Former BU Great Willie Scott now head coach at William Penn University

[Da Coach]

Former Bradley great Willie Scott, who was a finalist for the Bradley women's coaching job, is now in his 2nd season as head coach of the William Penn University (Oskaloosa, Iowa) women's team. He took over a team with back to back losing seasons, and which had only won 4 conference games the year before he arrived. He had no size, no point guard, and no shooters on the team he inherited last season, and he was hired too late to add much to the team. His team plays in possibly the strongest conference in NAIA, with 5 teams that ranked in the top 25 nationally. Nonetheless, he improved to 14-17 and 11-13 versus conference opponents in his first season last year.

As noted in earlier posts, Willie had some recruiting successes, and his team is improved this season. They are 8-4 overall, and 6-2 in their conference so far.
They are on a 3-week break in their schedule, but their next game January 4 is a conference game at the 3rd ranked team in the country, MidAmerica Nazarene.

So good luck this season, keep up the great work Willie!

[tornado]

William Penn remains tied for 3rd in their conference - one of the stronger NAIA conferences with six different of their members (including William Penn) getting ranked or voted for Top 25 ranking already this season.

[tornado]

Willie Scott's William Penn team nearly had a signature win last night...
they faced the reigning NATIONAL CHAMPION and current Nationally ranked #5 team - and almost beat them...

William Penn actually led down the stretch, and even in the final seconds had the ball & were within a single possession, but they fell 68-65 on the road to Mid-American Nazarene

http://www.oskaloosa.com/sports/local_sports/statesmen-fail-to-claim-upset-of-defending-national-champs/article_28f927b8-d374-11e6-ad36-b77af79b1589.html

[Da Coach]

Followup on former BU great Willie Scott, who was a finalist for the Bradley women's basketball coaching job-

Willie is in his 2nd season as head women's basketball coach at NAIA William Penn University in Oskaloosa, Iowa. In his first season last year, he took over a bad team that was 11-19 in their previous season, and had won only 4 conference games. With no time to recruit or add players, and playing in possibly the toughest NAIA conference in the country, and with no point guard, and the worst shooting team in the league, he coached William Penn to a 14-17 record, and 11-13 versus conference opponents in his first season last year.

This season, Willie added several good recruits, and he has a greatly improved team in just his 2nd season. They are 13-6 overall so far, and 11-4 in the Heart of America Athletic Conference, which contains 6 teams that have appeared in the Top 25 NAIA teams this season. Now William Penn is getting Top 25 votes, too.

Their next game is Saturday against the 1st place team, Baker University, which is also a Top 10 team in the national rankings.
Good luck Willie!


Another former Bradley coach is having a very good season. Jim Les is now head coach at UC-Davis. They were picked 5th in the Big West preseason poll, but are currently 12-8 overall, and 4-1 in the Big West, and in 2nd place. They have won 6 of their last 7 games, and will face the top team in the Big West, UC-Irvine, on Saturday.

http://www.espn.com/mens-college-basketball/conferences/standings/_/id/9/year/2017/big-west-conference

[PhiAlphaBoy]

Another former Bradley coach is having a very good season. Jim Les is now head coach at UC-Davis. They were picked 5th in the Big West preseason poll, but are currently 12-8 overall, and 4-1 in the Big West, and in 2nd place. They have won 6 of their last 7 games, and will face the top team in the Big West, UC-Irvine, on Saturday.
http://www.espn.com/mens-college-bas...est-conference

UC Davis won 74-65 to go to 13-8 on the season. Les seems to coach best when he has a team that is underestimated.

[tornado]

UC Davis won 74-65 to go to 13-8 on the season. Les seems to coach best when he has a team that is underestimated.

UC Davis also had a full arena tonight- their top attendance mark of the year....

it's a late start but their game tonight is being streamed starting at 10pm Central Tiime

http://www.bigwest.org/story.asp?story_id=16347

They look to extend their first place lead in the Big West to 2+ games since they own the tiebreaker.
Their opponent tonight, Cal Poly has won just one game in their last 12 outings

[DeanMartin]

it's a late start but their game tonight is being streamed starting at 10pm Central Tiime

http://www.bigwest.org/story.asp?story_id=16347

They look to extend their first place lead in the Big West to 2+ games since they own the tiebreaker.
Their opponent tonight, Cal Poly has won just one game in their last 12 outings

Congrats to Jimmy. Great guy, that was done wrong by his own alma mater! Wish him all the continued success in the world.

[tornado]

I still follow all the past BU guys and coaches...and will continue to into the future...
I even check on how Geno's doing from time to time...
they lost 5 of their first 6 then turned it around a bit...they are now 12-10

[Chico]

Congrats to Jimmy. Great guy, that was done wrong by his own alma mater! Wish him all the continued success in the world.

+1

[Da Coach]

Update on Willie Scott- as noted, Willie took over a losing program at NAIA William Penn (Oskaloosa, Iowa) women's team last year. Willie took a team that was 11-19 and won just 4 conference games the year before he came. His team joined a much tougher conference his first season, and with no time to recruit or add players, and playing in possibly the toughest NAIA conference in the country, and with no point guard, and the worst shooting team in the league, he coached William Penn to a 14-17 record, and a 11-13 conference record in his first season last year.

This year he had a winning season, and was ranked during the year in the Top 25 NAIA teams. William Penn finished with a 18-13 overall record and 16-10 in their conference. They finished the season as the #30 ranked team in the country.

http://www.naia.org/ViewArticle.dbml?DB_OEM_ID=27900&ATCLID=211516429

William Penn received an at-large bid to the 32-team NAIA National Tournament for the first time in their school's history!
Congratulations Willie!

http://www.naia.org/ViewArticle.dbml?DB_OEM_ID=27900&ATCLID=211516429

Willie's team received a #8 seed in their 8-team quadrant of the bracket, and their first game in the tournament will be next Thursday at 12:30 PM in Billings, Montana (Mountain time), against the #1 seed (and #2 nationally) Lewis-Clark State (Idaho) (31-1)-

http://www.statesmenathletics.com/article/7137.php

http://www.naia.org/ViewArticle.dbml?DB_OEM_ID=27900&ATCLID=211516373

Bracket-

http://www.naia.org/fls/27900/1NAIA/SportsInfo/Championships/2017DIWBB/2017DIWBBBracket.pdf?&DB_OEM_ID=27900

William Penn website-

http://www.statesmenathletics.com/sport/0/10.php

Willie was a finalist for the Bradley women's head coaching job last spring.
Good luck to Willie and to the William Penn women!

[Da Coach]

Willie Scott, who spent a couple seasons at Bradley as an assistant coach on Jim Les' and Geno Ford's staffs, had a couple impressive seasons as head coach of the William Penn (Oskaloosa, Iowa) women's basketball team. He turned around a losing program, and in just his second season he had a winning record, was ranked for a while in the Top 25 NAIA women's teams nationally, and took his team to the NAIA post-season playoffs for the first time.
But he resigned the job after last season to spend more time back in Chicago with his children, and focus his time back on his successful clothing business.

But Dave Reynolds tweets that Willie is also helping as an assistant for Chicago State head coach Tracy Dildy-

https://twitter.com/DaveReynolds2/status/942113497600667649