Wiz staying at Alcorn one more year that’s final’

Published 12:00 am Thursday, March 28, 2002

[03/28/02]LORMAN Davey Whitney will stay at Alcorn State for one more season and this time he means it.

“That is final,” he said at a news conference this morning, recalling a conversation with Alcorn President Clinton Bristow Jr. “It’s been off and on, but we agreed this is going to be it no matter what.”

Whitney had said that 2001-02 would be his last season as Alcorn’s coach. But near the end of the season, he began to waver on that decision.

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Just before the NCAA Tournament play-in game, an 81-77 loss to Siena, Whitney said he was considering staying.

“There are some things we need to do and then the other thing is so we can have a smoother transition,” Whitney said of his reason to stay another season.

“I guess this will put a lot of speculation out of people’s minds, and I’m certainly happy that I won’t be asked that question again because I get it 25 to 30 times a day over the telephone and here at school.”

Whitney, 72, led the Braves to the Southwestern Athletic Conference regular-season and tournament championships this season, his 26th year at Alcorn.

He has won 12 regular-season SWAC titles and advanced to the NCAA Tournament six times and the NIT twice.

Whitney has a school-record 495 wins after leading his team to a 21-10 finish this year.

Including a stint at Texas Southern, he is 550-337 for his career, a SWAC record.

Whitney earned the nickname “Wiz” after leading Alcorn past South Alabama in the 1980 NCAA Tournament. It was the first time a team from a historically black school won an NCAA Tournament game. He went to the second round again in 1984 with a win over Houston Baptist before falling to Kansas, 57-56. In the 1979 NIT, his Braves knocked off Mississippi State, 80-78, before falling to eventual champion Indiana, 73-69.

In that loss, he earned the respect of then-Hoosiers coach Bobby Knight and earned a spot alongside him on the USA Olympic Coaching and Trial Selection Committee. The U.S. team went on to win the gold medal.

Whitney played at Kentucky State, where he earned more letters than any athlete in school history. He played basketball, baseball, football and ran track. He went on to play professional baseball for the Kansas City Monarchs in the Negro Leagues before beginning his coaching career at Burt High School in Clarksville, Tenn.

The decision to stay has weighed heavily on Whitney, especially during March.

“It’s been an agonizing time for me the last month, even before the tournament,” he said.