The Nuggets' golden fan

During the halftime show of game six of the Western Conference finals, the NBA on ESPN reported on a great story of the Denver Nuggets number one fan. The story spoke about a 23-year old kid who’s spent his life battling spina bifida,but most of all he has spent the past 18 years warming all the hearts of the Nugget franchise. Click on the link below to see this incredible story of one fan’s love for the game.

The Nuggets' golden fan

Miles Monroe

I wanted to thank External Alumni Director, Chris Babb for pointing out a great article on one of our new signees. The Cabot Star-Herald had an article on Cabot Panther basketball player Miles Monroe and his opportunity to take his game to the next level at Ouachita Baptist University. I hope you enjoy the article and we are very excited about Miles joining the Ouachita Baptist basketball family. He will be a great addition to the team and someone you will enjoy watching for the next four years!
(Click on the link below to see the article)

Monroe to play at Ouachita next season

OBU Basketball Signs 7 Players

The Ouachita Baptist University men's basketball program and head coach Mark Price has announced the signing of Reginald Britton, Jr., Olden Jordan, Julian LaDay, Landon Parker, Miles Monroe, Keilan Stittiams, and Matt Velek. (Click on the links to find out more about the future of Ouachita Men's Basketball). The photo to the right is Julian LaDay receiving the Sonic Scholar-Athlete of the Week.

Britton is a 6’2 guard that is coming to Ouachita by way of Wichita State University in the Missouri Valley Conference. Reggie is originally from Plano, TX where he starred at Plano High School and averaged 14 points, five rebounds, three assists and one steal per game as a senior. He will be a sophomore. Joining Britton from the Dallas/Fort Worth area is Olden Jordan, a 6’3 wing from Keller Central High School where he played for Coach Kit Pehl and, averaged 13 points, while shooting 44% from the field. Also from Keller, TX is 6’2 guard, Julian LaDay who hails from Fossil Ridge High School and played for Coach Brad Mauser. His senior year he averaged nine points, six steals, and 7 assists per contest.

Ouachita has also been able to stake claim to some of the Arkansas high school talent in the 2009 class. Landon Parker, a 6’1 guard out of Benton High School has signed after a tremendous high school career playing for Coach Chris Nail. This year Landon was named to the Arkansas All-State Team in 6A basketball. Joining Parker will be another Arkansas native, Miles Monroe 6'8 forward from North Little Rock. Miles played at Cabot High School for former OBU Tiger, Coach Jerry Bridges. As a senior he averaged ten points per game and was an Arkansas All-Conference selection. Yet another in-state signee is 6-4 wing Matt Velek. Matt played at Greenbrier High School for former OBU assistant, Coach Jason Johnson. This season Matt joined Landon on the Arkansas All-State Team for 5A basketball.

OBU’s most recent signee is 5’11 guard, Keilan Stittiams, who played for Coach Kevin Starks at Harding Academy in Memphis, TN. Keilan led Harding Academy to a State Championship this past season. He had a tremendous performance in the State Tournament including the game winning basket in the final seconds of the championship game. The picture to the left is Keilan Stittiams hitting the game winning shot in the 2-A boys state-title game.

“I am pleased with the fruits of our recruiting efforts this past month. These young men are not only talented players, but possess the quality character that we wish to represent Ouachita,” says Coach Price. “All of them also come from backgrounds where they have been extremely well coached and that is paramount as we build our program. We are working diligently to complete the 2009 class in a timely, but thorough manner.”

Sonic Scholar Athlete: Julian LaDay

Keilan Stittiams Basketball Highlights

Matt Velek Basketball Highlights

Note from the Head Coach

I want to thank you for your interest in Ouachita Tiger Basketball and take a few moments to share with you a little about myself and vision for our program. The picture to the left is of my wife Kara and I. We are super excited about our move to OBU and Arkadelphia. I have been privileged to coach at 5 different schools in my career. They have included NCAA division I and II as well as the NAIA level. There are two common threads among my different coaching stops. The first is that we have won championships and the second is that we have won them by primarily recruiting high school prospects that are committed in the classroom and determined to become a great teammate! I accepted the position here at Ouachita, because it is an institution with outstanding academic reputation and winning athletic tradition that can be a perfect fit for the student-athlete that I want to coach! I have been blessed to work in programs for head coaches that been convicted to build “basketball programs” over the course of several years and not just assemble “basketball teams” every season. We will remain on that course here at Ouachita and will have young men in our program that are of the highest character and work ethic.

A very small amount of scholarship players were returning when I accepted the head coaching job here about one month ago. I view this as a challenging, but very positive circumstance as we will immediately have the opportunity to select the “right” players for our program. Fortunately, the few returning players are certainly cut from the cloth of players that I would select. The first key addition to our program was the hiring of assistant coach Sean Rutigliano. Coach Rutigliano, a Westchester, New York native, was a timely fit on our staff. Like myself, Coach R has worked at highly regarded academic institutions like Ouachita and has a rooted understanding of what we are looking to build!

One final thought for now: as a young coach in the late 1990s I attended a clinic of then Butler University head coach Barry Collier. During his career as a head coach at Butler and University of Nebraska, Coach Collier was regarded as one of the finest defensive coaches in college basketball. He began his clinic with these thoughts which are applicable to all players at every level:

There are 4 types of players:

1. Willing and Able
2. Willing and Unable
3. Unwilling and Able
4. Unwilling and Unable

At Ouachita, all of our players will fall into categories 1 and 2.

God Bless,

Coach Price

The Start of a New Beginning

On April 17th, 2009, Ouachita Baptist University named Mark Price the new head men’s basketball coach. Price succeeds Charlie Schaef who resigned after eight years at Ouachita to become head coach of the men’s basketball program at Southwestern Oklahoma State University. Price has served the past three years as assistant men's basketball coach at Furman University in Greenville, S.C. Furman is an NCAA Division I school in the Southern Conference. Prior to coaching at Furman, Price spent five years as an assistant coach at the University of Alabama in Huntsville. He helped guide the Chargers to the 2002-03 Gulf South Conference championship and NCAA Tournament appearances in 2003 and 2006. Price will look to continue the winning tradition of Ouachita Baptist Men's Basketball! Here is the link to the artice on the Coach Price hiring:

Ouachita names Mark Price as men’s basketball head coach

Welcome to OBU Basketball

I wanted to first welcome all of the great supporters, fans, alumni, and followers of Ouachita Basketball! It is because of all of you, that OBU basketball is what it is today. During the course of this 2009-2010 campaign I will use this blog page to bring you closer to the players and coaches of the Ouachita Baptist Men's Basketball Team. Please feel free at anytime to share any ideas or thoughts with me that may benefit our program. I look forward to a special year of Ouachita Basketball, one that leaves us all with great lasting memories. You can also follow your Tigers on obutigers.com or for information on Ouachita Baptist University go to obu.edu.