Some of the best non-D-1 coaches ever were also able to have success after finally making it to D-1: Bo Ryan won 4 D-3 tourneys at Wisconsin–Platteville from 1991-1999 before leading Wisconsin to back-to-back Final 4s in 2014/2015, and Ben McCollum won 4 D-2 tourneys at Northwest Missouri State from 2017-2022 before leading Drake to a school-record 31 wins last season and subsequently getting hired at Iowa last March. Another coach who did some serious damage in D-2 was Ron Shumate: he made back-to-back D-2 title game appearances at Chattanooga in 1976/1977, then made 2 more D-2 title game appearances at Southeast Missouri during a 4-year span from 1986/1989. HoopsHD’s Jon Teitel got to chat with Southeast Missouri emeritus professor Robert Hamblin (who wrote a book about Shumate’s 1992 team) about all that postseason success and what he learned while writing his book.
As coach at Chattanooga, Shumate lost the D-2 title game in 1976 by 9 PTS to Puget Sound, won the D-2 title in 1977 by 9 PTS over Randolph-Macon while being named national COY in the school’s last season before moving up to D-1, and his .695 W/L% remains #2 in school history: how did he end up at SEMO 2 years after resigning from Chattanooga? He took Chattanooga to D-1 but just could not win there after doing so, even though he was 1 of the best D-2 coaches ever. There was a question when his assistant coach was accused of illegal recruiting: the school asked Shumate to fire his assistant, but instead he refused and then decided to resign. He was a late addition to the list of SEMO coaching candidates: he was not high on their list but was so impressive in the interview that he just sold himself to the hiring committee.
I read that in addition to coaching he played the part of showman (having the Chattanooga band play “Rocky Top”, bringing spotlights to his games, etc.): did that continue at SEMO? He hit the ground running and came in with some big boasts. We had been the doormat of the conference for a while, so when he predicted great things nobody believed him…but he delivered. We did not have a Rocky Top theme but he did “talk a good game”: the reporters liked him because he gave them good quotes. Sometimes he would say things that upset the administration, but when they sent him a note he would just ignore it, which was easy to do while he was winning. He spent a decade as the “Hero of Cape Girardeau”. We used to play in Houck Field House: I saw people lined up halfway around the block to get tickets because he was so successful. There was so much controversy about building a new arena that he did not even appear in the program for the opening ceremony.
In 1986 he made the D-2 title game before losing to Sacred Heart by 6 PTS: what do you remember about that game/team? Dick Vitale did the broadcast of the title game, and I was there as well. Coach Shumate made sure his guys were in bed by 9PM while the Sacred Heart players stayed up partying until 1-2 AM. Everyone thought that we would win that game…but 1 of our best players got hurt, which really turned things around.
In 1989 he had a 1-PT OT win over UC-Riverside in the D-2 Final 4 before losing the title game to NC Central: what made him so successful in postseason play? We had a player come off the bench against Riverside who had a great game, but I did not see it in person because I was teaching in London. 1 of his idols was Bobby Knight so he spent ⅔ of his practices coaching defense. That was before the shot clock so if he had a 6-PT lead with 5 minutes left then you might as well go home. He was a master of end-game strategy who would stall it out and let his team make its FTs. He was 1 of the best teachers I ever saw, be it in the classroom or the gym. Defense wins games…and FTs win all the close games.
In 1991 the school made the leap from D-2 to D-1, and you took a sabbatical from your teaching duties to travel with the team and write a book about it called “Win or Win”: how difficult was it for him as a coach, and what is your favorite memory from that year? I debated the athletic director 4 times on campus because I did not think we should make the leap: I won all the debates…but the committee voted 17-0 to go D-1. What most fans do not know is that even as a D-2 program we got D-1 athletes who did not have the grades to qualify elsewhere. However, when we became a D-1 program we only got D-2/D-3 athletes because the best players would go to a school like Missouri. Now I presume they have to play the NIL game but I do not know how they are paying their athletes. We cannot get 5-star players so it is tough: both Shumate and the football coach told me that going D-1 would cost them their jobs…and they were right. The non-revenue sports like softball/track do okay, but there are no “minor” sports. If you cannot win at basketball/football then all the other sports will suffer: for example, we had a great swimming program that has since been canceled. 1 time he gave a Knute Rockne-type halftime speech, but most of the time he would just go to the bathroom. He let me attend most of his practices, but there was 1 where he put brown paper over the windows. Sometimes he would run his guys so hard in sprints that I thought they would all drop. It was nice to travel with the team and ride the bus: we only took an occasional flight. His assistant coach read books all the time but all that Shumate would do was talk basketball: I think he was so successful because he was so obsessive. I am glad that I wrote the book before the recruiting controversy happened. We self-reported the minor violation of NCAA rules, but the fans thought that the administration reported it to the NCAA to void his contract. He sued/lost, but that was not the story that I was telling. I think my book remains 1 of the only ones (if not the only 1) about a team that was moving from D-2 to D-1: https://roberthamblin.substack.com/p/win-or-win-a-season-with-ron-shumate?utm_campaign=post&utm_medium=web
In 2016 he was inducted into the SEMO Athletics Hall of Fame: where does that rank among the highlights of his career? Since he left under a “cloud of scandal” we knew that he would not be inducted until the administration moved on…and once they did he was. I told the athletic director that I would like to pass out free copies of my book to the 1st 500 fans, and he said that was fine. After the women’s game and before the men’s game, Shumate signed copies of the book (which I had already signed) up on the 2nd level of the Show Me Center…and the line went all the way around the arena. He was also inducted into the Chattanooga Hall of Fame so I assume that both of them are among his career highlights.
When people look back on his career, how do you think he should be remembered the most? As a winner, of course, and a dedicated hard worker. I always thought that I worked hard as a professor…but I do not know anyone in ANY profession who worked harder at his job than Shumate did, and he got results. He is 1 of the greatest D-2 coaches ever, but I still wonder why he did not win at D-1. He was tough, but over the past few decades American athletes have been spoiled and do not always like to work hard despite making millions of dollars. We had a 3-year player named Lawrence Wilson who was a great rebounder: he got kicked off the team and we ended up losing the national title game. I later asked Shumate if he thought that he would have won if Wilson was on the team, and he said that they would not have even made the title game if Wilson was on the team: he never 2nd-guessed himself or backed down.
