High and Each Achieves and Demands Success
By: Matthew Florjancic, Correspondent
BEREA—Many things go into building a successful athletics and basketball program. Recruiting, conditioning and implementing game plans are just a few of the key ingredients for a championship program.
Fortunately for Baldwin-Wallace College, men’s veteran coach Steve Bankson and women’s veteran coach Cheri Harrer are two of the finest leaders at the NCAA Division III level.
Both coaches are the winningest all-time in their respective sport at B-W. Each also serves as an athletic director and has guided the total Yellow Jacket athletic program to be one of the finest in small college athetics.
In 26 years at the helm of the Yellow Jacket men basketball program, Bankson has compiled a 389-303 record. For his career, which spans 42 years at the high school, junior college and collegiate levels, Bankson is 670-420.
Harrer has been in Berea for 16 seasons. She is 325-118 during that time.
Neither coach is a stranger to success and have led their respective programs into this year’s NCAA Division III National Tournament
Harrer has led the Yellow Jackets to 10 straight 20-win seasons. She has coached B-W to six Ohio Athletic Conference regular season titles and four OAC Tournament titles. Harrer’s teams also have done well in NCAA Tournament action with two “Elite Eight” finishes.
All of the success has come as a surprise to Harrer.
“I took the same approach as a coach as I did as a player,” said Harrer, who was a four-year starter and NAIA (National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics) Academic All-American at the University of Findlay. “There are probably lots of people out there who have more talent than me, but they are never going to outwork me.
“I’m just fortunate that B-W gave me a chance as a young coach to use my work ethic to find players that are a fit for B-W,” added Harrer.
Bankson, whose teams have won four OAC tourney crowns since 1994-95, feels just as lucky to be in Berea.
“I have been very fortunate to have a job that I love,” Bankson said. “There are lots of difficult times when you are coaching but by-in-large, I cannot think of anything that I would have enjoyed more than coaching.
“The association with young people and being at schools where the administration is very supportive has been a real joy,” added Bankson, who has led the Jackets to the first back-to-back 20-win seasons in school history.
This season has been exciting for both teams. The women’s team, 24-4 overall, won the OAC regular season title with an impressive 17-1 mark. They advanced to the finals of the OAC Tournament for the ninth time in the last 10 seasons.
Despite their loss in last Saturday’s OAC Championship Game, the B-W women were selected for this year’s NCAA Division III National Tournament and will host an East Regional in Berea this Friday and Saturday, March 3-4. The women open NCAA Tournament play against SUNY/ Oswego of New York on Friday in the Rudolph Ursprung Gymnasium with the winner facing the winner of the St. John Fisher (N.Y.) College versus Hobart-William Smith (N/.Y.) College semifial game in Saturday’s Regional Championship game.
Bankson’s Yellow Jackets are also 24-4 overall and finished the OAC regular season as champions with a 15-3 mark in OAC play. For the first time in Bankson’s tenure, B-W won the OAC regular season crown, set a school single-season record with 24 wins and successfully defended its OAC Tournament title with a 91-84 overtime victory over Ohio Northern last Saturday.
By winning the OAC Tournament title, B-W received the OAC’s automatic berth in the Div. III National Tournament. The men open NCAA Tournament action against Carnegie-Mellon (Pa.) University, 20-5 overall, in Springfield, Ohio and at Wittenberg University. If B-W wins, it will play the winer of the Wittenberg versus Lake Erie (21-6) game on Saturday night in the regional final.
Even though both teams still have games to play in the NCAA Tournament, each coach thinks the season has gone well.
“It’s been a special season already,” Harrer stated. “We knew we had a good team even with the loss of two starters. However, in regard to the character and chemistry of this group-they’re as good as or better than any team we’ve ever had here."
“When we started our conditioning program in September, our motto was ‘Exceed Expectations’ and I think without question the players have done it,” said Bankson. “I think we have exceeded all expectations.”
With the NCAA Division III National Tournament on the horizon, the Baldwin-Wallace Yellow Jacket programs will need their coaches to be strong leaders. If the rest of the season is any indication, just like their teams, Bankson and Harrer will exceed expectations.
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