How Abilene Christian basketball went from a bad D-II program to one of the nation’s top mid-majors in one - The Dallas Morning News

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The first time Abilene Christian went to the NCAA Tournament two years ago, it was unlike anything any of the players had ever seen before.

Every piece of March Madness signage was taken out of the locker rooms. The camera phones were out filming every second of the team’s motorcade ride from the airport. It was the first time any of them had flown in a charter airplane.

This time, for the Wildcats, it’s a little bit more of a “been there, done that” mindset. A program that was a legitimately bad at the Division-II level10 years ago is now one of the best mid-major stories going.

And they’ll get a chance to further put themselves on the map against Texas in the first round of the NCAA Tournament on Saturday.

“I do think this trip’s different than it was two years ago,” said head coach Joe Golding. “Two years ago was almost like a vacation. Every where we went, we took stuff. Our bags were full. This year, it feels completely different. I think this year, we’re more locked in.”

Golding took over this job at his alma mater in 2011, only after current North Texas head coach Grant McCasland backed out after a couple months on the job for an assistant coach job at Baylor.

Now, Golding is in the tournament. McCasland is in with North Texas, who will play Purdue on Friday in the first round. And there’s a slew of Texas teams represented, including Texas Southern, who will open up the whole Tournament on Thursday against Mount St. Mary’s in the play-in game.

But no team can do more for its rep than Abilene Christian, as it plays the biggest brand in the entire state.

“We’re ready for the challenge,” said 7-foot senior Kolton Kohl, who has become an All-Conference player for Abilene Christian. “We’re ready for the challenge. I think we’ve been preparing all season. And I think this will be a good test for our program and our culture.”

That culture is where things really struggled 10 years ago. Most importantly, there was very limited financial investment in the program.

The Wildcats were just 4-14 in the Lone Star Conference in Division II in 2011-12. It was 6-12 the next year before it made a lead to Division I. The first year in the D-I Southland Conference led to a 2-12 record. Then 4-14. Then three more losing seasons.

Point being, it was a slow build to turn this program into what it is now. On Saturday night, the Wildcats dominated Nicholls in the Southland final, 79-45, to advance to the NCAA Tournament.

“There wasn’t an investment at all in basketball,” Golding said of his early years on the job. “And I think at any level, even at our level …if you invest in something, you usually get results.”

That investment didn’t really come until Abilene Christian made the NCAA Tournament in 2019. Before that, the financial resources going to the program were growing, but Golding said “it wasn’t a Division I investment.”

Now, the team played home games this season in a makeshift practice gym because it’s renovating the arena to be befitting of a consistent NCAA Tournament contender.

When this Division-I experiment started, the team was working with 10 scholarships — three below the 13 usually allotted to D-I teams. It had just one full-time assistant coach, compared to three normally on a staff. Recruiting budgets, travel and other miscellaneous expenses were also below the norm.

This program is whole now, though. And it’s positive momentum has resulted in it dancing two consecutive chances.

“With the struggle early, I struggled with confidence in myself,” Golding said. “I was a young head coach, I was learning. I was trying to be other I had worked for. I wasn’t being myself. … There were times I wanted to throw in the towel.

“We just continue to fight and grind around here and never quit and kept believing in a vision and dream.”

Golding said he’s grown as a head coach and understands the breadth of his responsibilities better. He understands how to build this team by recruiting coachable under-recruited players.

After winning on Saturday night, the team got back to the hotel around 1 a.m. There was more work to be done then. The wakeup was at 7 a.m. to drive across Houston for a 9 a.m. flight to Indianapolis.

So Golding won’t be doing any scout on Texas until Monday morning. Shortly after the selection show aired, he said he planned to sleep as soon as he could.

He knows he’ll be leading his school — a small, private Christian college three hours outside Dallas, against the state school behemoth in the lone star capital.

But given everything this program has already overcome to get good, winning one more game seems a little less challenging.

“We didn’t come down here just to have fun,” said junior forward Joe Pleasant. “We came down here to win a basketball game.”

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How Abilene Christian basketball went from a bad D-II program to one of the nation’s top mid-majors in one - The Dallas Morning News
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