Last Sunday Lipscomb beat North Alabama 76-65 in the Atlantic Sun tourney title game to earn an automatic bid to next week’s NCAA tournament. The Bisons had won 20 games each of the past 2 years but won 25 this year to claim the school’s 1st NCAA tourney bid in 7 years. Earlier today HoopsHD’s Jon Teitel got to speak with Lipscomb coach Lennie Acuff about being named conference COY and making the NCAA tourney.
You played basketball at Shorter College, where you still hold the school record for career AST: what is the secret to being a good PG? I tell our PGs that they must impact the people around them. They are the straw that stirs the drink, so they must be the most selfless/aware guy on the team.
Your 1st head coaching job was at Belhaven College at age 25, which made you the youngest head coach at a 4-year college in the country: was it weird to coach players who were not that much younger than you were? Yes: it was a great time in my life, and I learned so much. I went in guns-a-blazing and those kids were so great: that is what it is all about.
As head coach of your hometown team at Alabama–Huntsville, you became the winningest coach in Gulf South Conference history and made 11 D-2 tourney appearances (including back-to-back Elite 8s in 2011/2012): what is the key to winning games in March? Your team must be healthy and playing at a high level. You also need to be lucky, and the ball must bounce your way. We trailed Queens by 10 PTS with 7 minutes left in the semifinal on Thursday but were fortunate to get the win in OT, and will try to continue to improve this week.
In 2019 you were hired as coach at Lipscomb: why did they take a chance on a D-2 coach, and why did you take the job? You will have to ask my AD that! We both felt like it was a good fit: I wanted to keep the philosophy I built at Huntsville going. Philip Hutcheson is a good man who is comfortable in his own skin. It was a chance for me to hit reset and the timing was good for our family: once our kids were in middle school we wanted to stay put until they graduated.
You faced several NCAA-tourney-caliber teams this year including Arkansas/Wofford/Kentucky: which of them impressed you the most? Arkansas coach John Calipari is a friend of mine, and I am very happy for him. The Razorbacks were talented when we played them but inexperienced and trying to figure things out. Kentucky was so impressive in every aspect of the game and were incredible on offense: they had the most selfless team-1st attitude of any power-conference team I have faced. We won at Florida State last year and at Louisville the year before that, so hopefully we can take some equity from those games.
Your team’s 38.1 3P% this year is top-20 in the country: how crucial is 3-PT shooting to your offensive philosophy? We believe that you want to get your shots at the rim/FT line/3-PT line. We “chase space” by spreading out the floor and giving our guys the freedom to make good plays.
Earlier this month you were named conference COY: what did it mean to you to receive such an outstanding honor? It means that you have the “staff of the year”: everyone who is part of our organization performed at a high level. It also means that we have players who are willing to make sacrifices. I was humbled…but it is a team/staff award.
Last Sunday you beat North Alabama in your home gym to clinch the Atlantic Sun tourney title: what did it mean to you to win a title, and any thoughts on the tourney moving to a neutral site next March? It was very special to win it in a sold-out building. It was a high-level game with both teams playing very hard and competing with a lot on the line. I will defer to the powers that be on what is best for our league so we will show up in Jacksonville next March and hopefully have a good experience.
You have coached more than 1000 games during your career: what kind of emotions do you expect from the 1 you are adding to that list next week? When the game ended on Sunday I was overwhelmed. I was so grateful for the sacrifices by my family/staff/players to help us get to that point. I had a lot of former players/assistants there and I shared it with them. I am thankful that we will get to have the NCAA tourney experience next week.
What kind of seed do you think you deserve, and what kind of seed do you think you will get? We probably deserve a 12-13 seed, and certainly not worse than a 14 seed, which our numbers bear out. We won 25 games at this level, which is hard to do. We lost by 2 PTS at MTSU and by 1 PT to Belmont so we have had some tough losses. The top of our league is very good, and we did well against most of them (although we got swept by Eastern Kentucky). We are just happy that our name will be called on Sunday and everyone is excited!
