It's down to three
Finalists for Eastern basketball job visit campus
By: Cory Munoz
Issue date: 4/21/09 Section: Sports
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Young is no stranger to Portales - or basketball. The 23-year veteran spent three seasons at Eastern as an assistant coach from 1991-94. Young left ENMU to take over the helms at Lamar Community College in1994 and turned the Lopes into a Region VIX contender in his four years in Colorado, and reached the Region VIX tournament quarterfinals twice.
While at Eastern Young helped the Greyhounds to the 1992 Lone Star Conference Tournament championship and advanced to the NCAA Division II Sweet Sixteen. It was the first-ever Greyhound team to advance to the NCAA Tournament.
The season before signing with Eastern - the first time - Young coached at his former high school - Cleburne. Young lettered in football, basketball and baseball while attending Cleburne. Young received his bachelor's degree from Howard Payne University where he played all four seasons for the Yellowjackets.
Young received his master's degree from Texas Wesleyan in 1990. Young has coached at nearly every level from high school, NAIA, NCAA Division I, NCAA Division II and as a junior college. As a junior college head coach, Young has had 48 players sign with four-year institutions and 23 have been with Division-I schools.
Young's overall head coaching record is 147-129 in eight seasons.
"I can say with confidence that we (the search committee) have selected three different candidates for President (Steven) Gamble to choose from," Donald Elder, head of the search committee, said in the April 7 edition of The Chase. "They each have their own unique style."
Andrew Helton was the first candidate to visit ENMU and Portales. Helton is currently an assistant coach at the University of South Alabama. He has been with the Jaguars for the last two seasons.
Helton helped USA claim an at-large bid to the NCAA Tournament after the Jaguars amassed a school-record 26 wins and won the Sun Belt Conference East Division championship in his first season. He earned his bachelor's degree from the University of Miami (Ohio) in 1992 in secondary math education, adding a master's degree in sports administration in 2001.
Before arriving in Mobile, Helton controlled recruiting at Texas A&M-Corpus Christi for six seasons. While on the staff the Islanders posted an overall mark of 107-64 (62.6%) after recording three consecutive 20-win campaigns from 2005-07. In addition to setting a school standard by going 26-7 in his final year at TAMU-CC, it won the Southland Conference championship in the school's inaugural season as a league member to advance to the NCAA Tournament for the first time ever.
The Islanders also defeated four teams in elite conferences by knocking off Florida State, Baylor, Texas A&M and South Florida.
Helton spent two seasons as a member of the University of Miami coaching staff. In his first year with the Canes, The U beat both Arkansas and Ohio State to advance to the Sweet Sixteen of the NCAA Tournament. They would share the regular-season Big East title with a 13-3 mark while posting a 23-11 record overall. UM would follow up by qualifying for the National Invitation Tournament the following season.
In two years, Richard Davis has posted an overall record of 34-24, including a 24-14 mark in Great Lakes Valley Conference competition while at St. Joseph's College of Indiana.
His first season as head coach began without a single returning starter, but Davis still guided the Pumas to a 16-12 finish and a berth in the GLVC Tournament. SJC was 18-12 last season, advancing to the GLVC Tournament semifinals and qualifying for the NCAA Division II Great Lakes Regional Tournament.
He came to SJC from Ashland University, where he was an assistant coach for two years. His responsibilities included instruction of backcourt players, as well as game preparation, scouting reports and conditioning.
In two years as an assistant with the Pumas, SJC won 48 of 63 games, finishing with a 31-3 record in 2005-06, which included a No. 2 national ranking, Great Lakes Valley Conference regular-season and tournament championships, and the No. 1 seed in the Great Lakes Regional Tournament.
Davis also played his collegiate ball at Ashland, where he was a four-year letter winner and three-year starter. He scored 903 points in his career, ranks 12th in Ashland history in rebounds (456) and was also named to the Great Lakes Intercollegiate Athletic Conference All-Defensive team twice.
Davis played on teams at Ashland that were regionally and nationally ranked, winning 20 games one year, 19 another and 18 in yet another. The Eagles advanced to the GLIAC playoffs each year.
He earned his bachelor's degree in education from Ashland in 2001 and his master's degree in sports science, also from Ashland, in 2004.