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Demanding Pettaway gets results
Alabama A&M's longtime coach will have to find room for latest memento
01/20/03
By REGGIE BENSON
Times Sports Staff reggieb@htimes.com
Coach of the Year awards adorn the walls in his office. A NCAA regional championship trophy sits on top of a computer desk. Other trophies are down the hall in a trophy case.
There are plaques signifying his 200th and 300th wins. There also is a basketball signed by many well-wishers as a result of his 300th win.
Vann Pettaway reached yet another milestone in his illustrious coaching career last Monday night as Alabama A&M beat Arkansas-Pine Bluff. It was his 350th victory.
Should a plaque, ball or something else show up to signify victory No. 350, Pettaway will have to make room for it.
''I'm going to need a bigger office,'' Pettaway said with a laugh.
Athletic director Jim Martin has the biggest office on the block. Down the hall, Martin has an office the size of a boardroom.
''My time will come,'' Pettaway said last week.
Pettaway's first break came 17 years ago when former A&M athletic director Gene Bright promoted him after Ben Jobe left for Southern University.
All Pettaway has done is post eight 20-win seasons, make eight NCAA Tournament appearances - including reaching the Division II Elite Eight four times - while having just one losing season.
He has done perhaps his best coaching job since A&M became an official member of the SWAC four years ago. In that span, the Bulldogs have finished second twice and third another year. In its first year of eligibility for the SWAC A&M's Pettaway continues to do a lot with a little Pettaway Continued from page D1 Tournament last season, A&M lost in the semifinals to Alabama State.
''It's a testimony to the fact we work hard,'' said Pettaway, who is 350-139 after Saturday night's tough one-point loss to Alabama State at the Von Braun Center. The loss dropped the Bulldogs to 5-8 overall and 2-3 in the SWAC.
''We've had some pretty decent players over the years that have paid the price.''
One of those players - Willie Hayes - is now Pettaway's top assistant. Hayes played for Pettaway from 1987-89 and was a member of the 1988 squad that posted a 29-3 record, the best in A&M history.
Why has Pettaway been so successful?
''He demands that you give him everything you've got,'' Hayes said. ''Coach is going to make you play. He's real aggressive. He's got that military mentality. He's going to get the best out of you or you've got to go. It's his way or no way.
''Because we don't get great players at this level, we have to develop players. You have to find players that have potential, build on that and get the most out of them. Coach Pettaway has really mastered that.''
That Pettaway has mastered his craft so well in a 29-year-old building - Elmore Gym - that leaves a lot to be desired from a recruiting standpoint, speaks volumes about him.
''I have tried over the years not to make excuses,'' he said, ''but we're not as successful as I'd like for us to be because we don't have some of the things other people have. I don't have the showpiece for the recruits.
''That's something our fans don't understand. They want to know why we don't have more big-time players here. We don't have all the pieces to the puzzle in place to attract those kinds of players and until we do, we're going to have to find a way to be successful with the players that we can sign.''
As long as he can keep A&M competitive, Pettaway says he won't complain.
''This is my alma mater,'' he said. ''I'm going to try to ride it through.
A&M president John Gibson told an alumni group in Indianapolis last October that there were plans to build a new basketball arena. While Gibson may have good intentions, Pettaway will believe it when he sees it.
''They haven't gotten around to basketball,'' he said. ''They had to take care of football. They had academic buildings to get in place. One day down the road they'll do something with basketball.
''It may not be in my lifetime. They say something to going to happen. That's up to them. I can't worry about that.''
Alabama A&M's longtime coach will have to find room for latest memento
01/20/03
By REGGIE BENSON
Times Sports Staff reggieb@htimes.com
Coach of the Year awards adorn the walls in his office. A NCAA regional championship trophy sits on top of a computer desk. Other trophies are down the hall in a trophy case.
There are plaques signifying his 200th and 300th wins. There also is a basketball signed by many well-wishers as a result of his 300th win.
Vann Pettaway reached yet another milestone in his illustrious coaching career last Monday night as Alabama A&M beat Arkansas-Pine Bluff. It was his 350th victory.
Should a plaque, ball or something else show up to signify victory No. 350, Pettaway will have to make room for it.
''I'm going to need a bigger office,'' Pettaway said with a laugh.
Athletic director Jim Martin has the biggest office on the block. Down the hall, Martin has an office the size of a boardroom.
''My time will come,'' Pettaway said last week.
Pettaway's first break came 17 years ago when former A&M athletic director Gene Bright promoted him after Ben Jobe left for Southern University.
All Pettaway has done is post eight 20-win seasons, make eight NCAA Tournament appearances - including reaching the Division II Elite Eight four times - while having just one losing season.
He has done perhaps his best coaching job since A&M became an official member of the SWAC four years ago. In that span, the Bulldogs have finished second twice and third another year. In its first year of eligibility for the SWAC A&M's Pettaway continues to do a lot with a little Pettaway Continued from page D1 Tournament last season, A&M lost in the semifinals to Alabama State.
''It's a testimony to the fact we work hard,'' said Pettaway, who is 350-139 after Saturday night's tough one-point loss to Alabama State at the Von Braun Center. The loss dropped the Bulldogs to 5-8 overall and 2-3 in the SWAC.
''We've had some pretty decent players over the years that have paid the price.''
One of those players - Willie Hayes - is now Pettaway's top assistant. Hayes played for Pettaway from 1987-89 and was a member of the 1988 squad that posted a 29-3 record, the best in A&M history.
Why has Pettaway been so successful?
''He demands that you give him everything you've got,'' Hayes said. ''Coach is going to make you play. He's real aggressive. He's got that military mentality. He's going to get the best out of you or you've got to go. It's his way or no way.
''Because we don't get great players at this level, we have to develop players. You have to find players that have potential, build on that and get the most out of them. Coach Pettaway has really mastered that.''
That Pettaway has mastered his craft so well in a 29-year-old building - Elmore Gym - that leaves a lot to be desired from a recruiting standpoint, speaks volumes about him.
''I have tried over the years not to make excuses,'' he said, ''but we're not as successful as I'd like for us to be because we don't have some of the things other people have. I don't have the showpiece for the recruits.
''That's something our fans don't understand. They want to know why we don't have more big-time players here. We don't have all the pieces to the puzzle in place to attract those kinds of players and until we do, we're going to have to find a way to be successful with the players that we can sign.''
As long as he can keep A&M competitive, Pettaway says he won't complain.
''This is my alma mater,'' he said. ''I'm going to try to ride it through.
A&M president John Gibson told an alumni group in Indianapolis last October that there were plans to build a new basketball arena. While Gibson may have good intentions, Pettaway will believe it when he sees it.
''They haven't gotten around to basketball,'' he said. ''They had to take care of football. They had academic buildings to get in place. One day down the road they'll do something with basketball.
''It may not be in my lifetime. They say something to going to happen. That's up to them. I can't worry about that.''