He wanted to play for Coach Adolph Rupp. He was a good baseball player as well.
What was the most important thing that he learned from his Hall of Fame coach, and how much of an influence was Rupp on his own decision to become a coach? Bill was a hard-nosed coach who prided himself on playing at Kentucky even though he finished his career at Kentucky Wesleyan.
He was a member of the school’s only undefeated team in 1954: what did it mean to him to go 25-0, and how did he feel about missing out on the NCAA tourney after 3 of his teammates were declared ineligible due to being graduate students? That did bother him. He had a close relationship with those players and would always return to campus for alumni events in the later decades.
He transferred to Kentucky Wesleyan and as an All-American senior he played in the NCAA’s 1st-ever D-2 tourney title game where his team had a 23-PT loss to Wheaton: why did he decide to transfer, and where does that loss rank among the most devastating of his career? He never talked to me about that. He played for Coach Robert “Bullet” Wilson. I know that he did not like being on probation and missing out on the postseason.
How did he 1st get into coaching? He got a Masters’ degree at Kentucky and actually started out at Kentucky Wesleyan as a baseball coach. He then went to a couple of other schools before coming to Mercer to coach basketball. He was a disciplinarian: if you screwed up during practice he would throw a basketball at you!
In the 1981 NCAA tourney as head coach at Mercer he was tied with Arkansas with 10 minutes left before losing by 6 PTS: how close did he come to pulling off the upset? The Razorbacks had a guy named Scott Hastings who ended up with 18 PTS/12 REB. They had several other good players but were horrible at the FT line that night (19-40). We were a #12-seed and were in the game for the most part.
He was a 2-time conference COY: what did it mean to him to receive such outstanding honors? He was a prideful man so there is no question that he enjoyed that. In my mind the 1985 team was the best team Bill ever had. He almost got fired in 1979 but we beat Tulane in North Carolina and lost to the Tar Heels by only 2 PTS, which turned the tide.
His 222 wins remain the most in school history: did he realize at the time how prolific a coach he was, and do you think that anyone will ever break his record? If Bob Hoffman had stayed there longer I think that he would have eventually broken his record. We played a lot of guarantee games against good teams and were able to beat some teams like Stanford and coaches like Lon Kruger.
He was 1 of the founding members of the Atlantic Sun Conference and spent more than 50 years in college athletics as an athlete/assistant/head coach/athletic director/commissioner: how much of an impact has he had on the sport of college basketball? He laid the groundwork for where Mercer is today. We were the 1st team from our league to go to the NCAA tourney. Bill had a major influence on the sport and was a very good administrator. Some of our other athletic programs did not excel as much as I had hoped they would but we had a good women’s basketball program as well.
When people look back on his career, how do you think that he should be remembered the most? I do not think that he has gotten the credit he deserves for getting the program to where it is today. The school has still not become successful at football but the SoCon has undergone a huge change since Mercer entered.