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Show r V Sun Times. December 5. 1 979 Clearfield Courier. December 5. 1979 Websi? Stiafte irdDD ttest Aggjaes ifor tiDue second ftomm The Weber State Wildcats get a chance to pick up some revenge this Thursday night, hosting the Utah State Aggies beginning at 7.30p m. iMSTi in the Dee Events Center. Last Friday night, the Aggies dealt We ler a setback in overt mie in the season opener for both teams. A crowd of 10,085 4 saw USU outscore the Wildcats 13-in the overtime period. It was the fourth overtime game in the 18 game series, with each team winning tw o. The series now stands tied at with Utah State looking to sweep the series this season. That particular feat has been done twice, once by both tarns. Utah State did it in 1974-7- 5 6 9-- 0 in Logan, (ot) in Ogden) while Weber turned the in Logan, trick in 1976-7- 7 6 in Ogden). The Aggies are one of only three teams to pin a loss on the Wildcats in the Dee Center since its opening in the 1977-7- 8 season. MonThey did it last year, tana and Boise State are the only (92-6- 72-7- 6 72-6- 7 89-7- 76-7- other teams to win in the D.E.C. Webers overall record in the Dee Center is In the game at Ijogan, Brian Jackson (27 points) and guard Rich McElrath (career high 25 28-- points) presented Head Coach Rod Tueller with his first collegiate win as a head coach. It was only the fourth opening game in 18 seasons that the Wildcats lost a season opener. Bruce Collins paced Weber w ith 20 points. Richard Smith finished with 17, while David Johnson had 16. Collins, Johnson, Todd Harper and Gerald Mattinson al fouled out. Weber State bounced right back the next night in the home Weber Sftsifte coach RJcCarth: he's e wimer and simple, he is a winner and with an average of 21 wins per season over the last four years, not too many people seem likely to he took over a team that argue that point. In recorded the first losing season in the schools history the previous year and turned them into conference n runners-up- . Since the inception of the Big Sky teams in have Tournament, McCarthys played all four of them the only school to boast such a record. Last season, his team recorded the second best rc ord eer at Weber, posting a mark, only a 3 record under Phil Johnson in was better. The Wildcats successfully defended their Big Sky ConNeil McCarthy is a winner, plain 1975-7- Post-Seaso- 25-- 9 27-- 1968-6- 9 ference title, defeating Northern Arizona (92-7and n in the Montana (98-7tourney to earn a second straight trip to the NCAA Tournament in as many sears where they defeated New Mexico State ixi 78) in the first round, the only team in the state of I tah to win an NCAA Tournament game in 1979. season under Probably the most incredible when he took the youngest .McCarthy was in 1977-7- 8 starting lineup of any major college in the country and molded them into champions. Learning as they went, n the team initiated play in a dollar sports arena and faced one of their toughest schedules in history. After struggling their way into the playoffs, the young Wildcats won their first Big Sky Conference Championship sonce 1973, by beating the number one team in the conference on its home court in a pressure-lacke- d overtime game. The youngsters advanced to the NCAA Tournament where they were defeated by. Arkansas w hich eventually finished third in the nation. For his part in engineering this stellar performance, McCarthy was named Big Sky Conference COACH OF THE YEAR. In 1976-7McCarthy's 20-- 8 ball club won the coveted BUCKET symbol of basketball (H)ITRHII supremacy in basketball-craz- y Utah, by heating Utah, I tah State and Brigham Young in the same season. That same year, the Wildcats were runners-u- p in the prestigious Far West Classic, losing the championship game to a fine North Carolina team which went on to place second in the nation. All record is totaled, McCarthys four-yeimpressive. With an 8 mark (.691), McCarthy is a year averaging 21 wins a season, but that average for McCarthy goes back further than just the last four seasons as a Wildcat. Neil, as a head coach for six years on the high school level in California, produced a 124-5- 0 record before joining the college coaching fraternity. He still holds the records at two schools for single-seaso- n winning marks. In the history of St. Vincent High in Vallejo has 32-- 5 record stands alone. Opening a new school, St. Patricks, he put together a 26-- year another mark that has never i . been bettered. u , . s school his he had than just more tenure, high During coaching duties to concern himself with. He also was involved in teaching and was Director of Athletics at both schools and Dean of Boys at St. Vincent. A Californian by birth, Neil was graduated from St. Vincents in 1957 where he later returned as a coach, teacher and administrator. After a stint in the Army where he played on a service basketball team and won the Fort Bliss Heavy-weigBoxing Title, he enrolled at hometown Vallejo Junior College where he was a busy man, to say the least. While at Vallejo, McCarthy was an honor student, editor of the campus newspaper, a member of the Honor Society and a fixture on the Deans list. Somehow during that period he also found time to play some basketball and played it well enough to be both years at school. named Following graduation, Neil went to Cal where he again earned honors on the basketball court and in the classroom. He obtained a bachelor's degree in 1965 and subsequently obtained a masters from the same institution. His Masters Thesis, incidentally, was concerned with the art of Iree-throshooting. Any connection g between that study and the performances of the Wildcats from the charity strip is certainly no coincidence. In his four seasons, his teams have consistently led the Big Sky Conference in percentage and have been over 70 per cent as a team the last four seasons. McCarthy left the ranks of high school coaches in 1971 to come to Weber State as chief assistant to then- post-seaso- 85-3- 20-ga- 6 w record-shatterin- free-thro- w opener, turning back the University of Utah Lies, 9 before 11,315 spectators in the Dee Center. The Wildcats opened up two 18 point leads mid-wa- v through the second half and coasted in for the win. Bruce Collins had 18 points, but guard