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Greg Walcavich, Head Coach
18th Year, Rutgers ‘73
Greg Walcavich and John Chaney. Chances are
that not many people will confuse one for the other, and it’s
highly likely their names haven’t been linked in the same
sentence many times in the past.
But after leading Edinboro to its second
straight Pennsylvania State Athletic Conference championship,
Walcavich became the first coach to lead his team to back-to-back
PSAC titles since Chaney did it from 1976-80 while coaching at
Cheyney.
However, when it comes to winning Walcavich
doesn’t need to be connected with the former Temple mentor.
Walcavich leads all active PSAC coaches with 465 career victories,
ranking him 11th among all active Division II coaches. He also
ranks 28th in career winning percentage (.663) among all active
coaches. Entering his 18th season at Edinboro and his 25th
overall, only Dick DeLaney of West Chester and Clarion’s Ron
Righter outrank him in terms of longevity in the conference.
Walcavich's tenure at Edinboro has been
earmarked by winning basketball teams. He surpassed Jim McDonald
to set the school record for career wins during the 1998-99
campaign, and he recorded his 250th win at Edinboro during the
2002-03 season. He enters his 18th season as the Fighting Scot
head coach with a 311-173 record. Add in five seasons at
Birmingham Southern and two more at West Virginia Wesleyan, and he
owns a career mark of 465-236.
But Walcavich isn't just about winning. He
places a sincere emphasis on success off the court - in the
classroom and the community. He expects his student-athletes to
perform with the same winning attitude in the classroom as they do
on the basketball court. In fact, his office is not adorned with
pictures of past greats. It does, however, feature a photograph of
every student-athlete to graduate from Edinboro.
Walcavich received his bachelor's degree in
Communications from Rutgers University in 1973, then completed
work on his master's degree in Physical Education from the
University of Alabama-Birmingham two years later.
During his seventeen seasons at Edinboro, the
Fighting Scots have won 20-or-more games eight times, including a
21-10 ledger a year ago and a 24-7 record the year before that. In
winning back-to-back PSAC Championships, Edinboro became the first
team to do so since Cheyney in 1982 and ‘83.
A year Edinboro finished second in the PSAC
West, but defeated West Chester, the Eastern Division champion, on
the Golden Rams’ home court in the semifinals, 62-59. In the
championship game the Fighting Scots upset 19th-ranked
Shippensburg, 52-51, for their second straight title.
In 2004-05, the Fighting Scots won the PSAC
Championship with a 85-76 win over Millersville and advanced to
the NCAA Division II East Regional. At one point in the season
Edinboro climbed to 10th in the NABC Division II rankings, the
highest in school history.
The 24 wins was tied for the second-highest win
total in school history. The 1997-98 team set the record wins with
a 26-8 record. Edinboro went on to capture the PSAC Championship
for the first time in thirty years, advancing to the NCAA East
Regional. There the Scots handed California(Pa.) a narrow 79-78
defeat before suffering a 91-83 setback to Salem-Teikyo in the
semifinals. Walcavich was recognized as the PSAC West Coach of the
Year.
He picked up his second PSAC West Coach of the
Year plaque four years ago, guiding the Fighting Scots to a 21-7
finish. Edinboro captured its first PSAC West crown since 1985-86
thanks to a 9-3 finish in league play, earning the right to host
the PSAC Tournament. Unfortunately, a possible NCAA Tournament
berth was denied the Scots when West Chester posted an 82-72 upset
in the PSAC semifinals.
The Fighting Scots have finished either first
or second in the PSAC West each of the last six seasons, with a
51-21 record during that period, the best in the division during
that period.
Three years ago Edinboro was 14-14 overall
while playing a schedule with just 13 home games, but earned
second place in the Western Division with an 8-4 record.
After two straight years in first place in the
PSAC West, the Scots dropped to second in 2002-03, but still
finished 17-11 after being picked to finish fifth in the
preseason. A similar scenario occurred in 2001-02, with the Scots
going 18-9. The coaches' preseason poll had picked Edinboro
fourth.
Unfortunately, the three-way tie for first with
Indiana(Pa.) and California(Pa.) saw the Fighting Scots have to go
to California for the first round of the PSAC Playoffs, where the
Scots lost, 82-70.
