Shelby Metcalf
Shelby Metcalf (December 23, 1930 - February 8, 2007) was the head coach of the Texas A&M Men's basketball team for 27 seasons starting in 1963-1964. He won more games than any other coach in the former Southwest Conference. Achieving success as basketball coach at university known more for its dedication to its football team, Metcalf endeared himself to Aggie fans for his loyalty to the school and his witticisms. Although his coaching career ended on a bitter note when he was fired in a dispute with A&M athletic director John David Crow in 1990, Metcalf remained loyal to Texas A&M. He continued to live in the Bryan-College Station community and he supported his successor Aggie basketball coaches.
Early Years
Shelby R. Metcalf, Jr. grew up in Tulsa, Oklahoma.[1] He attended A&M junior college for one year before transferring to East Texas State (now Texas A&M-Commerce), where he was an All-American guard and led the team to three NAIA national tournaments,[2] twice being named to the all-tournament team[3]. In his senior year in 1955, the team won the NAIA championship; the same year, Metcalf earned his bachelor's and master's degrees at ETSU.[2]
After graduation, Metcalf spent one year as a head coach at Cayuga (Texas) High School, posting a 33-10 record. He then joined the U.S. Air Force, becoming the Athletic Officer at Sembach Air Base in Germany from 1956-1958, and, as a player as well as coach, amassed a 78-17 record and winning the All-Germany Championships twice.[3]
Coaching Career
Metcalf joined the Texas A&M University men's basketball coaching staff in 1958, when he was hired to be the freshman coach under Bob Rogers, who had previously coached Metcalf at East Texas State University. For the next five years, Metcalf continued in that role, before replacing Rogers as head coach in 1963.[4]
During his 26.5 seasons with Texas A&M from 1963-90, Metcalf won a total of 438 games, 239 of them in conference play, more than any other men's basketball coach in Southwest Conference history. His overall coaching record was 438-306. Metcalf was known as "The King of Tournaments," for taking the Aggies to 74 in-season tournaments,[5] suffered only 3 losing seasons.[6] in order to ensure that the team would play at least one game each year on a neutral floor. In 1989-1990, the team made a record five tournament appearances.[3]
Although Metcalf was well-known for his witticisms, while at practice or coaching during a game, he was completely no-nonsense. Only when he was not on the basketball court did he let his true personality and natural humor emerge.[6]
In his first season as a head coach, Metcalf's team went 13-1, winning the Southwest COnference, the Aggies' first SWC championship in 41 years. Metcalf's teams won a total of 6 SWC championships (1964, 1969, 1975, 1976, 1980 and 1986), and only placed lower than fourth in the conference six times, although one of those years, 1986-1987, the team won the postseason tournament despite being ranked 8th in the conference and earned a trip to the NCAA Tournament. Under Metcalf, the A&M team made five NCAA tournament appearances, including two Sweet 16 appearances, in 1968-1969[4] (when only 25 teams were invited to the tournament[3]) and 1979-1980.[4] The latter team set the school record with 26 victories, beating North Carolina in double overtime in the second round of the tournament before just missing advancing to the Elite 8 with an overtime loss to eventual champion Louisville.[7] His 1978-1979 and 1981-1982 teams came within a game of the NIT's final four.[4]
24 of Metcalf's players earned first-team all-conferenance citations, and John Beasley was named a first-team All-American by the Helms Foundation in 1966. Eighteen players were drafted by professional basketball leagues, including Sonny Parker, who was a 1976 first-round NBA draft pick.[1] In 1971, A&M men's basketball color barrier was broken when Metcalf personally convinced African-American player Mario Brown to attend the school. Brown later earned second-team All-Southwest Conference honors and was selected as a team co-captain.[8]
Metcalf's success prompted the primarily football-focused student body to begin paying attention to basketball. The A&M basketball arena, G. Rollie White Coliseum, often sold out, and soon became known as the "Holler House on the Brazos."[4] Metcalf took full advantage of the noisy arena, earning a doctorate in Recreation and Resource Devlopment from A&M in 1974 with a dissertation titled "Crowd Behavior at Southwest Conference Games."[1]
The longest serving basketball coach in SWC history,[7] Metcalf was fired after feuding with athletic director John David Crow midway through the 1989-1990 season,[5] sending the Aggies into a fifteen-year basketball slump, with only one winning season. The team did not approach Metcalf's success until 2005, when A&M hired former UTEP coach Billy Gillispie.[4] Gillispie reached out to Metcalf, inviting him to practices and encouraging him to attend the home games.[9]