Mark Mattos played his finest game as a Wildcat" with 17 points, seven rebounds, nine assists playing 39 minutes and 30 seconds. Weber and now leads the Utah series, the Utes still have not won a 91-7- 6-- 3 game in Ogden. Coming up this weekend, two new opponents travel to Ogden to face the 'Cats in the Dee Center, and both teams brmg talented squads to Utah. Saturday night (Dec. 8) the University of Puget of out Sound Tacoma, Washington are the Wildcats guests with the University of Rhode Island (Kingston, Rl) coming in on Monday night Dec. 10 Both games begin at 7.30 p.m. iMSTi The loggers from Tacoma were the number one Division II team last season in the final regular season rankings. Puget Sound had a 21 5 record. They entered the Division II playoffs for the fifth straight season, winning the first two games, advanced to the quarterfinals where they were beaten by Wisconsin-GreeBay which eventually ended up second nationally. Puget Sound won the Division II title in 1976. Head Coach Don Zech is in his 12th season and has an impressive 222-9- 4 record. Each of his last five teams have won 20 games or more. The loggers generally have one of the tougher Division 1 1 schedules with usually six or seven tough Division I schools on it. UPS opened its 1979-8- 0 season with a 3 win at home over Eastern Washington University, as team Weber beat last year 3 in Ogden. Before their entrance into Ogden, the Loggers face Chapman College (Dec, 3) and Cal (Dec. 4) both games being at home. They also defeated a strong Athletes In Action-Canadteam in a preseason exhibition game. In both of those games, Puget Sound shot 66 percent from the field, which indicates a strong offensive team. was ) Center Joe Leonard second team Division II last season with a 13.7 and 10.7 rebound and scoring -- n multi-millio- ar tiomraoirirowtf 99-8- fifth year ot head began coaching at Weber State this past week. With his team claiming wins over Utah and Midwestern, but losing to Utah. McCarthy now holds on to an mark in his years at Weber impressive State. That 100th win should come sometime this season. McCarthys Weber State home record is now 40 wins and just five losses while the road record stands at What is really impressive is the record his teams have recorded while playing in the beautiful Dee Events Center. The NEIL MCCARTHY 87-3- his is now 9 29-3- i6-- other starting forward. The loggers plight to reach the playoffs is even more difficult since they are an independent and must win at least 20 games a season in order to be selected to the playoffs. One of the powers of East Coast basketball, Rhode Island makes it first ever appearnace in Ogden. The Rams, under veteran coach Jack Kraft, were 20-- 9 last year, playing as an independent. They did lose their best player to the NBA hardship draft, 67 Sly Williams, and center Irv Chatman, but the Rams have some talent returning that could propel them into the NCAA Tournament. ) Jimmy Wright averaged 12 9 points and 8.0 rebounds last year and should be one starting forward. Roland Houston ) came to Rhodey as a promising freshman, but didn't play much, but is expected to control the center position 6 ) G llson DeJesus maybe the surprise of the team. DeJesus was a member of the Brazilian National team, so even though he is a sophomore, he does have a great deal of experience. Another player expected to carry a heavy load is a freshman, Horace Owens, a much sought after prep star out of Philadelphia. Owens is a 3 guard who can shoot, pass, dribble and play defense. The Rams opened their season with a drubbing of Scranton University. DeJesus came off the bench to score 21 points and gather in seven rebounds to lead Uie cause. Jimmy Wright had 15, Horace Owens 10 in his collegiate debute. Rhode Island faces Brown Univensty at home (Dec. 4) and Washington State on the road Dec 6) before playing the Wildcats. i6-7- (6-8- 6-- 6-- 90-6- 6 i 85-6- State-Stanisla- a 112-10- 47-3- record 13.9) and Tom Stevens Todd Burton (66) is the . (6-7- coach Gene Visscher. When Visscher resigned midway through the 1975 season, McCarthy was handed the reins of the program. He became the first coach at contract when he Weber to ever be given a multi-yea- r a three his second year with following signed year pact the team. McCarthy is a respected member of the coaching brotherhood, and a serious student and teacher of the game. He has had several published articles in national coaching magazines, has been a frequent participant at clinics and workshops, and has made two trips abroad as a coach. One was to Bolivia to conduct a number of clinics; the most recent was with the Wildcats in the summer of 1978 to the Republic of China where they played several teams. He has been appointed to be the District VII representative on the International Basketball Committee of the National Association of Basketball Coaches for the 1979-8- 0 season. It is the second NABC committee he has served on. McCarthy is also on the Pro Keds Coaches Advisory Board. A McCarthy coaching trademark are teams that play with intelligence, intensity and a scrambling defense and it is a sure guarantee that his teams will be in better physical condition than their opponents. The formula has been a good one for McCarthy and his teams they have set winning marks every year and created excitement for their fans as well. McCarthy-coache- d teams at Weber State have set new attendance records each of the last four years and with all the excitement ot the upcoming year, it will most likely be broken again. His coaching formula has been proven for the past 15 years and there is little chance it will change now or in the future. A widower, McCarthy has three children: Lisa Ann, Aaron Patrick and Neil Christopher. average. Three other starters return from last years squad in, 14.3), cluding Eric Brewe and guards Roy Del Smiley (6-6- i6-- COACH MCCARTHY can get emotional at times as shown here and above. He loves the game of basketball and knows the game inside out. This week his Wildcats take on Utah State, Pudget Sound and Rhode Island, all at home. 1(1 ClXtftBjl QtzJTJZD Qz&o CflliQCTTO with rai m u J WIDCAT CKNTBR, Richard Smith, grabs rebound in Utoh game. The big man is one big reason why Weber State is favored to win the conference race this season, 7-- 1 |