In all, Edinboro has made the NCAA Division II
Playoffs five times under Walcavich, while qualifying for the PSAC
Tournament thirteen times. His 1993-94 squad finished with a 20-8
ledger, defeating West Chester in a NCAA play-in game before
losing to Indiana(Pa.) in the regional semifinals. The Boro made
it back to the tournament in '95-96, defeating Bloomsburg, 90-82,
in the first round. The Scots squandered an 11-point lead to
California(Pa.) in the semifinals, losing 84-76. That concluded
the season with a 21-8 mark, with Walcavich capturing PSAC West
Coach of the Year accolades for the second time.
Walcavich took over the Fighting Scot program
in 1989-90, guiding the Boro to one of its best seasons ever.
Edinboro won its first twelve games, the best start in nearly
fifteen years, and was ranked in the Division II top twenty. The
Scots eventually finished 22-5, the most wins since 1981-82. On
three occasions the Fighting Scots were ranked in the nation's top
twenty. The following season the Scots made their second straight
appearance in the PSAC Playoffs under Walcavich, finishing with a
18-10 ledger.
The Scots made it three straight seasons in
PSAC postseason action the next year, and the second twenty-win
season in three years, with a 20-9 finish. Walcavich picked up his
first PSAC tournament win, an 81-78 triumph over East Stroudsburg,
before falling to California(Pa.) in the finals.
The 1992-93 campaign brought a very unfamiliar
result for Walcavich - a losing season. The Scots finished at
12-17, losing eight games by five points or less. The Boro more
than made up for it the next year with the trip to the NCAA
Playoffs. The '93-94 season also saw the Scots finish 14th in the
Division II final rankings, their top finish ever. The 1994-95
edition added another milestone to Walcavich's resume, as the
Scots handed number one ranked Indiana(Pa.) a 94-77 loss. The
season ended at 15-11.
Walcavich's fourth 20-win campaign at Edinboro
in '95-96 was followed by his second losing season, a 13-14
finish. Despite the losing record, the Boro made it to the PSAC
Playoffs for the fifth time in his first eight years. That mark
improved to seven out of ten the next two seasons, thanks to the
26-8 finish in '97-98 and the 16-12 ledger in '98-99. After
replacing four starters from the '97-98 squad, Walcavich directed
the Scots to three wins over nationally-ranked opponents. The Boro
upended IUP twice, including a 63-61 win in Indiana in the first
round of the PSAC Tournament, and St. Rose, an Elite Eight team
for the second straight season, a 50-48 setback.
The Scots appeared well on their way to a third
straight PSAC postseason appearance in 1999-2000 when starting
center Jason Roseto, the leading shot blocker in Division II, went
down with a broken hand. Prior to injuring the hand, Edinboro was
10-6. The Scots would lose six of its final nine contests without
Roseto to finish at 13-13.
Walcavich took over as head coach at Edinboro
after a successful two-year stint at West Virginia Wesleyan, where
he posted a 40-19 mark. In his first season, he inherited a team
which returned just four players, but quickly turned the Bobcats
into a winner, finishing at 18-10. His second season concluded
with a 22-9 ledger, including a pair of wins over Edinboro, while
playing all underclassmen.
Walcavich began his coaching career at
Birmingham Southern College in 1973, staying for four seasons
before obtaining his first head coaching job at Alexander City
(AL) Junior College in 1977. After one year, Walcavich returned to
Birmingham Southern as the school's head coach. During his five
seasons as the head coach, the NAIA affiliate posted an impressive
114-44 record, with Walcavich named the Coach of the Year three
times. His teams were ranked in the NAIA Top 20 four of the five
seasons, as high as number two in 1979, and twice appeared in the
NAIA National Tournament in Kansas City, Missouri.
While at Birmingham Southern, Walcavich was
recognized nationally in 1981, being selected to serve as an
assistant coach for the United States Olympic Festival in
Syracuse, New York. He coached future NBA stars, including Michael
Jordan.
In 1983, Walcavich moved on to the Division I
ranks as an assistant coach at Rice University. He was involved in
some of the biggest wins in the Owls' basketball history at Rice,
including triumphs over Arkansas, Houston and Notre Dame. After
four years as a member of the Rice staff, Walcavich left for the
head coaching job at West Virginia Wesleyan.
Walcavich and his wife, Dr. Maureen Walcavich,
a professor in the Education Department at Edinboro, have been
married for 32 years. They have two daughters, Sarah (26), a
graduate of Penn State and the Georgetown Law School, who is now
teaching practicing law in New York City, and Jennifer (23), who
graduated from Penn State last May and is a teacher in LaPlata,
MD.
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