2008 Woodie Awards
Basketball cruising with Carroll
Brandon Edelman
Issue date: 2/8/05 Section: Sports
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After his first year as head coach of DU men's basketball, Terry Carroll guided the team to its first winning season in five years and currently has the team flying high with a 8-1 record in Sun Belt Conference play.
But under the adage of former DU hockey great Jim Wiste, not a minute of the turnaround can be considered work.
"One of my very best friends is Jim Wiste, a famous hockey player here back on the 1969 national championship team and later for the Chicago Blackhawks," said Carroll. "He has always said it best, that he has never worked a day in his life and because he likes what he does, it's not work."
"I like what I do, so I don't feel like I'm coming to work. I can just do my job because I've got great players and great assistant coaches around me," he said.
Now in his fourth season at the helm, Carroll moved into eighth place among DU coaches for most wins all-time with 39 after his third season.
A couple hundred wins up the list, Carroll finds himself in the company of Dick Peth, who won 221 games in 12 seasons, and Hoyt Brawner, who earned 163 victories in 14 seasons.
Even more impressive is that Carroll inherited a program with only three years of NCAA Division I experience since its return to that level before the start of the 1998-1999 season.
Carroll accepted the challenge as an obstacle to overcome and he is well on his way to conquering it.
"It is going to take time to get this to where we want this program to be and it all starts with the head coach," said Carroll.
"The foundation starts with that guy and you've got to be a solid guy that's going to want to come in here and make the commitment to this university and to these players and show them that you're here for the long haul."
Many of his predecessors amassed their victories at the Division II level, a time when the Pioneers enjoyed a significant amount of success, including a 79-game home winning streak, an exploit that time-lined nearly six years.
But under the adage of former DU hockey great Jim Wiste, not a minute of the turnaround can be considered work.
"One of my very best friends is Jim Wiste, a famous hockey player here back on the 1969 national championship team and later for the Chicago Blackhawks," said Carroll. "He has always said it best, that he has never worked a day in his life and because he likes what he does, it's not work."
"I like what I do, so I don't feel like I'm coming to work. I can just do my job because I've got great players and great assistant coaches around me," he said.
Now in his fourth season at the helm, Carroll moved into eighth place among DU coaches for most wins all-time with 39 after his third season.
A couple hundred wins up the list, Carroll finds himself in the company of Dick Peth, who won 221 games in 12 seasons, and Hoyt Brawner, who earned 163 victories in 14 seasons.
Even more impressive is that Carroll inherited a program with only three years of NCAA Division I experience since its return to that level before the start of the 1998-1999 season.
Carroll accepted the challenge as an obstacle to overcome and he is well on his way to conquering it.
"It is going to take time to get this to where we want this program to be and it all starts with the head coach," said Carroll.
"The foundation starts with that guy and you've got to be a solid guy that's going to want to come in here and make the commitment to this university and to these players and show them that you're here for the long haul."
Many of his predecessors amassed their victories at the Division II level, a time when the Pioneers enjoyed a significant amount of success, including a 79-game home winning streak, an exploit that time-lined nearly six years.