Ken Shields accomplished quite a lot during his 16-year career at Northern Kentucky: 300+ wins, a national COY award in 1995, and back-to-back D-2 national championship game appearances in 1996/1997. HoopsHD’s Jon Teitel got to chat with Ken about being a successful coach and a faithful person. Today is Ken’s 81st birthday so let us be the 1st to wish him a happy 1!
In 1960 you were named most outstanding athlete at Covington Catholic High School after playing baseball and basketball: which sport were you best at and which 1 did you enjoy the most? I enjoyed them equally. It was an all-boys school and they only gave away 1 trophy for all of the sports…and I won it!
You won more than 450 games in 23 years as a high school coach: what made you get into college coaching? I played baseball against Pete Rose before he signed with the Reds and wanted to stay around athletics after my playing career ended. I came from a humble background and was encouraged to get my degree and take a job as a high school coach. 1 of the basketball coaches I worked with was Hep Cronin, whose son Mick is now the coach at UCLA. I coached at a couple of different schools and made several trips to the state tournament. When the Northern Kentucky job opened up only 15 minutes away from me in Fort Thomas, the school was growing fast and I was the 3rd coach they hired. I had a good 1st year but my job was on the line after a few losing seasons. We brought in some great players in the early 1990s including Paul Cluxton, who remains the greatest FT shooter in college basketball history (career 93.4 FT%). I am still the winningest coach in our high school region and ended up with another 300+ wins in college.
In 1995 you were named D-2 national COY at Northern Kentucky: what did it mean to you to receive such an outstanding honor? It was very special. I accepted the award at the Final 4 in Washington and had my photo taken with my good friend Skip Prosser, who was then the head coach at Wake Forest. I am in 11 different Halls of Fame.
In the 1996 D-2 title game you had a 7-PT loss to Fort Hays State as they finished the season 34-0: where does that Tigers team rank among the best that you have ever seen? They were a really good team but 1 of my best players injured his leg early in the game so it was a tough loss. Bruce Pearl’s Southern Indiana team was ranked #1 and was the defending national champ but we upset them on their own floor. We then beat the 2nd- and 3rd-ranked teams in the nation before losing in the title game.
In the 1997 D-2 title game tourney MVP Kebu Stewart had 18 PTS/21 REB in a 1-PT win by Cal State Bakersfield: do you think that the Roadrunners were out for revenge after you beat them by a single point in the 1996 tourney, and do you think that Andy Listerman was fouled while missing a 5-footer at the buzzer? The play was right in front of me: they could have called a foul. The play was set up for Cluxton and they had a foul to give so they just held him. The Bakersfield coach was a nice guy who had already won a national title but it was a cleanly-played game and I did not feel any animosity. Looking back, I probably should have put a different guard on their opposing guard who hurt us.
You retired in 2004: what have you been up to since then? I was only 62 years old but was having some medical problems. I continued teaching a few classes at the university and every year I get to coach a different grandchild.
You spent several decades running a free summer basketball camp: how fun was it to see your grandkids and your former players’ kids participate? I did 3 camps a year and paid for all of them to attend. Each of my 16 grandkids have been to my camp and all live within 5 minutes of me. I love basketball but I also teach them about life.
How did your faith impact your job as a coach? I have always shared with my students that almighty God needs to be #1, family #2, academics #3, and everything else comes after that. With the recent drug epidemic I have tried to move combatting that up to #3 ahead of academics. I have talked to more youngsters at camps/speaking engagements than anyone else in the city of Cincinnati. We would have 1000 campers each summer and I would never take a dime from any of my speaking engagements.
You remain the winningest coach in school history: do you think that anyone will ever break your record? Coaches no longer stick around as much as we did in the past so while it might happen I do not know if it will occur anytime soon.
When people look back on your career, how do you want to be remembered the most? I want to be remembered as a good coach/teacher because I do not think that you can do 1 without the other. I genuinely cared about my students/athletes. John Wooden was my icon when I started my career: I read all of his books and heard him speak so that I could get some good quotes. I run into some of my players from decades ago and they still use some of my quotes every day! I was not a screamer and did not embarrass my players. I collaborated on a book about my life that was released in 2017 called “Nothing More, Nothing Less, Nothing Else”, which has to do with the effort you give and was Coach Wooden’s definition of success. I always tried to be myself and have no regrets whatsoever.