Coaching Record (Overall) [1]
| School | Season | Overall Record |
Conference Record |
Accomplishments / Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Texas A&M University | 1963-64 | 18-7 | 13-1 | SWC Champs & NCAA District Playoff |
| Texas A&M University | 1964-65 | 14-10 | 7-7 | |
| Texas A&M University | 1965-66 | 15-9 | 10-4 | |
| Texas A&M University | 1966-67 | 6-18 | 5-9 | |
| Texas A&M University | 1967-68 | 14-10 | 8-6 | |
| Texas A&M University | 1968-69 | 18-9 | 12-2 | SWC Champs & NCAA Midwest Regional |
| Texas A&M University | 1969-70 | 14-10 | 9-5 | |
| Texas A&M University | 1970-71 | 9-17 | 5-9 | |
| Texas A&M University | 1971-72 | 16-10 | 9-5 | |
| Texas A&M University | 1972-73 | 17-9 | 9-5 | |
| Texas A&M University | 1973-74 | 15-11 | 7-7 | |
| Texas A&M University | 1974-75 | 20-7 | 12-2 | SWC Champs & NCAA Midwest Regional |
| Texas A&M University | 1975-76 | 21-6 | 14-2 | SWC Champs |
| Texas A&M University | 1976-77 | 14-14 | 8-8 | |
| Texas A&M University | 1977-78 | 12-15 | 5-11 | |
| Texas A&M University | 1978-79 | 24-9 | 11-5 | NIT (Third Round) |
| Texas A&M University | 1979-80 | 26-8 | 14-2 | SWC Champs & NCAA Midwest Regional |
| Texas A&M University | 1980-81 | 15-12 | 8-8 | |
| Texas A&M University | 1981-82 | 20-11 | 10-6 | NIT (Third Round) |
| Texas A&M University | 1982-83 | 17-14 | 10-6 | |
| Texas A&M University | 1983-84 | 16-14 | 7-9 | |
| Texas A&M University | 1984-85 | 19-11 | 10-6 | NIT |
| Texas A&M University | 1985-86 | 20-12 | 12-4 | SWC Tri-Champs & NIT |
| Texas A&M University | 1986-87 | 17-14 | 6-10 | NCAA Midwest Regional |
| Texas A&M University | 1987-88 | 16-15 | 8-8 | |
| Texas A&M University | 1988-89 | 16-14 | 8-8 | |
| Texas A&M University | 1989-90 | 9-10* | 2-3* | * Partial season; released after 19 games |
| Total | - | 438-306 | 239-158 | - |
Post-Coaching Career
After being relieved of his coaching duties, Metcalf worked for the A&M Center of Academic Enhancement. Until 1994, he often spoke at banquets, athletic events, and high schools, including three appearances at prison graduations, and was twice selected to Who's Who in American Colleges and Universities.[4]
Career Honors
He was inducted into the Texas Sports Hall of Fame in 1989 and is also a member of the East Texas State Athletics Hall of Fame and the Texas Association of Basketball Coaches Hall of Fame. He was also inducted into the Texas A&M Athletics Hall of Fame in 1998. He was also elected into Phi Kappa Phi, one of the most prestigious honor societies in academia.
Shelby had such a profound effect on Aggie basketball that during the 2006-2007 season, current Aggie Coach Billy Gillispie asked for, and received, a tournament in his honor held in College Station, Texas, titled the Shelby Metcalf Classic.
Metcalf died on February 8 2007 from cancer. He is survived by his widow, Janis (a retired English teacher with the Bryan Independent School District to whom he was married for 52 years), and their daughter, Shelley Metcalf Valerius.
References
- ^ a b c "METCALF, LEWIS AMONG 1998 INDUCTEES INTO A&M ATHLETICS HALL OF FAME". Texas A&M University Athletics. October 27, 1998. Retrieved 2007-02-19.
{{cite web}}: Cite has empty unknown parameter:|coauthors=(help) - ^ a b Rojas, Rick (February 9, 2007). "Shelby Metcalf dies at 76: Legendary men's basketball coach put A&M program on the map". The Battalion. Retrieved 2007-02-19.
{{cite web}}: Unknown parameter|coauthors=ignored (|author=suggested) (help) - ^ a b c d "Legendary Aggie Hoops Coach Shelby Metcalf Passes Away". Texas A&M Athletics. February 8, 2007. Retrieved 2007-02-19.
{{cite web}}: Cite has empty unknown parameter:|coauthors=(help) - ^ a b c d e f g Cessna, Robert (February 8, 2007). "Former A&M Basketball coach Shelby Metcalf dies at age 76". Bryan-College Station Eagle. Retrieved 2007-02-19.
{{cite web}}: Cite has empty unknown parameter:|coauthors=(help) - ^ a b
"Metcalf dies; sets SWC wins record at Texas A^M". ESPN.com. February 9, 2007. Retrieved 2007-02-19.
{{cite web}}: Cite has empty unknown parameter:|coauthors=(help) - ^ a b Carlton, Chuck (February 10, 2007). "Remembering Shelby Metcalf". Dallas Morning News. Retrieved 2007-02-19.
{{cite web}}: Unknown parameter|coauthors=ignored (|author=suggested) (help) - ^ a b Cohen, Rachel (February 12, 2007). "Former A&M Coach Metcalf dies". Dallas Morning News. Retrieved 2007-02-19.
{{cite web}}: Cite has empty unknown parameter:|coauthors=(help) - ^ "First African American to play basketball at A&M dies of cancer". Bryan-College Station Eagle. October 10, 2002. Retrieved 2007-02-19.
{{cite web}}: Cite has empty unknown parameter:|coauthors=(help) - ^ Caplan, Jeff (February 10, 2007). "Shelby Metcalf (1931-2007): A&M legend's wit won over many". Dallas-Fort Worth Star Telegram. Retrieved 2007-02-19.
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External links
